6 line vs flatworms

[latazyo]

does anyone know the effectiveness of the 6 line wrasse vs red planaria flatworms?

 

[clown2be]

I don't know about 6 line but I can say any wrasse is better than none. I at least put 3 different kind of wrasse in my tank to keep it clean.

 

[fazgood]

How did you get flatworms?

I did a fresh water dip on the most infested rock and then got a scooter blenny and a manderin. I freaked when I saw how many flatworms I didn't see until the dip. I read where it is up the the wrasse if it eats them or not. Some do and some don't. Some damsels eat them too but both are next to impossible to take out if they don't do what you want.

CAtch a few worms in a turkey baster and see if a lfs will let you try to feed them to a 6 line or any other wrasse.

I got all bunched up about them and with the exception of the shrooms that were infested from a lfs they never really hurt anything. I think this is one of those pests that the cure can do more damage than the pest if you are not careful. I would not suggest the flatworm exit unless you plan to do a major water change and vacuum out the corpses.

Faz

 

[latazyo]

yeah I did flatworm exit about 4 years ago on my first tank

the only way I got flatworms is because I got an anemone on a rock that was infested with them, so I separated the anemone from the rock and left the rock behind...the rock has never touched the tank

so I must have had them from something prior that I didnt notice, or else some hitch hiked on the anemone

whether or not they bother anything, per say, they bother me by covering the glass with a red tint

I have also read about the leopard wrasse potentially eating these things

 

[jbarone]

My six line never touched them. It took me 9 months to get rid of them. It came down to removing all the rock from the tank and doing a dip and swish in a series of buckets with 2x the amount of FWE required, then to a holding tank. After the rock and corals were treated I treated the tank, ran a pound or two of carbon after they started to die then changed about 30% of the water and replaced the rock. I have not seen one since.

JB

 

[latazyo]

does anyone have any experiences with the 6 line wrasse they can share?

mainly concerning their temperament

 

[frenchie]

worked for me, i heard mandarin will eat them sometimes to, even green or yellow coris wrasse i've heard will eat anything small that moves. i had flatworms that disappeared last year after i put in my sixline not there gone and i still have sixline in each tank.

 

[frenchie]

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/flatworm.html

 

[latazyo]

thanks Darrick

I can't have a mandarin because my tank is too small and too young

and I was looking into the yellow coris wrasse and it appears that you need a sandbed for it to bed down in and to retreat to, apparently it buries itself

I have the sandbed, but my concern is that any fish that likes to chill on the bottom of the tank is going to have beef with my snowflake eel

 

[jbarone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11678963#post11678963 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by latazyo
does anyone have any experiences with the 6 line wrasse they can share?

mainly concerning their temperament

My six line is great. Never had any problems with it. It doesn't bother any of the other fish or my shrimp. It swims all day in and out of the rocks. Never touched a coral either. I've seen no aggresion from it what so ever.

JB

 

[kraash]

my six line is a flat worm eating fool, but he is also a mean you know what. It will chase any fish in the tank that is smaller than it is, and sometimes gives my tangs attitude! My newest fish is a royal gramma, about 2'', and the six line chased and nipped it's tail fin any time the basslet was with in 4 foot of it. The aggression has subsided some since the gramma has grown some. HTH

 

[latazyo]

dang, so two opposite experiences.....seems to be pretty typical with most fish in our hobby

 

[baxterdawg]

My Sixline is a model citizen. Actually the only tankmate it has an issue with is itself. It acts like Flo, the blue fish from Finding Nemo. It flags its fin at its reflection all the time, but never at any other fish in the tank, and it was the first one in. Or maybe it is flagging at me, could be trying to tell me something.

 

[mpcart]

I'd just use FWE. Use twice the recommended amount and add some more a few days later. Unless the tank is crawling with flatworms then I wouldn't even bother to change the water. It's the dead flatworms that can poison a tank - not the FWE.

The few times I've had flatworms, that is the approach I used and didn't have any problems.

I think relying on a fish is too hit or miss.

-Mike