Flatworms! What to do?

[Logzor]

Today I noticed some flatworms on the front of the glass. I see 3-4 on one of my xenias and several on my leather coral.

Lately I have had a huge population of amphipods and now I am seeing these flatworms.

What action should I take now that there is a sign of flatworms?

Here are my parameters.

Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
ALK: 240
PH: 7.6

I have a 55 gallon tank, 90 lbs live rock, 25 lbs live sand, tank has been established just over 2 months.

I recently added a bunch of new softies and a few LPS.

I run a 4x65 PC and a CSS 125 skimmer.

Fish include a lawnmower blenny and a watchman goby. I feed every other day with brine shrimp and pellets for the crabs.

I have a handful of snails, hermits, 2 emerald crabs, and some peanut worms.

I usually do a 15% water change every 1-2 weeks.

 

[ReefWreak]

You can always use Salifert's Flatworm Exit. Just dose it carefully along the lines that they suggest and have carbon and waterchange water ready for after the treatment.

 

[Logzor]

Yeah I was not sure if it would be best to wait or just go ahead and dose the flatworm exit.

I do not have carbon, just the skimmer. I am hoping that their numbers are not great enough to do damage when they die.

I am hesitant because they have not actually done any damage yet.

 

[Logzor]

Should I just wait and see if they cause harm or dose now? I really do not want to risk killing stuff in my tank. Since the population appears to be low is it safe or could there be a ton hiding somewhere?

These creatures a very small and brownish colored. So far the corals do not seem phased by them.

Anyone else had experience with these?

 

[ReefWreak]

They really don't do much damage to begin with, they just cover other stuff at worst and look ugly at worst.

The trick is to get them before they're a problem. Cut back on feeding too (fish only need to be fed every few days if you're not filtering like crazy).

I would get carbon and water and do the FWE treatment sooner than later.

 

[Logzor]

How do I use carbon. I have no sump or canister filter.

Only a protein skimmer.

Would it be safe without using carbon?

 

[yellowwatchmen]

You could get a wrasse.

 

[ReefWreak]

Wrasses don't always do it. I bought a sixline. It didn't help.

You can hang the bag of carbon in the tank from a mesh bag or stocking (stocking is cheaper if you don't already have a mesh bag)

 

[Logzor]

Now that I think about it I have noticed them on my xenia for over a week. I do not think their numbers on the corals have changed a great deal in this amount of time.

I think I was alarmed when I noticed them in greater numbers on the glass. Is there any chance they will just die off or control the population on their own or do they always explode in numbers?

 

[MJT82]

As far as running carbon goes, I ran it through a Phosban reactor when I treated my tank with FWE. Worked fine. I had to treat my tank multiple times with FWE to get them all, so make sure you have enough carbon on hand.

 

[Potsy]

It's important to siphon out as many flatworms as you can prior to beginning the fwe treatment. There are always more flatworms hidden than you think. Whenever I perform a water change, I just siphon out as many as possible with airline tubing and that seems to keep them in check. I know that fwe is harmless if used properly but would rather take care of them by mechanical means.

 

[Logzor]

They are so tiny I dont see how I could siphon out a significant amount.

None a larger than 2-3 mm.