Flatworms

[Scuba20v]

Anyone have any idea how to get rid of these red flatworms that are infesting my little reef

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[dacaptain78]

Flatworm Exit by Salifert should work if they are indeed Red Planaria flatworms.

Check out this link to see how it is implemented:
http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

Yellow wrasses also supposedly eat them as well if you were looking for a natural predator.

 

[bad coffee]

FWE. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS AND DO A BIG WATER CHANGE AFTER.

Then the next day DOSE AGAIN WITH ANOTHER WATER CHANGE!

Every day after that for 3 weeks, put a few drops in your tank. If you skip this step there's a greater chance they'll come back.

Dose EVERY SINGLE NEW CORAL/FISH you get with FWE.

Trust me.

B

 

[nycdominicanreef]

natural removal

you can always try an arrow crab, they eat flat worms

 

[flipit13]

best bet get a yellow or christmas wrasse maybe a sixline also not sure of that one.... also read on RC some had good luck with a manderan but not sure of that either. i had some in my tank and my wrasses cleared that all up quickly

 

[nick96ss]

i got a green wrasse in my tank and a six line in my sump not a worm left

 

[masterswimmer]

Flatworm Exit

 

[ReefFan]

amatuer question i know but remind me again why flatworms are bad? I only have them in my refugium and they are 1 of like 20 little lifeforms in there. They all seem to exist in balance together so i just let em live.

I also have these tiny dots that bascially swarm like flys above the mud/caluerpa. some kind of pod?

 

[SWITCH420]

blue velvet slug only eats flatworms.

 

[crxin]

just keep in mind depending on the population of the flatworms you could have a massive die off issue.

 

[jrobbins]

blue velvet slug only eats flatworms.

yeah, but they dont live very long at all, and when they die there is a good chance they will take your tank with em.

 

[Scuba20v]

Thank you for all the help. I only have a ten gallon reef so it is very sencitive however i am starting a 75gal soon. After I do that I can add a sixline


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[SevTT]

amatuer question i know but remind me again why flatworms are bad? I only have them in my refugium and they are 1 of like 20 little lifeforms in there. They all seem to exist in balance together so i just let em live.

I also have these tiny dots that bascially swarm like flys above the mud/caluerpa. some kind of pod?

Flatworms aren't inherently bad, it's just that the brown ones sometimes reach plague proportions and start choking off corals and making the tank look horrible.

(The tiny dots are probably copepods, but they could also be larger protozoans like rotifers.)

The problem with them is that when they die, they produce a whole lot of nasty chemicals, which can crash a tank if there're lots of them in there. (Try sucking a few up, and dropping them into a kalkwasser solution. Stir, wait a minute, and smell. It's naaaaaaaaaaa-sty.)

If you're going to use chemical means to fry flatworms, do research online. It's suggested that you follow the directions on the bottle exactly, and prior to dosing, suck out as many of the little SOBs as you can.

If you can add it to your system without causing problems, I recommend a sixline wrasse; it cleared out all the brown flatworms in my tank. However, these fish can be ... 'boisterous', I guess ... and aren't the best addition for every tank. I've heard that many other wrasses, including the pinkstreaked wrasse, will perform the same function.

As always, do your research.

 

[Scuba20v]

Won't the sixline also eat fireworms. The live rock I got from this place near me is loaded with them


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[SevTT]

Won't the sixline also eat fireworms. The live rock I got from this place near me is loaded with them


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Yeah, it'll eat bristleworms, though mine didn't seem to do it often. I'd occasionally find a chunk of bristle worm floating about the tank, though. However, I still have lots and lots of 'em, and it hasn't seriously depleted the population. It's just torn the tail or head off some of the slower ones.

 

[emmanuel]

blue velvet slug only eats flatworms.

wrong I had purchased a refugium from someone here a while back that was full off flatworms his main tank didnt have a sign of them but had a yellow corris and a mandarine i purchased the mandarine also even though it looked very thin i placed it in the refugium and within a few days the mandarine looked nice and fat and the refugium was cleared of flat worms .
I witnessed the mandarin eating them

 

[ReefFan]

Flatworms aren't inherently bad, it's just that the brown ones sometimes reach plague proportions and start choking off corals and making the tank look horrible.

(The tiny dots are probably copepods, but they could also be larger protozoans like rotifers.)

The problem with them is that when they die, they produce a whole lot of nasty chemicals, which can crash a tank if there're lots of them in there. (Try sucking a few up, and dropping them into a kalkwasser solution. Stir, wait a minute, and smell. It's naaaaaaaaaaa-sty.)

If you're going to use chemical means to fry flatworms, do research online. It's suggested that you follow the directions on the bottle exactly, and prior to dosing, suck out as many of the little SOBs as you can.

If you can add it to your system without causing problems, I recommend a sixline wrasse; it cleared out all the brown flatworms in my tank. However, these fish can be ... 'boisterous', I guess ... and aren't the best addition for every tank. I've heard that many other wrasses, including the pinkstreaked wrasse, will perform the same function.

As always, do your research.

A+ reply. Thank you for the well written advice on these little guys. I have yet to notice any brown ones. Theyve always been transluscent ameoba lookin things. I have to get over this OCD about not killing anything in my tank. For the past year, especially in the refugium ive been trying to let nature balance itself. Until i notice a dwindling population of one thing or another, I figured Id just let life play itself out. Its been working pretty well so far. Ive even left a couple Aiptasia's in the MT as a food supply for my Copperband. For 6 months hes kept the MT absolutely Aiptasia free ('cept for the big guys that actually look rather elegant in its adult form).

With regard to the flatworms, its hard to put a wrasse, mandarin or other flatworm eating animal in my fuge cuz he would no doubt decimate the populations of other things in there. Although I do have a seahorse in there that I caught. He's been happily living in there for bout 8 months now, havnt fed him once. But the way it is now, I havnt seen a single flatworm in my MT or in the remote BioCube next door to the macro fuge. So maybe Ill suck some out of the fuge to lower the numbers. They seem to hang out in groups. In fact almost all the life in there seems to have claimed their own portion of the refugium. Its been fascinating watching it all thrive.

Thanks again for the background on Flatworms. Its obvious senior members at MR truley know thier sh_t. Ive come to the right place.