# Worm? Identification?



## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

Could anyone ID this for me... I'm kind of worried.









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## Friggy_frogger (Aug 24, 2014)

just found one of these in my viv yesterday....


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## Afemoralis (Mar 17, 2005)

The photo is not good enough for ID, but check out Bipalium - one of the terrestrial planaria.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

check out the threads for "nemerteens"---describes the head-bobbing/weaving


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

Judy S said:


> check out the threads for "nemerteens"---describes the head-bobbing/weaving



Judy I am sure you are correct. I read they won't really mess with frogs or eggs? I did see that they will eat springs. Which kind of sucks! Everyone I see I kill. 


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

Friggy_frogger said:


> just found one of these in my viv yesterday....



Did you kill it? What's your plan of action for these, if any?


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## Friggy_frogger (Aug 24, 2014)

Mohlerbear said:


> Did you kill it? What's your plan of action for these, if any?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I was talking to a good friend of mine, he is a mod here also, this is what he told me. their is nothing you can do about them besides kill the ones you see. they will not harm the frogs but they will wipe out the vivs microfauana (which sucks).
he also mentioned something about them eating flys also....


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

True I did read that about flies too. I'm not too worried about the flies just because I feed them daily ya know. I don't think they'd wipe out all the flies I feed them within a 24hr period before the frogs are the flies. Totally sucks about the microfauna! Thanks for the info bro. 


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## Friggy_frogger (Aug 24, 2014)

Mohlerbear said:


> Did you kill it? What's your plan of action for these, if any?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk





Mohlerbear said:


> True I did read that about flies too. I'm not too worried about the flies just because I feed them daily ya know. I don't think they'd wipe out all the flies I feed them within a 24hr period before the frogs are the flies. Totally sucks about the microfauna! Thanks for the info bro.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


just wondering what species are you keeping in the viv? if it was any species of pumilio that could be really bad. thankfully the viv I found mine in is just a breeding pair of auratus


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

No pumillo fortunately. Imitators are housed in there. 


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Give up on springtails in that tank. Concentrate on isopods. There are many reports of vivs with Neemerteans, that still have thriving populations of isopods.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

well...that's good to read... I also remember from some older post that the population of Nemerteans will be reduced with a drier tank... I take great delight in killing them...


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## Umbra (Nov 29, 2013)

Likely Rhynchodemus sylvaticus, the most common flatworm that seems to appear in our vivs.


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## susanjump (Nov 24, 2014)

Mohlerbear said:


> Could anyone ID this for me... I'm kind of worried.
> View attachment 150817
> 
> 
> ...


I am in the process of setting up 2 new tanks and, I am praying I don't get these. I hate them with a passion. I've been washing all of my cork, fern panels, etc with ozonated water generated by this device I have called; Lotus.

Then baking, And, on the plants did the bleach procedure. 

I have thought about pressure cooking some of the stuff and in all honesty if I fail that would probably be my downfall, not pressure cooking the stuff that would survive such a hard treatment but, I have to be honest I did get a little hasty.

worm eggs are hard to kill. I'll look in my parasitology book and try to ID it
many thanks for the share! Gives me an idea of whats out there and try to figure out how to avoid introduction.


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

Pumilo said:


> Give up on springtails in that tank. Concentrate on isopods. There are many reports of vivs with Neemerteans, that still have thriving populations of isopods.



Pumilo, thank you for that advice. That's awesome. I actually had lifted up a couple leafs to see if there were worms, and there were a lot of baby Isopods going great! I'll be sure to keep adding those. My varadero tank, has yet to see the worms, at least I haven't seen any and their spring population is very thriving. Thank you. 


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

Judy S said:


> well...that's good to read... I also remember from some older post that the population of Nemerteans will be reduced with a drier tank... I take great delight in killing them...



Meeeee too!! Bunch of punks! 


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

susanjump said:


> I am in the process of setting up 2 new tanks and, I am praying I don't get these. I hate them with a passion. I've been washing all of my cork, fern panels, etc with ozonated water generated by this device I have called; Lotus.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Seems like a pretty thorough method! Thank you, I'll follow those steps on the next one. I'll maybe co2 bomb everything twice now before I add any critters instead of just once. I'm guessing I'm the one who unintentionally added them! Crud. 


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

susanjump said:


> worm eggs are hard to kill. I'll look in my parasitology book and try to ID it
> many thanks for the share! Gives me an idea of whats out there and try to figure out how to avoid introduction.


I highly doubt that you will find it in your parasitology book as it is not a parasite. I am curious what book you have though. I have quite a few of them on the subject, but am always looking for more 

I think the most likely ID is Rhynchodemus sylvaticus as Umbra said. The pic isn't good enough to be 100% certain, but that's what I'm betting on.

John


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## Bob Hall (Nov 30, 2014)

Uh oh....something else to worry about and I haven't even bought my enclosure yet...lol. Will CO2 bombing get in all the cracks and crevices in cork bark? Is the cork bark I got at a local shop safe, or should I boil/steam/nuke/CO2 bomb it?

My list of notes is getting longer and longer....


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## Friggy_frogger (Aug 24, 2014)

Bob Hall said:


> Uh oh....something else to worry about and I haven't even bought my enclosure yet...lol. Will CO2 bombing get in all the cracks and crevices in cork bark? Is the cork bark I got at a local shop safe, or should I boil/steam/nuke/CO2 bomb it?
> 
> My list of notes is getting longer and longer....


Nuking the piece of bark should do it.


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## Umbra (Nov 29, 2013)

Isopods generally do fine, the worms generally only prey upon young white or purple isos and isopods reproduce quickly enough to keep the populations going, especially in a large enclosure. Also, the worms seem to prefer flies, springtails, spiders etc. over the isopods, only eating the latter as a last resort.

I doubt cork bark will carry the worms, they generally congregate in moisture rich areas and as a result hitch a ride in with wild collected rotting wood, substrate and plants but it's still generally a good idea to "sterilize" anything that you're going to put in the enclosure. 

CO2 bombing might kill living some organisms but I'm not sure how effective it is against the eggs (or even the organisms themselves) of many common vivarium pests, especially those that normally live in poorly oxygenated enclosed areas with a lot of decomposition. I'd say heat treatment is always the best way to go with things like this if it needs to be done quickly.


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## zimmerj (Aug 20, 2014)

Judy S said:


> I take great delight in killing them...


Dunno about you, but I think Judy just offered to eradicate them for ya 





Friggy_frogger said:


> if it was any species of pumilio that could be really bad.


Just out of curiosity, why specifically with pumilio?


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## Friggy_frogger (Aug 24, 2014)

zimmerj said:


> Dunno about you, but I think Judy just offered to eradicate them for ya
> 
> 
> 
> ...


their froglets are tiny and need a population of microfuana to
make it past the first few months


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