Flatworms! Flatworm Exit or Melanurus Wrasse?

[Yedgy]

Hi everyone! :wave:

Over the past several weeks I've noticed anywhere from half a dozen to two dozen tiny gray flatworms (they look like tiny Star Trek insignia) stuck to the glass. They slowly accumulate between glass cleanings. I've been siphoning them out with some airline tubing during water changes. I haven't noticed any worms on corals, the sand bed, or on the rocks, and certainly nothing like the description of living mats of flatworms I've seen on RC.

I have a mixed reef (transitioning toward SPS-dominant) with 2 Percula clowns, a Banggai cardinal, a purple firefish, and a banded coral shrimp.

Am I better off dosing Flatworm Exit at this point, or should I consider a melanurus wrasse? Both?

Equipment-wise, I'm ready for either option. I have a carbon reactor and plenty of ROX carbon, and a mesh cover to control the jumpers (I understand wrasses can be quite acrobatic).

Which to do?

Thanks!

 

[SushiGirl]

Gray ones shouldn't be an issue, it's usually the red ones. We traded for some chaeto from a local guy & ended up with a bajillion of them in the fuge to add to some we had in the DT, so my boyfriend bought a very small female melaranus wrasse. They were all gone pretty quickly. Now we need to move her to the display because those have really taken off & the yellow coris isn't doing anything about them LOL.

At this point we're kind of waiting because we can't seem to keep 4 fish in the DT, the 4th always ends up dead with 3 "non-aggressive" fish in there & I'd rather not lose the shy, pretty little girl that has worked so hard in the fuge. Hopefully everyone can hold off until the 140 is running (we're getting closer) and we can move a couple of fish over then put her in the 55 DT.

I refuse to put chemicals in our tanks, so personally I'd go with the melaranus if you have the room. The females are beautiful, the males are gorgeous.

 

[scapes]

I've done both-
Fw exit-endless dosing, water changes, it never got all the worms, irritated corals

Fish-ate every single one of them! Perfect elimination with zero chemical usage. CON-will eat your shrimp, snails, and crabs.

I sacrificed my invert usage just to keep flatworms away.

 

[rhino509]

ive used flatworm exit on 4 occasions now with no ill results afterwards.used as directed,ran carbon as directed,did the pre siphon and water change as directed.kept all fish and inverts during and afterwards.(including dragonette,i use as staple/hard to keep fish in my setup as its the most delicate fish i have)

(i even dosed heavy 2 of the times...and on the last dose i didnt run the carbon....all was the same,no ill results) even so it DIDNT kill all of the worms any of the times ive dosed...i figure it might be something i just have to deal with...the wrasse could be an option for me later down the road once i have a bigger tank.

 

[cloak]

Along with the wrasse or any chemicals you might add to the tank, don't forget about this procedure.

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

EDIT: My bad, I didn't see that the OP had already mentioned this in the first post.

 

[Yedgy]

Thanks for the response, folks! It appears that the wrasse is winning out (although I'm quite attached to the coral banded shrimp, LOL). Just so I'm sure, are the "bad" flatworms the kind shown in the following post (7th photo)?

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20565842&postcount=1

Mine look nothing like those. A pic of mine is here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2243574

So a wrasse may be my best bet?