Flatworms?

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SeeDemTails

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
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Daytona Beach FL
My tank has become infested with little(tiny, size of pen tip) red-orange worms....I assume flatworms.....

Do the harm anything?

How can I get ride of them, they cover ever rock, and I cought one on my zoos the other day, but considering how large my zoo colony is, if they wanted to much them I figure there would be more worms all over them.....do they eat coral?
 
There are many different kinds of flatworms from what I know and I have "read" that increased water flow can often solve the problem.

I have also heard that some will pass with time, and some will multiply VERY fast. Do a googe search and there are different ways to remove them.

I heard they are often introduced from not using QT for LR ,corals, fish....

Can you post a pic.?


ALSO: I am a newbie so this is just my reading. I am sure people will give you "actual experience" about what they are and removing.
 
I found a cool article that explains how to remove them.

You syphon out what you can see, then you treat the tank with Flatworm eXit.
 
I plan to battle them by syphoning whatever I can see everday, for a couple weeks. As they are more of an eyesore than anything, they dont seem to be eating any of my corals.

Then, once they are at a smaller number in the tank, I will ready some carbon, and have 10 gal of water ready for PWC's after the treatment. Then, proceed with the treatment, and syphon out the dead ones I can see....then let the carbon run for a couple hours, then do some PWC's.....

Man I will be pissed if this kills my zoo's, xenia, or green star polyps.....but I cannot deal with my rocks looking orange due to so many flatworms.
 
the FW are a big pest and you have a good plan of attack. My friend had them so bad you though his SB in his 180 was red/brown. They covered everything... They release toxins when they die so you want to have plenty of water ready for a WC.
Stick with your plan and syphon as many as you can.
I read somehere that they love light, if you can shut off your main lights and place a spot light in the front of the tank and try and lure them out of the LR and too the light..
My friend ended up breaking down his 180 to get rid of the little bugs...
Any nudibranches in your tank? Seahare? take them out before treating with the FW exit.
They also stain your hands when you handle them..
 
I read somehere that they love light, if you can shut off your main lights and place a spot light in the front of the tank and try and lure them out of the LR and too the light..

I read this same thing.
 
flatworms

Wow...I am going to look into these for my tank. I think they are real cool looking!!

Anybody own these? Love to hear experiences
 
Once it eats the flat worms, it will starve, unless you keep feeding it with them. You could possibly buy one, let it do it's job and trade it in to the LFS or give/sell to another member that has the same problem. Others might have better advice.
 
I have some many flatworms in my tank, im sure it could live for quite some time.

Now it says expert only.....

I do a 15% water change once a week, my temp is steady at 78*.....my trates, trites and ammonia are all at 0. Im pretty sure I have so much LR in my tank(like 25lbs in a 10 gal) that it has started to filter the tank.

Is it possible to keep these things?
 
I would get one, at first. It might be possibly that one (or two) later might be able to keep them under control and have the flatworms keep populating, just enough to keep everyone happy...kinda like the mandarin/pods concept...
Tails, I could be wrong, but if you are keeping your numbers under control and the tank is stable, I think you should be good to go. I would definitely acclimate him 2+ hours, using the drip method...
 
I read somewhere that they are known to generally not have a long life-span. I'm sure poor water conditions could hasten their demise as well.

I had one for approximateley 4 months before it "disappeared". It happily munched on my flat worms in my nano reef tank. It trimmed the flat worm population back quite a bit but did not have time to fully eliminate them (so I don't think it starved).

I would suggest responsible ownership as with any specialty animal. If it has done it's job...trade it into the LFS so it won't starve.
 
Flatworm eXit all the way. You have to be ultra vigilant on the siphoning and the water changes right after dosing, but I haven't lost anything (besides the coral that they smothered before hand).
 
My mandarin eats flatworms! I had some come in on some live and when I spotted them on the glas I also spotted my Mandarin havin a field day gobbling them up. I love my Mandarin!
 
Keep us posted on it! I was looking at getting one as well, but I'm not sure how hard they are to take care of. Is it expert only because of the food it needs or because it needs extremely stable tank conditions or what? Good luck with it!
 
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