Flat worms

Peanut122267

Peanut122267

New member
I have flatworms. I used Rid eXit about 2 months ago two days in a row. I did everything right by the instructions. I sucked out as many as I could then does accrdingly. NOW the are back. Obviously it didnt kill them all. Im scared to tread it again because of my corals. I have a toadstool leather,zoanthids, black barrol sponge, kenya trees, Poccilopora, pom pom xenia's and spongeodes....pardon my spelling :)

Is it safe to keep dosing with these corals? I dont want to hurt them. Ever since the first dose my toadstool hasnt been the same.

Any info or tips are greatly appreciated, thank you.

I have 2 clownfish and a blue damsel. Can you reccomend the best fish to eat the worms or other chemical that will kill them that will not harm my existing fish and corals?
 
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Is the "Blue" damsel you have a Springer Damsel? Regular blues don't touch flatworms....

"So I was in a LFS the other day getting a ballast (never fun) and mentioned to the SW guy named Andy (Pets Inc. in Tempe AZ) that I had a small infestation of Flatworms for about 6 months now. He pointed me to this tank with 2 damsels in it. Says that these blue "Damsels" will eat them, they are not the regular blue damsels. SURE I said, but decided to take him home and give it a shot. Well its been about a month now and he gets along GREAT with my female Picasso clown (who is a real you know what) and there is no sign whatsoever of Flatworms. CRAZY. So I thought I would send this to you, for your posting pleasure on XXX and maybe you can ID the damsel, maybe just a common blue damsel? Anyway Enjoy and will talk soon!!!"



Copy and paste of another thread on another site.........
 
I used flat worm exit and followed the directions. I then got a Christmas wrasse and a melanarus wrasse and haven't seen one in a year! My leopards would eat em too I'm sure!
As stated above yellow coris wrasse as well. All wrasses are PONTENTIAL jumpers just FYI! Good luck!
 
I had the same issue a while ago and used Flatworm Stop by Zeovit. It is not a poison, but a product that makes the corals produce more mucus, hence making them "less attractive" to AEFW's. It is totally safe to use!
It needs a couple of months to be fully effective, but blasting the corals to make the worms visible to the fish (once they are in the water column, most fish will eat them, not only wrasses) every other day did the trick: after about a month and a half, no more AEFW's.
 
Yes you can re-treat the tank, just make sure you have a change of water ready. Depending on the size of your tank a melanurus may or may not be a good idea. They do annhialate flatworms but are better suited for larger tanks. The smaller, yellow coris wrasse would be a good addition to anything under 40 gallons.
 
I got a melanarus to control red planaria. He didn't, but he took out my whole clean up crew and any I added. I swear I could see him looking longingly at the tank across the room, trying to figure out how much wiggle and breath holding he would have to do to get over to it.
Your experience may vary, but wanted to throw the warning out there.
 
I got a six-line wrasse and he is really working on getting rid of them for me. My rocks and corals were just covered with them. I thought I had some type of algae at first until I so them moving. Now the only onesI see are right next to the sand bed on the front glass. I am sure there are more of them but he has cleaned up most of them in less than 3 weeks.
 
A lot of wrasses, especially a Coris, will decimate your clean up crew. Flatworm exit will create other issues.

Do some research on the Springer Damsel. They are very nice looking also.
 
Are flatworms and bristle worms same I. Heard that they are not bad the are like a clean up crew eating leftover food and dying stuff if I'm wrong please let me know thanks
 
Bristle worms are like vultures. Ugly but necessary to clean up the remains. A lot of fish stores say kill them (they usually do this because they handle their products a lot and don't like getting stung). If you find a fish store that says this, be wary of any other info they provide.

My 2 big bristleworms are named Bert and Ernie and they are each about 8 inches long fully extended. They only eat dead and rotting stuff that would otherwise damage your water parameters.

Flat worms are pests that reproduce so quickly as to create an issue with blocking light from your corals if not fixed as well as munching on live tissue of the corals.

You want bristle worms (just not in excess), you never want flatworms.

HTH
 
No fish I know of really eat bristleworms. I think that an arrow crab will eat small ones but will also eat other things in your tank (some soft corals).

If you have too many bristleworns, get a trap. Small tube that has a reverse cone with hole. But as said before, you want bristleworms. They move through the openings in your rock and keep detritus from camping out and becoming a nitrate factory.
 
Any fish that is listed here (and elsewhere) has a reasonably strong chance of not ever touching your flatworms. My advice is that if you want that fish, go ahead and get it, and if it eats the FW, that's a bonus. Otherwise you risk adding a fish to your tank that you didn't really want that isn't doing what you want it to do (and may be doing other things you don't want it to do).
 
Can you kill flat worms in freswater dip if there hitchhiking or is there anything out there thag will kill them in a dip
 
I was starting to get a big infestation of FW. I picked up a melanarus and the FW were gone within a weeks time. He has taken to eating turned over snails though but will leave my small hermit alone.
 
I have used a betadine solution to dip corals before introducing them into my main tank. I cannot remember the ratio but I think it was 3 drops in 1 gallon of RO/DI water. Not sure if this is an accepted method or not, but as with most of the posts in here, it is an opinion and worked for me in the past.

Remember that most posts in here are from personal experience and not an absolute. A lot of suggestions are opinions and should be further researched before using. HTH
 
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