flatworm infestation! help!

[theROYSKIE]

i have a 200 gal propagation tank that is infested with flatworms, every corallimorph is covered. what is the best way 2 rid myself of these little buggars? ive heard that they r no threat to the coral. and have been advised to let them alone unless manually removing them during a water change. but i have a sixline wrasse and a couple of peppermint shrimp, ive heard that they have been known 2 help combat these eye sores.
please help
any info or insight is greatly apprieciated and needed!
pics up tommorow
thanks
Royskie

 

[Jeff]

I have never had them but I hear that Flatworm Exit by Salifert works great if used correctly.

 

[get-r-done]

I had a very bad infestationm of them about 6 months back I purchased a few Velvet Nudibranches and a malinarsis wrasse ( spelling ? ) , I think the nudibranches did the most good but after the food supply is gone they supposedly could die off . The wrasse is supposed to eat them as well. I have never seen him eat them but I have seen the nudis eat them But it has been a while since I've seen the nudis, maybe thy died off because they consumed the flat worms and had nothing to eat. I don't know for sure. they are also supposed to be fairly fragile.
I have a 220 gallon tank so they have plenty of space to hide in . maybe thy are doing ok. they are also supposd to be mostly nocternal.

in any evetn the combonation of the 2 animals and I virtually have none left. I used to have tons .

hope this helps

Jim

 

[6 man reef]

I had a terrible infestation. Tried flatworm exit (salifert) killed most but the multiplication continued. My worries of contamination kept me from repeating the treatment.
A 25 year veteran at the LFS told me to add a scooter blenny and in 3 weeks I couldnt find a single flat worm.

 

[keith1569]

def good to know about the different options available

 

[aquarius77]

I think that you guys are thinking red planiara. As far as i know the type of flat that attacks mushrooms is not the same as the one that covers your rocks and sand. Does FWE get rid of the ones on the shrooms as well? Will a scooter eat them off of a coral, hows about the nudis?

 

[spleify]

I am battling this same problem right now. I noticed them in my frag tank, and didn't see them any where else(refugium or DT). I decided to get the Salifert flat worn exit.
Because I only saw them in the frag tank, I decided to treat only that. I have about 25 frags in the frag tank, which is a lot less than what is in the DT. I did exactly as instructed, and it worked awesome. No ill effects on any of the corals, pods, or snails. Killed every single flat worm in the frag tank. Later that night I started looking even closer to the refugium, and saw that there were tons of them in there as well. I still have not seen any in the DT. But I assume I will have to treat the whole system now.
I have a six line wrass in the DT, so maybe that is why I havn't seen any in there.
HTH
Spleify

 

[chillman]

I have used flat worm exit successfully as well. Try and siphon off as many as you can before you use fwe. Be sure and run carbon after if you use fwe as when they die they put a lot of bad toxins in the water.

 

[currentking]

I have a 6 line wrasse that takes care of it for me.

 

[shackscs]

I also recently had a problem with flat worms. They infested my 65 gallon tank like you would not believe. I siphoned what I could over a few days. I then treated with flat worm exit. I did the recommended dose. Waited for an hour, and dosed half the amount as they were not all dead yet. I finally did another half dose 45 minutes later and got them all.

I followed that with a 25 gallon water change and running a pound of carbon through a canister filter for two days.

The tank is spotless and I have not seen any since and that is was about two weeks ago.

Please note that flat worms release quite a bit of toxins in the water so have prepared water and carbon ready to go when you are done.

Good luck.