Flatworms? or just food?

[carey]

I read in another thread where what they had might be flatworms adn I think i have the same scenario. :-(

I just assumed it was uneaten food. They don't move from what i can see and I can blow them off the rocks quite easily. They don't seem to be on my corals at all, just absolutely EVERYWHERE else!

here are some pictures

 

[ccCapt]

Flatworms. No doubt about it.

 

[carey]

Yeah, I just took out a filter piece and they were actually moving. went to get some flatworm exit just before and they were all out....
How do they affect corals? And where do they come from? I literally have hundreds, if not thousands in my tank...gross...

 

[ccCapt]

The come in as hichhikers. Could have come in on a piece of coral or live rock. If you see 1,000, you have 10,000.
Salifert Flatworm Exit works great and will not hurt anything, corals included. Siphon out as many as you can before you start the treatment. As soon as the Flatworm Exit hits the water they will start to die. I used a fine net to scoop them out as they were dying. They are toxic when dead so you want to try to get as many out as possible. After the initial treatment you should treat the tank again in a week to kill any that may have made it thru the 1st treatment. It took me 3 treatments before I killed them all in my system.

 

[carey]

thanks guys. I will follow the directions to a tee.

 

[mr_X]

i had them before and they really overtook the tank. i don't know if it was the addition of fairy wrasses or not, but they disappeared shortly after never to be seen again.
they perch on corals and block them from getting light IME. i didn't see them eating them.
here is some good info about them-
macropyga

this guy says they are ambush predators that eat pods. the introduction of pod eating creatures starves them out...

 

[carey]

Very interesting. I hopefully am getting the flatworm exit today and will treat when i get home. Also planning on re arranging rock so I should be able to net the little buggers as they die off. I had no idea either what these things were until I saw another thread. LOL I should have taken action weeks ago but didn't. My bad. Hopefully I can get rid of these guys and not suffer any losses from the treatment.

Since this is only a 20g uncovered tank with micro fish no wrasses or pod eaters will fit really. lol