Worm ID, regular harmless flatworm?

[rcharliesam]

I have been noticing these little worm things on my glass during lights out and early light cycle, are they harmless? They move pretty slowly and have sort of an arrow head look to them. There are A LOT of them on the glass during these times.

I found a youtube video that looks similar to what I have, but mine don't move as quickly or they are not as twitchy as the ones in the video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__sjbsTMYMc

Thanks in advance.

 

[rookie07]

Flatworm.

 

[rcharliesam]

Thanks rookie, the harmless type?

 

[stooops718]

I don't think there really is a harmless type. In small quantities they should be harmless but they can quickly overtake your tank and completely cover your sand bed. Get a sixline wrasse, it'll gobble em all up.

 

[BaaMNYC]

I suggest a melanarus wrasse better and less aggressive.

 

[rcharliesam]

Thanks for the tips guys. Both are pretty fish, not sure I want to add more fish just yet as I just transferred the corals and fish from my previous tank last week and you know, the whole bioload thing... I am very surprised at how many of these worms are in there already.

 

[rookie07]

Flatworm exit works well.
(Make sure you follow directions and do water changes.)

 

[thirty5]

Flatworm exit works well.
(Make sure you follow directions and do water changes.)

+1
I just ordered to use in my tank. I can't get a wrasse since rimless. Just make sure you have fresh carbon to run.

With a large amount of worms you can wipe your tank out if you don't follow directions.

You may need to run the FWE multiple times if you don't get them all. That is what happened to me ran once didn't finish them off. But I had run out and never got more. So the worms are back.

FWE is also good to use as a coral dip to make sure you don't introduce them into your tank on frags.

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[rcharliesam]

Well, I researched flatworm exit a bit and I don't think I will be using that. Not worth the risk. I guess a six line wrasse is the best option for me.

Thank you for all of the input!

 

[thirty5]

There really is no risk as long as you follow the directions. While a wrasse will work, it will only help control them not get rid of them. The wrasse cannot get to the ones that are in your rocks.

The FWE will work with current in the tank to try to get to all of them.

If you want to try to "get rid of them" then FWE is really the only way IMO.

If you want to "control them" then a wrasse will do.

 

[rcharliesam]

I saw that people were having inverts die, fish die and in extreme cases, complete tank crashes.

*20 minutes later - I am seeing that it was not a result of the FWE, but rather the toxins released by the flatworms. I see mention of running carbon, however I have an AIO Solana 34, would it be ok to just drop a bag of carbon in the media section of the tank, or is that not good enough?

Lastly, could I treat the rock separately in a bucket of SW and then treat the tank with FWE in the tank to reduce the risk (and amount) of toxins that would be released into the tank?

 

[thirty5]

Rt that is why I said you needto follow directions and run carbon.

I would think that a couple bags of chemipure would be fine in the back. I would not treat rock separately. You need to be able to filter out the toxns wth the carbon.

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[rcharliesam]

Rt that is why I said you needto follow directions and run carbon.

I would think that a couple bags of chemipure would be fine in the back. I would not treat rock separately. You need to be able to filter out the toxns wth the carbon.

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I would still run the carbon in the tank. If I treated the rocks in a bucket, would that not leave the majority (or at least a large part) of the FW population (and their toxins) in the bucket, therefore out of the tank and unable to release the toxins in there? From there, I would then treat the tank according to the directions, but since there would be less die off, there would presumably be less toxins released into the tank. No?

 

[thirty5]

I would not take that chance. Taking the rock out and putting into different water and treating it there, the FW will die and the bodies will stay in the rock, and therefore the toxins may just sit in the rock. You need high flow to, make sure that it gets through everything.

Then I would not want to mini-cycle the tank by transferring the rock and moving it all around.

Not worth it to me. It is up to you how you handle it, but I would just treat the tank.

 

[rcharliesam]

Point taken, thank you for your input thirty6. I will try the conventional method then.

 

[thirty5]

Point taken, thank you for your input thirty6. I will try the conventional method then.

Dont mix me up with my partner LOL j/k

 

[rcharliesam]

Haha just realized that when I saw the notification.

 

[rcharliesam]

I picked up FWE tonight. Will probably put it in tomorrow evening or over the weekend. I need to mix up some water first. I will post my experience once complete. Thank you all again.

 

[BaaMNYC]

Fwe didn't work for me. I used double the dosage and I still had em after two attempts.

 

[rookie07]

Worked great for me.
Siphon out as many as possible, then use FWE, then do a WC after (directions say how long after), then be prepared to do an immediate 2nd WC just incase more FWs die than expected.