Flat worms

[Im Lon 2]

I noticed tonight I have flat worms in my 15 gallon Nano. The crazy thing is I haven't added anything to that tank in over a year, the bad part is I took things out of that tank and put them in my 240... I have looked really hard in the 240 and have not seen a thing. I thought these things multiplied like crazy.. For not adding anything to my tank in over a year they are really not that bad, in my nano.. There are quite a few but not like I have see some tanks where the whole bottom is covered by them. Looks like I need to get some flatworm exit.. Or get me a pipe fish and let him eat them and get really fat then move him to the big tank.

 

[geoxman]

Hey Lon I have had real good success with a six line wrasse-good luck

 

[StupidsReef]

You dope :eek2:! Hey buy the way what do flat worms look like?? If I get them from your frag's.......Well I'l have to think about what to do to you. No wait! I'll leave my wife at your house for a weekend! Ha! The Devils daughter for you it shall be :eek2:

 

[Im Lon 2]

I'm guessing you have them.. Just keep a close eye out. Come over tomorrow I will show you what they look like.. The are Red flat and look like a little flag.

 

[McBeck]

Lon - I had the same problem in my nano. I didn't add anything for a long time and *POOF* flatworms showed up. Once I saw them, they multiplied like crazy.

I had to move the nano, and apparently flat worms don't like to be exposed to air. I'm not sure if that's what happened, but they all died and crashed the nano.

If you can do FWE now, you should probably do it. You might even do it on your main tank b/c they do multiply like crazy. You probably don't want to wait until you see them in the big tank before you treat it.

 

[cspiroff]

i had red flatworms that came out of NOWHERE! i used flatworm exit and it worked great. you will be amazed by the flatworms that will come out of your rock that you couldn't see.
just follow the directions and you will be flatworm free.

 

[violaceous]

I found a place online that sold Flatworm Exit pretty inexpensively, and low shipping. PM me if you want the link.

Yeah, I had the same problem - they attacked both of my tanks like a plague. Be sure to vacuum as many out as you possibly can before adding the Flatworm Exit, or if you have pieces of live rock that are easily removed, add a few drops to your vacuumed waste water and give them a good rinse and shake. You'd be surprised how many are hiding in crevices. The more you can remove before adding the drops the better - they're really nasty when they die. They send out slimey cobwebby toxins that are definitely not something you want to leave in the tank.

I ran a cannister packed with extra activated carbon on each tank during and after the dosing, and both tanks came out fine. Have some extra water prepared just in case anything starts acting like its in shock so you can do a water change - those buggers are highly toxic when they die. You skimmer will pull some really nasty brown funk out of the tank that night too, so you may want to ckeep an eye on it and do extra cleanings of the collection cup.

My 6 line wrasse wouldn't touch a flatworm with a 10 foot pole. Dratted. But hes a really cool fish anyway [and a complete pig.] hee hee

 

[JxMetal]

I know GWA and Beldt's both have FWE

 

[Im Lon 2]

I picked some up and treated the tank. Seem to work great.

Thanks guys!

 

[JxMetal]

Make sure you treat it twice! Treat it one week after the original treatment. That'll make sure all are dead.

 

[mdcoblentz]

Heres what I do to keep them at bay. I went to lowes and got a bunch of gallon paint strainers. then I clamp one end of a siphon tube to go through the strainer and into my sump. I then start the siphon and suck those SOB's out and into the strainer. works great but definately doesn't get them all as they are hidin in the rock.