# Worm in Viv. Nemertean?



## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

I found this worm on the side glass panel. Is it a nemertean? Even if it is I have no idea if nemerteans have a negative impact on my viv so if someone could jump in and enlighten me that would be great .


















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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

Greetings,

Rather than a nemertean, I believe that is a flatworm. The good news is they can prey on snails and slugs... the bad news is that they can also prey on arthropods (and non-predatory terrestrial species are rare).

Further bad news is that you can't really do anything about them except 1) vigilantly remove the ones you see or 2) tear down your viv and start anew.

There is anecdotal evidence for larger isopods keeping them in check (I am dubious but it's not impossible).

I have had this worm and it did not explode for me - I do remove them on sight however. The best method is to use an eyeglass repair screwdriver (flat head) and carefully come up from beneath (as if you were trying to pick up a piece of string). They are very weak-bodied and fragment if you try to pinch or tweezer them (each of the fragments can then regrow into a new worm). A non-sharp prying instrument works to remove the whole worm. Sticking them on a paper towel dehydrates them to death.


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

kimcmich said:


> Greetings,
> 
> Rather than a nemertean, I believe that is a flatworm. The good news is they can prey on snails and slugs... the bad news is that they can also prey on arthropods (and non-predatory terrestrial species are rare).
> 
> ...


Whenever I see them I immediately pick them up with some paper towel. Good news is that this is only the second one I've seen throughout the 4 months I've had this vivarium, so I'm thankful that their population hasn't exploded... yet. Are these harmful to the frogs in any way? If the darts were to eat them, would there be any negative side effects? I''m guessing no, but I just wanted to make sure.


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

As for them being dangerous to the frogs: Hard to say. There are _certainly_ terrestrial flatworms in natural dartfrog habitats. Flatworms tend to produce toxins to defend themselves and venom to capture prey. My guess is frogs would spit them out if they did initially eat them... maybe another db member has observed interactions between this worm and frogs.


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## Phxnoah (Sep 26, 2016)

So, about 15 minutes ago I discovered something even more interesting in my vivarium..., I found a slug, a very tiny slug to be exact. I didn’t want to start a new thread, and since we are talking about vivarium pests I would really appreciate some info on this guy.


















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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

That's a snail rather than a slug. It's a fairly ubiquitous minor pest - I have it myself. It does not seem to adversely effect plants - I see it feeding solely on dead plant matter *EXCEPT* for extremely delicate orchid flowers. I have found it to be a problem only for the flowers of species like Lepanthes telipogoniflora, for instance, that produce translucent, extremely thin petals. I'd prefer it not eat the flowers but otherwise I consider it part of the cleanup crew...


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