Flatworms

[cur10u5g30rg3]

Aproximately 2 weeks ago I added a frag. ON friday of last week I noticed the little worm on the glass. Today I began treatment and the result are shown in the picture of the treatment buckets below.

For treatments. I removed and freshwater dipped 50 % of my rock and the majority of corals. Then I treated the tank with flatworm exit at twice the recommended dosage. Prior to treating I sucked otu a bunch of the flatworms, and after adding the flatworm exit I continued to vacuum out the flatworms.

The moral is don't add anything without first dipping even if you believe that they are pest free because of the source.

 

[CorvetteJoe]

mmmm worms.
That really sucks when your hobby becomes a chore.

 

[The_Browns]

I don't see any flatworms only sand

 

[cur10u5g30rg3]

The pics aren't the greatest, but I can assure you there is no sand in there. The dark in the bottom is mounds of flatworms.
The water they are in was fresh RO/DI, so as they died the color is the toxin that they released.

 

[Pacific Reefs]

You know you wanted to rearrange your tank anyway

 

[dugg]

A lot of wrasses will eat flatworms like they are at an all you can eat buffet.

 

[DgenR8]

Re: Flatworms

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15044551#post15044551 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cur10u5g30rg3


The moral is don't add anything without first dipping even if you believe that they are pest free because of the source.

I learned that lesson the hard way, too. My flatworms appear to be gone now, but I had them for a long time, and many FWE treatments.

 

[cur10u5g30rg3]

Wow, I figured I would do the FWE treatment twice more over the next two weeks in hopes that will be the end of them.

I don't really wanna add a wrasse. I did pick up a variant of sea sluf that is supposed to eat them though.

 

[Pacific Reefs]

Have you seen any more? I only had to do the treatment once in my 92g that I had. I hope you exterminated them all with the 2x dosage. GL

 

[orlandobrian]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15044899#post15044899 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cur10u5g30rg3
The pics aren't the greatest, but I can assure you there is no sand in there. The dark in the bottom is mounds of flatworms.
The water they are in was fresh RO/DI, so as they died the color is the toxin that they released.

All of that dark is flatworms? So all of those flatworms came from one coral frag added 2 weeks ago?!?!?!? How big was the frag? I wasnt aware they could multiply so fast.

 

[nauti1us]

Most hobbyists both old and new do not quarentine or treat new additions to their tanks... We all should but in reality many don't.

As a result, pests like flatworms (planaria) and Redbug easily get moved from tank to tank whilst hobbyists buy, sell and trade frags with each other. And don't forget that LFS's also have pests in their tanks they can't remove with 100% certainty. You could add something to your tank and never know it was contaminated for months... and by then you'll think you've just added something recently which was never really the cause.

The botton line is, if you don't quarentine or at the very least pre-treat corals, inverts or fish prior to introducing them into your main display tank, there's no one else to blame...

The cost, time and frustration that comes with having to treat an entire reef tank 210 Gallons or more is something I now avoid at all costs. I've done it too many times over the past 18 years...