# Billions of flatworms



## Paul B (Aug 4, 2009)

I was feeding the tank tonight and I said, Wow, the coraline algae is really taking off and growing like crazy. But it didn't look right. Wrong color and it seemed to be moving.
I took out my magnifying glasses and took a closer look.
I could not figure what they were until I poked one with a probe. The thing "ran" or slithered away pretty fast.
They are Acoel flatworms and they are completely covering portions of the rock. I never noticed them before and at first thought they were nudibranches but nudibranchs would never grow to these numbers in a tank.
There are thousands of these things.
Very cool. I love to find new things. I can't believe the amount of life in this old tank. There are these flatworms, amphipods, brittle stars, stomella, those little starfish (I forget their name) and almost as many tiny snails as these flatworms.
I don't know what all of these things are eating. It totally blows me away that all of this stuff is living in there.
I can look for hours with a set of magnifying glasses.
The Sea Slug Forum - Acoel flatworms in aquaria


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## GetITCdot (Aug 4, 2009)

i had that once with billions of little amphiopods or whatever the heck they are called... i was like "gee the glass seems too be foggy in this sump" it wasent dirty it was billions of those little guys walking around doing fun stuff


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## Paul B (Aug 4, 2009)

OK I would like to change the name of this thread to billions of brittle stars. The flatworms seem to still be with me but not as many as before. Maybe only millions now 
I am more impressed by the multitudes of brittle stars. I knew I had a lot but I had no idea I had this many.
I was target feeding my copperband butterfly and some clams went under a ledge of a rock. Immediately the area became a sea of arms. Then from a near by rock, more arms emerged until it looked like they were playing 
"It's Raining Men" at a female spider convention. 
There were arms all over the place. Or is it legs? Anyway, I was curious so I lifted some more rocks and they are all over the place. They were always in there, just not in those numbers.
Cute little suckers and like the flatworms, amphipods, tubeworms, Paris Hilton and everything else in there, they are welcome to stay as long as they like.


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