flatworms blues!

[cmill5k]

So I've been battling flatworms in my 6 gallon for a little and have been keeping them under control until lately. I've been sucking over 50 of them out of my tank a day for 2 to 3 weeks now. And it seems like there number are uneffected. Theyeve taken a few corals from me now and I'm getn mad. My tank is a sps dominant 6 gallon with a 5.5 gallon fuge/sump. I also have a clam and a few inverts including 2 starfish. I don't want to have to tear the tank apart and dip and clean everything but that's what it is looking like is going to have to happen. So before this I would like to know if there is anything I can resort to that won't harm my corals and inverts? I've looked through several options and haven't found anyrhing better so hopefully I can find something. I'm not very fond of using chems either. I did dip everything before I put it in my tank but it looks like somthing obviously got through the cracks. And I've already tried a small 6 line and it didn't work.

[Coral Hind]

Do you have a pic of the flatworms? Not all flatworms are bad.

 

I have never had any luck with my sixline eating them either but I got a yellow coris wrasse and he went to town on them.

 

I have used FlatwormExit and it works on some flatworms. Even at double dose it never bothered my fish, clams, corals or shrimp.

[cmill5k]

there definatly the nasty red brown ones because ive seen them eaing some of my sps unfortunately

[Sikryd]

Revive is probably your best bet. It will take care of the flatworms in 10-15min dips. You'll have to do it every 3-4 days for about 5 weeks to make sure you get all of the unhatched eggs.

Lanman has a thread on here about how he took care of them.

 

I would also remember to rinse everything off in some old "fresh" tank water prior to putting them back in the tank since you have a small tank (6gal). Otherwise your chemistry could get pretty jacked up.

[Neilan]

Battling them right now too. Did a 150% dose of Flatworm eXit 2 weeks ago, going for round two today. The stuff didn't affect my corals or fish, but didn't wipe the worms out 100% either, so I'll try again.

[Sikryd]

Battling them right now too. Did a 150% dose of Flatworm eXit 2 weeks ago, going for round two today. The stuff didn't affect my corals or fish, but didn't wipe the worms out 100% either, so I'll try again.

 

 

AFAIK flatworm exit doesn't get rid of AEFW's. I may be wrong though.

[lanman]

there definatly the nasty red brown ones because ive seen them eaing some of my sps unfortunately

 

There are many many types of flatworms. If yours are breeding that rapidly, they are probably acoel flatworms - certainly not Acropora-eating flatworms. How did they kill your corals? Unless the numbers are so huge that they COVER the coral, blocking out light - they aren't likely to hurt them. Acoel flatworms don't eat coral, but they will crawl on it.

 

Acoel Flatworm:

 

Acropora-eating Flatworm:

 

Flatworm eXit works fairly well on Acoel flatworms - but you may need a higher-than-recommended dose for full-tank elimination. And be sure to follow directions; i.e. - siphon out as many as humanly possible before dosing. The dead flatworms are somewhat toxic to the tank in large concentrations.

 

If the infestation isn't too bad, you can just keep siphoning them out, and in a few months they are likely to stop reproducing and die.

 

bob

Edited January 10, 2010 by lanman

[Coral Hind]

Lanman is right, there are many types of flatworms. If you can see them as red/brown then they are not AEFW and are probably not eating your SPS. They sound like red Planaria becuase of the way they are spreading. FlatwormExit does work on these and there have been several threads here on how to use it so I would do a search for the info.

[davelin315]

I doubt that you've got the AEFWs if you're siphoning them out of everywhere. These worms I would think tend to stay mainly on the corals and if it's a 6 gallon, I can't imagine that the corals are very big so would be dead by now. What the other ones do when there's a lot of them is they cover and smother out life. Have you tried a few shrimp? I had a 15 gallon with an infestation that began right after I lost a little yellow coral banded shrimp. Before that, it went to town on them.

[cmill5k]

I thought they were aefw but they are planaria. I was wrong about my first guess. Yea they pretty much smothers a few smaller frags I got and are irritating corals. I have a blood shrimp in there but he doesn't seem to eat them. I have a arrow crab In the fuge and he may or may not be eating them but he's not in the display where its. Mainly a problem. I haven't heard of people having good luck w fwe and planaria. How much do you think it would effect the tanks if the rock were to all be fw dipped for a few seconds? I'm assuming it'd have a prtty negitive effect. I also notice they are imn my macro in the fuge, I'm guessing I need to get rid of that stuff too and get new?

[cmill5k]

SAlo debating a flatworm eating nudi if I can find one

[davelin315]

I would avoid the arrow crab, they are very predatory. Since you have it already, you may want to test it out, but I can't remember if you have any fish, but it'll potentially eat the shrimp and any other small crabs or snails you have, too.

 

Flatworm Exit does the trick from what I understand, the problem is that if you're not careful with how you do it, you could nuke the whole tank because of dying flatworms. I would prepare maybe 20 gallons of water change and have it on hand for when you use the FWE if you opt for it.

 

For me, the best option would be to reduce the numbers and then find a biological solution. The slug will quickly eat the population and then die off from lack of food. Also, a 6 gallon is limited on what you could add to it to eat them. Is your rock work extensive? If not, maybe dip the entire thing...

[lanman]

If it is only 6 gallons - and as Davelin mentioned, the rockwork isn't fancy - you can pull out the rocks/corals and dip them in eXit in a bucket. Only takes about 20 minutes, I think. Then rinse them in another bucket by swishing them around. You will get 90% of them at least, and then you can treat the tank without worrying about the toxins.

 

bob

[cmill5k]

The fxe rock and coral dip sounds like my best bet, yea nudi would more than likely be last resort and would have to find it a home after mine. I have a small 6 line wrasse that wouldn't eat them. I wouldn't trust the arrow crab that's why he's by himself in the fuge cuz I like arrow crabs a lot n he can't hurt anything there.

[George]

I had an infestation of those green/brown flatworms a few years ago. One thing I read and found in practice was that you can clean them off rock and corals with just a plain freshwater dip (pH matched, of course). It doesn't kill them outright, but they will release quite nicely (almost instantly, when you dip) and virtually all of them fall off with a little agitation or a blast from a powerhead.

 

Might want to just try that before going the chemical route.

Edited January 11, 2010 by George