flatworms !!!HELP!!!

[rduic]

ive noticed a few flatworms in my tank, what will get rid of them. any fish or inverts that will eat them or prevent them from spawning?

also how do i knwo if these are acro eating flatworms?

and lastly i had a colony of zoas starting to die a while ago, i reef dipped it and found a zoa eating spider.

what eats these just for future prevention!

 

[LockeOak]

First off, don't freak out. Most flatworms are harmless. Everyone has a few crawling around, their populations cycle up and down like everything else. Unless there's a whole ton of them or they are confirmed acroporid eating flatworms, I really wouldn't worry about them. I've never had an outbreak of the coral eating ones, but my understanding is they are rather large and red. The common ones I see are small and brown. I don't know of anything that would make a dent in their population, maybe some kind of hitchiker inverts do. Just wait a couple of weeks, they'll probably mostly die away.

 

[jilet]

Try six line wrasse, i had flat worms and six line ate them all!!!

 

[snorvich]

Agree with above. Then you can worry about how to get rid of the six line wrasse. Or, alternatively flatworm exit works well.

 

[Tennsquire]

A pair of scooter blennies wiped out the flatworm population in my prop system.

 

[btkrausen]

Is this what yours looks like?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1328032

 

[sufunk]

You can also just use a small baster or siphon and suck out whatever ones you can see. Easy and works pretty well. It wont completely rid you of them but much easier and safer than flatworm exit and keeps their numbers at a harmless level.

Like lockeoak said, most are harmless. Unless you have a TON of them completely covering your coral and blocking off the light to it, most are harmless.

 

[rduic]

well they kind of look the the ones in the picture but not exactly. they are about that size

i just got my hands on some flatworm exit. but really dotn want to use it

i have a six line wrasse in my tank.

i will wait a while and see what happens, i only see them on the glass of right now, and have counted about 15!

how safe is flatworm exit to use in a tank?

 

[sufunk]

Supposedly, it is reef safe but the problem is the dying flatworms. They release a toxin when they die and you have to siphon out as many dead ones as possible right as they are dying off when you use flatworm exit. If you dont, you can really foul up your water. The danger is if you have a bunch of flatworms hidden somewhere and cant siphon them out when they die.

I take out whatever rocks i can that have them and dip them in a bowl of tankwater, do the flatworm exit treatment and then rinse the rock and return it. That way you dont have to worry about messing up the water in your display.

Between that and the siphoning they stay at a pretty small number and dont cause any problems with any corals.

 

[btkrausen]

I just used Flatworm Exit in my tank and although the flatworms stopped moving, they would start running around again after hitting them with a scraper. Not sure if it really did anything.

 

[sufunk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11922986#post11922986 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by btkrausen
I just used Flatworm Exit in my tank and although the flatworms stopped moving, they would start running around again after hitting them with a scraper. Not sure if it really did anything.

I'd say that you didnt use a high enough dose then, ime. I've used it probably 10 times in a small bowl with a rock or coral with tons of flatworms on them. After about 15 minutes, they would start dying. After 30-45 minutes they either were laying all dead or stuck dead to the rock and i blow them off with a baster.

 

[azguy]

I once had a major flatworm outbreak. I used the flatworm exit. It worked great. BUT, My flame hawk that I had for 6 years was dead the next day.....I am still in morning!

 

[btkrausen]

I used close to half that little bottle, and I only have a 40G with about 10G in the sump. That whole bottle is rated for 300 Gal.

Maybe they aren't flatworms...or maybe I should try to treat again.

 

[rduic]

ok heres my updated situation.

today i didnt use flatworm exit and sucked out about 30 flatworms from the glass!

i can only see them on the glass and they look like they would be the shape of a stretched out packman.

the are mostly light brown in colour and all about the same size (size of the tip of a pencil).

no corals seem to be affected but i dont want to take any chances!any other fish that eat flatworms?

or any nudibranches?

or shoudl i just keep sucking them out!

how quick can they multiply?