getting rid of flat worms

[4angel]

I have had a problem with these lil critters for a while and now the population have really started to explode. I read a thread a while back about a chemical used in getting rid of them. What's the name of the chemical and what success if any have you had in getting rid of them.
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Mercedes F700

 

[Will C1]

i was not aware there was a chemical i bet that would have been cheaper than the chelidonura i bought but boy does he chow down on them.

 

[Anonymous]

There is a new treatment called Flatworm Exit, that is getting mixed reviews on Reefcentral. There is also the Greenex treatment that also gets mixed reviews - do a 'flatworm and greenex' search.

RR

 

[Markymarklar]

instead of adding a chemical that will kill them and cause themn to rot in your tank, why don't you use the natural method....nudibranchs. there are certain nudibrachs that will eat flatworms. they are cool lookin to boot. don't know which types will eat them. you'll have to ask someone who knows morea bout them that.

 

[Anonymous]

Biological controls are very hit and miss. Many of the fish people claim eat flatworms have not actually been seen eating them.

The nudis do, but they are expensive, don't ship well, and tend not to live long.

RR

 

[aliendomain]

A mandarin, scooter or six line wrasse should eat them.

 

[Anonymous]

People who claim nothing changed in their flatworm population after adding a dragonette far outnumber the number of people who report a change. And the people who report a change in FW population don't actually see the fish eat any FW's. Sounds like coincidence to me. I have been asking for a long time and have yet to hear of a single person actually seeing the fish eat FW's.
For what it is worth, people also claim that blue damsels eat flatworms...but no one has ever seen it. Few report a decline in FW population after adding such a fish, but that could be because of anything given we don't really know that much about FW's.

The reports on 6 lines are hit and miss, mostly on the miss side. If you have a small tank I don't recommend this fish.

 

[aliendomain]

Here's some info on curing Planaria, it does agree with righty about fish not eating them, I could swear that I have a book that said that dragonets would eat them. But I guess you can't believe everything you read.

http://www.aqua-tech.demon.nl/curing%20 ... anaria.htm

 

[Anonymous]

There is lots and lots of WRONG/RADICALLY UNPROVEN conventional wisdom, both oral and in print, about stuff in this hobby that is hard to deal with. People would rather hope that a magic/easy quick fix works rather than comming to terms with the idea that we just don't know what to do.

 

[aliendomain]

Well said!

 

[hfmann]

FWIW,

I was going to get a mandarin before my planaria outbreak anyway. So when I did get the dragonet, I never saw him eat the darn little things, but they certainly disappeared in a hurry.

I certainly agree about the biologic controls sometimes working and sometimes not. When I had a terrible hair algae breakout which eventually took over the tank, the Tangs (Yellow and Hippo), hermits, and snails, didn't touch the stuff.

Hal
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us recession 2008

 

[Anonymous]

I have a dragonette theory in regards to FW's. Maybe their activity in the same area of the tank that FW's congregate disturbs the FW's and make it hard for them in some way.

 

[4angel]

So these guys come they see and they conquer.? I have heard that if left alone they eventually starve themselves to death. I am at my wits end. I wont siphon them out only because I am afraid it would leave food for the others. By the way does anyone know what exactly it is that they live on.?
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Sikhism Forum

 

[Anonymous]

We simply don't seem to know much about these flatworms. Do the reproduce by splitting, do they lay eggs, do the eat, do they use light, what eats them? There are reports that support all of these. Some people say they will crash in 6 months or so, some say they have had them for years.
I have flatworms in my tank. No controls, biological or chemical, have worked to my satisfaction. I suck them out once or twice a month to keep their numbers down. It doesn't take very long, I have a 150, and it does keep their numbers down. I am gonna keep doing it till we come up with something that kills them, but not the things I want in my tank.

By the way, as long as they havent reached palgue numbers they are harmless, just a little ugly.

 

[4angel]

plague numbers ?? I'm starring at some orange rock work..... I'm about to do a water change Sun. I'll suck out some of those bad boys and go Dr. Mengela on them in the sink.Oops!! This is my hobby it calms me it makes me happy. This is my hobby it calms me it makes me happy. This is my hobby it calms me it makes me happy. UURRHHH!!
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Honda Dio

 

[big o]

2 things i know they do not like high current,could try that if possible.also read on a seahorse forum that camel shrimp eat them.

 

[Bryan Thompson]

Righty,

You can now add one person to your list who has seen a mandarin eat flatworms.

I had flatworms in a grow out tank that is plumed to a common sump with my main tank. I got them from trading fragments with a fellow reefer. They grew to a plague in the grow out but I had never seen one in my main tank. I frequently swap corals back and forth so I was sure they were getting in there. Well when I was doing one of my coral swaps, I went around to look into the main tank and the mandarin was swimming around the rock I had just placed into the tank. It swam up and quickly picked every flatworm off the rock and coral.

Due to the high number in my grow out, I used greenex and it worked. Put it in at night and did a big water change in the morning and they were gone. I added a mandarin to that system to prevent further expansion.

Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

Great Bryan! Thanks!

 

[wickerj]

I battled flatworms for over a year. I'd syphon them and in a couple of days there were as many as before. They were covering my sand and I decided I'd had enough so I dosed Quinsulex. I first syphoned out all of them I could get at then mixed the capsules 1/10gal in a cup of tank water and added it. I waited about 3 hours and did a massive water change and stated running carbon. The next morning everything looked really bad, SPS bleached, softies all retracted and a nasty smell in the entire room. I did several more large water changes over the next 2-3 days and ran carbon 24/7 changing every 6 hours. Most of my SPS are gone but my LPS and softies all came back and look great. My flatworms are gone but at the price of my very nice SPS.
My SPS were all mounted on large pieces of live rock or I would have taken them out before I dosed. I wanted to make sure if I was going to do it I killed them all.

In conclusion I wouldn't dose any chemical to kill flatworms unless I tried everything else I could think of.

Jeff

 

[4angel]

I have three fish in my 40 brd. a spotted goby neon dotty and a lawn mower blenny. I like both the six line wrase and the mandarin. However I have a neon dotty that might go to work on the six line before it goes to work on the FW. I'm affraid of putting any greenex in my tank.
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