Flatworms

[daveml]

I have so had it with these little pests. It started out with a few that i manually removed. Now I have a real problem. I've been using an airline tube to remove them over the last couple of weeks and can not keep up with them. Really wish I would have used Flatworm Exit when I first noticed them.

Anyone have experience with FWE? My plan is to to remove as many as possible then nuke the tank. I plan on doing a water change and removing as many of the dead FW. I'll be running carbon and my skimmer.

Anyone care to share their experiences with FWE. I am kind of freaking out about putting it in my tank but really don't know what else to do.

 

[tahoe61]

Fw

Fw

It is a good plan to get as many out as possible first. You do not want the skimmer running initially. Inverts such as starfish, any types of crabs and shrimp are very sensitive to the FWE. If you have any clams or anemones you will want to remove them prior to tx.
Tx followed up by a large water change and carbon use is also essential. It sounds like you have it under control. I would be hesitant to use any chemicals in my tank as well, but with some types of FW it is the only treatment. Good Luck

 

[5380]

FWE works just prep enough water and carbon for peice of mind. I think I used 2x recommended dosage. When I have corals come in and I am warned about FW I put a few drops in the bag while temperature equalizes.

 

[chrisqueenz]

How big is your tank?

 

[daveml]

90 gallon with about 100 pounds of live rock. I have a scopas tang, 2 clowns and a green chromis. Corals consist of 2 torches, hammer, frogspaw, brain, zoas and a yellow leather.

 

[roc4558]

go buy a 6 line wrasse.

 

[chrisqueenz]

Agreed, there are some wrasses than can help with your problem even a mandarin has been known to eat flatworms. If you want to stay away from the chemicals that would be your best aproach. FWIW, mandarins and some types of wrasses have worked well for me

 

[superkat]

6 line and two mandarins here. (mandarins eat frozen, btw...and pellets...i got lucky.)

 

[daveml]

I put a target mandarin in about 2 weeks ago. Haven't seen him go after the flatworms to this point. Not sure if this will change if he puts a dent in the pod population.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

what kind of flatworms?

"Red planaria" are unsightly but harmless.

 

[Haffs09]

I have the red planaria type ones. When I had my 125 up and running, I nuked the tank with 3 or 4X the recommended dosage. I did this after syphoning out all I could see several times, and when following the instructions didn't work the first couple of times. But, those SOBs came back. When I broke down the 125 to 90, I freshwater dipped all my rock and vigorously shaked it for several minutes. That worked excellent, except for the fact I couldn't dip a 20lb rock that had a monster leather on it. After 6 months the FWs were visible again. I'm convinced it was because of that one rock, because during the breakdown, I moved a bunch of rock into a 40gal and that tank is still FW free. When I did does the FWE, I had a derasa clam, a couple of sps, bubble coral, zoos and multiple hammers. None of them seemed bothered by the medication.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Agreed, there are some wrasses than can help with your problem even a mandarin has been known to eat flatworms. If you want to stay away from the chemicals that would be your best aproach. FWIW, mandarins and some types of wrasses have worked well for me

ditto the fish suggestions. Additionally, "red planaria" populations usually follow food source (cyano, nuisance algae) availability- another strategy for tackling 'em without using chems.

 

[daveml]

Gary,

They are the Red planaria. They havn't gotten to the point where they are covering everything but are rather unsightly. I did a large water change and did a litle cleaning of the tank. I'm also thinking about getting an MP40 to increase the flow in my tank.

 

[chrisqueenz]

Dont know if increasing the flow will help. It didn't help for me and I have 2 Mp40's. All the more reason to get a new fish!.lol