ID--Flatworms or pods?

[ksgriff88]

I have had these in my sump/refugium for a few months and thought they were pods (they showed up when I added a bottle of live pods--either Tigger or Tisbe I don't quite remember).

This weekend it has come to my attention that they are flat worms so I just want to get some more opinions before I start taking them out. I can move them pretty easily with a baster.

Sorry for the not great pictures and thanks in advance!

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[Reeferz412]

You have an infestation of red planaria flatworms. Luckily, it is not too hard to rid of them. Get yourself some Salifert Flatworm Exit and follow the dosage and instructions carefully. Don't go the natural route spending money on hit or miss wrasses, damsels, etc. Just my take on it.

 

[AlSimmons]

Before you go adding chemicals to the tank you might want to siphon out what you can first. The link below explains all this in detail I believe.

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

 

[Reeferz412]

Agreed, try to siphon as many as you can. Forgot to add that. The chemical is not what would nuke your system, it's the aftermath of the dead flatworms. I spent about 2 hours with a very small hose siphoning all the dead flatworms. Then a huge bag of carbon for good measure. The url listed above will help you tremendously, great read.

 

[ksgriff88]

I appreciate the help. I was reading this link over the weekend but just wanted to double check that they are flatworms before I go through with everything.

Guess I'll start siphoning tonight and place my order for Flatworm Exit.

 

[AlSimmons]

You might want to look into freshwater dips as a way to eradicate flatworms on various corals too. The osmotic shock usually has them falling off in a matter of seconds.

 

[cwschoon]

I used Flatworm eXit over the weekend with great success! I used a larger dose and left it in for longer that Melevs's article suggested.

 

[Reeferz412]

it's pretty hard to nuke your tank with that stuff. I have doubled up on the dosage for coral troughs at a wholesaler i used to work for. A quick shake off of each rock and I would siphon the whole bottom of the trough and the water of that trough.

 

[mcgyvr]

Here is a great site for you to look at/bookmark..
Pods are easily distinguishable from flatworms..
http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhikers-guide/

That site has most of the common hitchhikers found in our tanks..

 

[JUNBUG361]

That's a lot of flat worms

 

[ericarenee]

wow and i thought i had them bad

good luck

 

[ksgriff88]

Yeah there are a ton in there. I had been letting them grow for months because I thought they were pods (showed up when I added a bottle of the live pods-I'm talking I dumped the bottle in and they were immediately on the acrylic of the sump) so I didn't do anything about them.

Haven't seen any show up in my display tank though so all my corals have been fine throughout this whole process.

It will be a few days of siphoning out the sump/refugium and then adding the flat worm exit to help finish clearing them up.

 

[cwschoon]

I added a coris wrasse the week before I received flatworm exit, to try and deplete the population a bit. Not one flatworm to be found now!

 

[brownsps]

Wrasses love them most of the time. Thats a heck of a population! They do generally die back after reaching high populations most of the time. Glad the FWE helped.

 

[ksgriff88]

Question for everyone now that I've started cleaning them out....

Today I siphoned and took all the rocks out of the refugium and ran them through a quick dip in freshwater as well as a dip in some FWE.

On day 2 does it make sense just to treat my sump with FWE? I have a baffle that I can shut off so that the water just circulates through the sump. Then change that water out.

Finally day 3 treat the full system and then water change.

Just thinking that this might not shock the corals and fish at that point because as I've stated before I've only seen them in the sump/fuge and haven't seen any in the display tank.

Let me know your thoughts on this plan. Thanks everyone!


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[ksgriff88]

Just realized I didn't mean baffle--it's a manifold. One of the parts goes right back to the beginning of the sump


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[Treasure Coast]

You can probably just treat the whole tank or do it the way you said. I would do a water change a hour or so after using the FW Exit. You will probably be surprised how many are in the tank that you don't see. Also Melanurus Wrase are good for Flatworm control after you treat the tank.

 

[cwschoon]

After my recent-and totally successful-experience with flatworm eXit, I say treat the entire system and get rid of them once and for all!
I did my research, went in at a significantly higher dose, started carbon 1 hour after treatment and did 20% or so water change 1.5 hours after treatment. I left the canister on overnight.
Apart from a mild reaction from a few corals, I don't see one flatworm and I do have my yellow coris wrasse now, as well.

 

[sde1500]

WOW, yea my Melanurus would be super pumped to have a go at that tank haha.

I'd treat the whole tank, no reason for separate doses.