Flatworm HELP

[Lpabsolute]

Hey guys. I have a 30g cube tank. Its been setup for about a year and plenty of growth. I have a flatworm issue. I've been dealing with them for the past 3 months. I have dosed flatworm exit, and haven't noticed that it does anything. I add it to tank then wait about an hour before doing water change. Nothing....I have sucked all of them out of the tank (all that are visible) then done water change, but they still come back a few days later. I have been doing weekly water changes and keep sucking them out with hose but they still come back. I purchased a sixline but he jumped out the tank. IDK what else to do at this point. Can't take everything out of the tank, they are starting to effect my corals, lost frogspawn that i had on my sand bed as well as a few dusters. Please give advice.....

 

[youngguns27]

My friend had a melanarus wrasse (I think that is the right spelling) and it worked wonders.

 

[stephenhall1987]

Do you have a sump on that tank? I set a filter sock in the sump, and ran a siphon hose into it. I manually siphoned as many flat worms out as I could. Then I dosed the flat worm exit a full one and a half dose for my tank volume (not waiting 45 minutes). Immediately see flatworms shriveling up and floating away. I did not do a water change or dose carbon etc for 24 hours after dosing. (I understand that this may be "dangerous" but it was the only way I could gain control. I experienced no adverse affects).

This got rid of them "all" for a few months. I believe for longterm control, it would be best to have a wrasse that would keep them under control.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Try a triple dose and wait longer before doing the water change/carbon, suck up all you can while they are dieing. If that don't work try a wrasse.

To the above poster- I think you have to dose again in a few days to kill any newborns off that may have been in eggs during the first treatment.

 

[Almondsaz]

I have had good luck with a yellow coris wrasse keeping the flatworm population in check. When I had an outbreak I did the manual syphon to help get a jump on the flatworm population and then the yellow coris did the rest. As with most things, you are dependent on the fish doing as advertised (eating the flatworms) and I have been lucky.

 

[thegrun]

Use a double dose of FWE and treat three times 4 days between treatments.

 

[WillM]

+1 on FWE. If they are that bad then the worms are worse than the side effects of the treatment. It works. Just run carbon afterwards and siphon out as many dead ones as you can.

 

[zoafarm]

FWE will work. You may need to increase the dose as was previouly mentioned. Just remember that they do release toxins into the water as they die. So I would keep some carbon handy. Also, if there are any pieces that have a lot of flatworms on them, it might be worth while to pull those pieces out and treat them seperately in a bucket first.

When I treated my tank (75gal), I had to nearly triple the dosage before they really started dying off. Once it looked like I had killed off the majority and my corals were looking a little stressed, I added in some carbon. Two days later I added a melanurus wrasse. The wrasse is a beast, and mine loves flatworms.

Good luck and Happy Reefing

 

[MrIcky]

I agree on the extra strength dosage- I did iirc 3x dosage once every 3 days for 3 or 4 treatments and they were pretty much gone after that.