Flatworm Problem, Need treatment help

[chadscharf]

I was just informed by a fellow reefer that my 90g is infested with flatworms. For about a month now I thought all these little red mushroom looking guys were just that, some sort of fungia that had spawned in my tank. To my dismay I now know why my acros are starting to bleach.

He informed that there might be a few methods for erraticating these little pests, however I had to be careful because of what's in my tank.

I'm hoping someone with some experience or expertise in dealing with these can help:

Here's what's in my tank right now:

90g main / 20g w/ 15g filled (total volume - LR = approx 75g.
1 Blue Hippo Tang
1 Yellow Tang
1 Spotted Mandarin Goby
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
1 Peppermint Shrimp
30 or so turbo snails
20 or so blue leg hermit crabs
5 emerald crabs
3 large acro colonies (unidentified)
1 small green tip purple acro
3 medium sized SPS (brown and red)
1 large candy cane LPS (13 heads)
2 large hammer one green, one yellow (40 heads total)
3 large toadstool leathers
Xenia (more than I can count)
a few zoa colonies
green brain
2 clams (have no clue what type)
plate montipora
encrusting hairy montipora
6 or so large kenya trees
green hairy mushrooms
green metalic mushrooms
purple metalic mushrooms
5 large ricordia mushrooms
all on top of a 3" deep sand bed.

I was told that the snails and hermits would practically be toast if I did a treatment, but that I should begin a treatment as soon as possible before these little guys get out of hand.

Any help would be appreciated as I really don't want to loose all my acros and would like to put more in at some point.

I don't have a good picture either for ID as my camera sucks and I've tried. These things are all over my glass and rocks and look like little translucent purple clovers or baby purple/reddish mushrooms.

My primary questions are (I know I finally got to the point!)
1. With what do I treat my tank with and how?
2. What kind of doseage do I use with my water volume and at what interval?
3. What frequency of water-changes, etc do I need to perform duing the treatment and should the skimmer be off/on, should I be running carbon, additional filtration, etc?
4. What is the best way to cyphen these things out when they start dying?

Thank you in advance.
- Chad

 

[Hattie B]

Hi chad,

Look into flatworm exit. I have read about it and it seems to work really well. (also look through the forums as there has been some threads about it).

You have to be carful though, with water quality if you use a product like Flatworm Exit. The mass die off of flatworms can cause problems in the tank. You need to be prepared for a WC and to siphion/catch the dead ones as they die.

HB

 

[chadscharf]

Thanks Hattie. I have been informed by a few fellow hobbyist to try the flatworm exit so I think I will. I've also been told to siphion as many as possible out of the tank before and after treatment as well as run tons of carbon to pull the toxins out as fast as possible.

I appreciate the help.

Thanks,
Chad

 

[Hattie B]

exactly, the toxins is what will kill your tank.

Also is you can see them all over the place be prepared that there is probably a lot more then you think. (I have seen it before)

Might be a good idea to get some help where someone siphons and collects.

Good luck!

 

[Krazy]

What Kinda fish eat the flat worms ??

and isnt there a blue velvet nudi ??

 

[chadscharf]

There's some kind of Damsel that will eat the worms and supposedly some gobies will eat them as well as the 6 and/or 8-line wrasse. Personally I was told this by a LFS owner who is Mr. Anti-Chemical there's a natural solution to everything guy so I don't know how effective these guys are at eating them, but they might keep them under control.