Flatworm taken over 300+ gallon tank

[dkreef]

My tank is a reef and has 4 fish and some corals for now. i got about 350 lbs of LR and 300lbs of LS. Flatworms have taken over everywhere and i dont know what to do.

I was considering emptying the whole tank, and medicate the LR, LS, and sump w/ flatworm exit and start all over.

Anyone have good suggestions?

 

[Crazy4salth2o]

take the corals out and nuke the tank with flatworm exit. then do a major water change. The stuff (flatworm exit) works instantly.

 

[dkreef]

what about fish? dont flatworms emit poison when they die?

 

[Elliott]

Flatworms (Red Planaria) can be treated with flatworm exit without having to remove your livestock. Follow the directions and be ready to scoop out the dead flatworms as they float to the surface with a net. You can also use a baster to blow them off your rock and net them before you treat, which will reduce the chances of toxicity from released toxins after they die.

 

[dkreef]

you dont understand, i have thousands of flatworms covering all the entire LR and even glass and sand. also the ones hiding under the rock is hard to remove.

 

[reefkeeper135]

have any pics?? by your description sounds like something out of a movie.

 

[ycnibrc]

you need more flow to suspense detritus. Flatworm only appear when your tank is dirty. If you have substrate you need to siphon the detritus from it and intime the flatworm will disapear.

 

[dkreef]

after using flatworm exit, does most flatworm float up when there're dead?

 

[ReefingBuddha]

with enough flow they will be pulled into the water column there they can be removed. Flat worm exit works very well and as others have mentioned just scoop them up as they die and float in the water. Please take some before and after pictures so we can all so how bad it is... Thanks! and good luck.

 

[Hooked_on_Phish]

It’s very important to run carbon after using FW exit, especially when you have as many as you do. Also I would absolutely have a lot of premade water on hand to do a water change.

Also I would expect you’ll have to treat more than once. But that first dose is going to create a lot of toxins so you’ll need to do a large water change and run carbon to remove them.

Good Luck

 

[wizsmaster]

siphon as many as you can before hand.
Have PLENTY of carbon, and saltwater on hand to perform water changes.
Get some extra power heads or pumps into the tank, if you don't have alot of flow. They will be hiding in the nooks & crevices, and if you don't have very good flow, 3 weeks from now you'll be at the same point again.
I'd take a few maxijet 1200's, and blow through the rockwork!

And if You siphon them out, do NOT reuse the water!!! Don't try to filter out the flatworms & then pump the water back into the tank.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Untamed12]

this is from personal experience...

Get some flexible airline tubing, and some rigid airline tubing. Cut off a pencil length of rigid tubing and connect it to the flexible tubing. Start a siphon and use the rigid end like a pencil to siphon out as many flatworms as you can.

The advantage of the airline tubing is that you can siphon for a long time without pulling out too much water. I found that the siphoned worms would fall to the bottom of the siphon bucket and I could just put the siphoned water right back in and repeat for the rest of the day!

Once you have siphoned out as many flatworms as you can see/find....then you are ready to do the flatworm Exit and follow the above mentioned instructions.

 

[wizsmaster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11738981#post11738981 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Untamed12
this is from personal experience...

The advantage of the airline tubing is that you can siphon for a long time without pulling out too much water. I found that the siphoned worms would fall to the bottom of the siphon bucket and I could just put the siphoned water right back in and repeat for the rest of the day!

i would STONGLY recommend NOT doing that!
Been there .. done that ... lost 75% of my tank doing it that way. hence my prior post. I'm not sure if flatworms release their toxins when stressed as well, or just when dyeing ... but either way .. chances are high you will release toxins into the water.

Use the opportunity for a water change.

 

[wizsmaster]

stongly = strongly

 

[hobogato]

i agree with the wiz on this one, had a small infestation in my clam tank. siphoned thru a filter and put the water back in. bad idea.... didnt lose much, but my corals were not happy for a couple of weeks.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

I removed as many corals as I could and treated them in dip tanks, discarding the water and dead flatworms when finished.

I also tested a rock. meaning I took a couple of rocks from the tank and put them in a fresh dip bucket. I did not see a significant number of flatworms from the rocks, so I proceeded to return the corals to the tank and treat the entire system. I did ~30% water changes at 18 and 48 hours post treatment and added a ton of carbon.

Here is my favorite video on the flat worms freaking out!

 

[ReefingBuddha]

... now I remember how creepy those things are, its been a while since I've had to deal with that problem. You do have quite an infestation and they look nice and fat/health as well. Lucky you!

How's the treatment worked out for you thus far? Get most of them? I am also found that most of the ones on the rocks can be siphoned out without needing to treat the tank, just get a strong siphon going and have at them.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Well, I treated the tank back on the first weekend in December. Haven't seen a flatworm since...been long enough that I am starting to feel like it worked...

About 10 days after the first dose, I dosed again even though I didn't see any. I used about 4 bottles in total on my 210 with 75 sump. This was between treating the whole tank and the dip tanks I made up.

I say "dip" tanks, but I let the corals sit for about 2 hours, occasionally picking them up and shaking them around. Then dunked them in a clean bucket (saltwater with no FWE). Just trying to wash off as many as possible before returning them to the display.

 

[Untamed12]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11739012#post11739012 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wizsmaster
i would STONGLY recommend NOT doing that!
Been there .. done that ... lost 75% of my tank doing it that way. hence my prior post. I'm not sure if flatworms release their toxins when stressed as well, or just when dyeing ... but either way .. chances are high you will release toxins into the water.

Use the opportunity for a water change.

Sounds like I got lucky. It was a small (20gallon) tank, so I'm surprised that it never showed any signs of stress when I did it. Certainly safer NOT to reuse the water....

 

[PhantomLoneWolf]

I have a ton of red flat worms in my 90gal reef. I have tried FWE but they keep coming back. I know why... I have crushed coral as a substrate and the little critters hide in the crushed coral and escape their doom. I am interested in the dip that Fiziksgeek did. I am setting up a new 180 gal with sand substrate and was planning on doing a dip on all my LR when transfering them to the new set up. Has anyone else done that and what type of results and advice can you give.