# What is this in my Viv



## Vagabond324 (Jan 13, 2011)

I found this crawling in my Citronell's Viv tonight, no idea what the heck it is. It can ball up, stretch out, lift it's head high and leaves a trail. Does not look like any slug I have ever seen before, any one have an idea what it is? About 3/8"-1/2" long


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

Creepy... looks like a leech?! I doubt it is though...


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## jckee1 (Mar 22, 2011)

It could be a leech. Maybe came in on a plant you purchased?


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## Vagabond324 (Jan 13, 2011)

I was thinking a leech as I remember them well from 1968 but that was another part of the world and they were much bigger, Can you say Ugg!.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Nemertean. Nemertea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nemerteans


Search nemertean using the search function there has been a lot of discussion on them. If they are established in the enclosure, then you are going to have issues with microfauna populations and they even predate on fruit flies.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Ed said:


> Nemertean. Nemertea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> Nemerteans
> 
> ...


Uh-Oh! Time to break out the CO2 bomb!


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## marylanddartfrog (Jun 6, 2011)

Its a leech


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

Ed said:


> Nemertean. Nemertea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> Nemerteans
> 
> ...


Isopods will take care of them.


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

Do the frogs eat them?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

stemcellular said:


> Isopods will take care of them.


I was under the impression that only one of the really large isopods helped with control and didn't eliminate them. (see Alan Cann's link in my post above). The smaller isopods don't seem to do anything except get eaten by the nemerteans. 

Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

JimO said:


> Do the frogs eat them?


No, and a number of the nemerteans are known to produce tetrodotoxins in conjunction with symbiotic bacteria.


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## Azurel (Aug 5, 2010)

How about Oranges? I swear I have seen them go on the attack and eat fruit flies.....I didn't get a video though....So I have no proof. I found something like this the other day it was buried in the substrate and I only could find one....Which I am pretty sure there is more if I found one.





> I was under the impression that only one of the really large isopods helped with control and didn't eliminate them. (see Alan Cann link in my post above). The smaller isopods don't seem to do anything except get eaten by the nemerteans.
> 
> Ed


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

All I can say is that in tanks that once had a few nemerteans the introduction of isopods led to the disaapearence of them and a surge in the number of isopods. May have been other factors as well.


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

The nemerteans in my tank look very different from that one. Mine are pink and about 1 inch.


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

That looks an awful lot like a leech. Stretch it out and see if you can see repeating ridges. If it does then I think its good evidence that it might be a leech.

In other posts the nemertarians always looked white, though I suppose there's no reason why different species can't have different coloration...


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

hypostatic said:


> That looks an awful lot like a leech. Stretch it out and see if you can see repeating ridges. If it does then I think its good evidence that it might be a leech.
> 
> In other posts the nemertarians always looked white, though I suppose there's no reason why different species can't have different coloration...


It's not a leech or a terrestrial flatworm. It is a nemertean, they do move in that manner and they do come in different colors. 

Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

stemcellular said:


> All I can say is that in tanks that once had a few nemerteans the introduction of isopods led to the disaapearence of them and a surge in the number of isopods. May have been other factors as well.


What kind(s) of isopods did you add? I know other people that tried the various dwarf and the isopods disappeared and the nemertean population kept increasing. Prey is speared, paralyzed with toxins and digestive enzymes and then fed on.. 


Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Azurel said:


> How about Oranges? I swear I have seen them go on the attack and eat fruit flies.....I didn't get a video though....So I have no proof. I found something like this the other day it was buried in the substrate and I only could find one....Which I am pretty sure there is more if I found one.


Check out the link to Alan Cann's site. Oranges are I think a color variation of Porcellio scaber and are not as large as the ones he had luck with... 

Ed


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## stu&shaz (Nov 19, 2009)

We have seen these also,but as per the photos on Alans site,we also have a large heavily stocked culture of O.asellus,i recognise it instantly,some of our vivs have silly no.s of the dwarf white,wood louce but i will have to try and work out if these also have the N.'s.If we heavily loaded our "infected" vivs, with onicellus are there any observations to suggest they would compete with the dwarf white.My intention was to feed the young onicellus to the frogs,as a stopgap/variation to the dwarf whites,coupled with the giant O. and a fast moving little iso that i am told comes from peru.
Apologies if this is slightly left field of the original Q. but i am sure many would not want to wipe out the dwarf white in favour of onicellus,which,from Alan's report does not do well in vivs,ha that is if one has both a good stock of D.W. and N.'s
thanks
Stu


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## jkooiman (May 2, 2010)

hypostatic said:


> That looks an awful lot like a leech. Stretch it out and see if you can see repeating ridges. If it does then I think its good evidence that it might be a leech.
> 
> In other posts the nemertarians always looked white, though I suppose there's no reason why different species can't have different coloration...


My "little buddies" are tan..with black markings... Quite an attractive "morph".  JVK


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## johnyrocks (Jun 25, 2011)

That's either a leech or just a rolly polly, lol. I'd not put it back in, it could harm your frog, especially if it's a leech.


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

stemcellular said:


> All I can say is that in tanks that once had a few nemerteans the introduction of isopods led to the disaapearence of them and a surge in the number of isopods. May have been other factors as well.


What kind of isopods did you introduce to control the nemerteans?


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## Peter Keane (Jun 11, 2005)

Aren't these nemerteans responsible for many predations on frog eggs as one waits for the male do his deed?.. 

Peter Keane


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

Ed said:


> What kind(s) of isopods did you add? I know other people that tried the various dwarf and the isopods disappeared and the nemertean population kept increasing. Prey is speared, paralyzed with toxins and digestive enzymes and then fed on..
> 
> 
> Ed


Larger grey ones, Ed. Came in plants from BJ.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

stemcellular said:


> Larger grey ones, Ed. Came in plants from BJ.


Do you think they were Porcellio scaber or a larger type. If you look at the wiki page you can see the difference in size between the two. Woodlouse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The larger one is what is reported to predate on them. 

Ed


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