flatworm ID...Planaria or Acoel?

[James77]

These friggin things have infested my tank again, and I am looking for a way to be rid of them. I had tried FWE last summer, but there were far more than I thought, and it wiped out everything in my tank. All fish and coral were lost, even with a 50% water change and carbon....luckily I wasn't heavily stocked.

These are all over several rocks, usually shaded areas....as well as some of the sand bed. I am looking for which it is, because I am hoping to try a Hoevens Wrasse to help control them along with syphoning. I am also contemplating another break down to rinse the rocks of all these....

 

[BIGG D]

Dang Jim!
Not good brother. Looks like the Red Planeria to me. I feel ya man. I had the same infestation a while back. Could not find a fish that would eat them so I had to use FWE. It definetly worked!!!! Like you, the flatwoorm toxin wiped out half my live stock. They began to pop back up a few weeks later and I had to do a second treatment...but I caught it early and all is well now.
I cant imagine why FWE did not work for you. maybe you got a bad batch or something. I have a 175 gallon tank. Within 60 seconds of application, flatworms were floating all over the place. I didnt realize untill then how bad my infestation really was.

Good luck!

 

[James77]

I hear stories olike yours of not being able to get a fish to take care of it.....I think I am just going to break everything down, dunk and swish the rocks to get 90%+ of them, and just hit the tank several times with the FWE again.

 

[mscarpena]

All I had to do was cut back on my feeding and all of mine died off in like 2 months. They never came back. I cut my feeding in half.

 

[James77]

Just an update....

I removed all rock and dunked/swished them in water and vacuumed out the worst parts of sand. I'd estimate I got 95% of them that way. I waited for several days, and only a small patch of them seemed to rebound under one rock. Happens to be the very last rock I removed and cleaned....was probably too tired .

I siphoned those out and any stray ones I had on the sand. I saw no more on any of the rocks. I dosed the recommended amount of FWE today, and it started killing them within minutes. Far, far less floating around than the first time I did it. Even netting for 15-20 minutes only captured a few dozen of them. No yellow color or stench....good signs.

All coral and fish seem happy enough a few hours later. Carbon is running and will be changed 2x more today. I will hit it with a second and possibly third dose next weekend to kill these things off for good. Then adjust my feedings or whatever caused them to explode in the first place.

 

[flyyyguy]

I probably wouldnt worry about a 3rd dose so much as I would hitting them with a 4x dose of it the second time around.

Once you know you are safe from the toxins hit them and hit them hard. make sure any tough guys die

 

[James77]

I probably wouldnt worry about a 3rd dose so much as I would hitting them with a 4x dose of it the second time around.

Once you know you are safe from the toxins hit them and hit them hard. make sure any tough guys die

Good idea, will do- thanks for the suggestion. I see literally a handful of possible survivors on the bottom. Little do they know whats coming .