I have a 180 gallon bowfront that I have had set up for about 10 years now. Just in the past 6 month I have been struggling very badly with flatworms(The really little brownish red ones). They have gotten to the point where my sand is totally covered along with my rocks. Most of my corals seem to be fine as I have good flow in the tank. Right now to solve the problem I have two blue velvet nudibranchs and a melanarus wrasse that don't seem to be doing too much to solve this. I know there is a product out there that kills them but I have many fish in the tank and am worried to use the product. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Eliminating FlatWorms
- Thread starter Carter34
- Start date
PanicBuyer
New member
Follow the directions for the said exiting product and you will be fine. The part about running activated carbon to remove the toxins is key. Be prepared to do more than one treatment. They are relentless but can be beaten.
steallife904
New member
there are some wrasses that eat them as well.... maybe look into one as well
noticed you mentioned you had a wrasse already, might be another type I am referring to. not positive
noticed you mentioned you had a wrasse already, might be another type I am referring to. not positive
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I have 3 yellow tangs 2 regals and 1 large sail fin and 2 foxes. Do you think even with the high quantity of flatworms that I have they will be fine. My plan was to siphon as many as possible before treating and then as doing the treatment do many water changes. I haven't really looked into the product too much so I have not heard about the carbon method that you mentioned. I will look into that some more. Thank you for your input.
YesI have heard that the melanarus is the best but also the yellow corris. Was thinking about getting a couple more. Don't see my melanarus eating them much but I'm sure he does every once in a while.
Do exactly that, using the activated carbon during and after the water changes. The more you can get out before the treatment the easier it will be. And make sure you remove the carbon and repeat the treatment after 3 days (?) according to the instructions even if you don't see any flatworms in the tank. Otherwise they WILL come back.
One more thing: You know you'll need to find a home for those nudibranchs after you do the treatment, right? Otherwise they're just going to starve to death in your tank.
Yes I did realize that. Will try and find a local guy who has the worms!
The way I treated my out break was by using Flatworm exit every three days, I used double the recommended dosage and preformed a 50% water change after each treatment. Also changed my carbon after each treatment, I did this 4 times. On the third treatment I didn't see any more flat worms the 4th treatment was a precaution in case some eggs where still around that hatched after the last treatment. I have not seen a flatworm in 7 months. Gl on which ever way you decide to go.
Do you have fish in your tank and could you see any reaction with them?
Will definitely look into this. Thank you
FullBoreReefer
New member
I tried the flatworm exit stuff. It worked so so. BUT, I then got a Melanurus wrasse and he cleaned them up over a months period. I got rid of him about 6mths after that. It's now been 2yrs and haven't seen any since!
I posted this in 2012. It did work. I haven't had a flatworm problem since. I remember all the brittle stars that I hadn't removed seemed to die while I treated the tank but recovered and disappeared afterwards. Hope this helps you.
Hi, I have a 34 gallon red sea tank. It had been operating over 3 years with seahorses, etc. Some of my seahorses died so I gave the remaining away and decided to treat my tank for flatworms, which I have had for at least 2 years. The visible critters in my tank were a fire shrimp, a pom pom crab, brittle stars, snails, hermits, and brittle worms. I fed lightly the weeks before I treated my tank, since there weren't any remaining seahorses. A few days before I treated my tank I syphoned the visible flatworms off the glass, using small airline tubing, which is how I controlled the flatworms for the last 2 years. I turned off my skimmer and my pumps, took out the hermit crabs and snails that I could see and started with a double dose. I put the critters in a bucket with some tank water. After an hour the brittle worms came out and looked dead so I put them in the bucket. I continued to remove all brittle worms and snails that I saw throughout the day. I added a third dose after about 2 hours, then turned on the skimmer and pump for circulation. I added another dose after about 4 hours then a 5th dose in the 5th hour. I let everything alone for about 10 hours then changed about half the water. I never did see many flatworms, less than 100 or so tiny ones dead on the sandbed. I thought there would be thousands since I have had them for so long and they become epidemic whenever I added phyto to my tank for the copepods. Anyways, I guess I didn't have too many. I stirred the rim of the sandbed around the glass,in case any were hiding there. I treated again 2 days later using a double dose and using carbon after treating. My last treatment was a week after the first treatment, and again it was a double dose, or a little more, as I finished the flatworm exit bottle. I did a 50% water change the day after the final tank treatment and I also started carbon. I did take the pom pom crab out after the 1st treatment but I never caught the shrimp and I dont know if its alive. I havent returned the removed critters to the tank yet, but I see a few snails, hermits, and brittle stars that survived all three treatments (makes me wonder if some flatworms survived too). I will post in the coming weeks about whether I see any flatworms. I plan to use phyto and add tigerpods to boast the pod population, so I there are any surviving flatworms then I should know soon, since phyto makes their population explode. I plan to get a pair of seahorses in about 3 weeks, and a goby/pistol shrimp. IT WAS A HUGE PITA! It better of worked!!!
Hi, I have a 34 gallon red sea tank. It had been operating over 3 years with seahorses, etc. Some of my seahorses died so I gave the remaining away and decided to treat my tank for flatworms, which I have had for at least 2 years. The visible critters in my tank were a fire shrimp, a pom pom crab, brittle stars, snails, hermits, and brittle worms. I fed lightly the weeks before I treated my tank, since there weren't any remaining seahorses. A few days before I treated my tank I syphoned the visible flatworms off the glass, using small airline tubing, which is how I controlled the flatworms for the last 2 years. I turned off my skimmer and my pumps, took out the hermit crabs and snails that I could see and started with a double dose. I put the critters in a bucket with some tank water. After an hour the brittle worms came out and looked dead so I put them in the bucket. I continued to remove all brittle worms and snails that I saw throughout the day. I added a third dose after about 2 hours, then turned on the skimmer and pump for circulation. I added another dose after about 4 hours then a 5th dose in the 5th hour. I let everything alone for about 10 hours then changed about half the water. I never did see many flatworms, less than 100 or so tiny ones dead on the sandbed. I thought there would be thousands since I have had them for so long and they become epidemic whenever I added phyto to my tank for the copepods. Anyways, I guess I didn't have too many. I stirred the rim of the sandbed around the glass,in case any were hiding there. I treated again 2 days later using a double dose and using carbon after treating. My last treatment was a week after the first treatment, and again it was a double dose, or a little more, as I finished the flatworm exit bottle. I did a 50% water change the day after the final tank treatment and I also started carbon. I did take the pom pom crab out after the 1st treatment but I never caught the shrimp and I dont know if its alive. I havent returned the removed critters to the tank yet, but I see a few snails, hermits, and brittle stars that survived all three treatments (makes me wonder if some flatworms survived too). I will post in the coming weeks about whether I see any flatworms. I plan to use phyto and add tigerpods to boast the pod population, so I there are any surviving flatworms then I should know soon, since phyto makes their population explode. I plan to get a pair of seahorses in about 3 weeks, and a goby/pistol shrimp. IT WAS A HUGE PITA! It better of worked!!!
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