Nano flatworm control

[PufferNut]

So my 10g mixed reef has had planeria flatworms for some time now. Manual removal is the only thing I do to keep on top of them, but of course it seems like they are spiraling out of control. I had considered flatworm exit or similar but considering the tiny volume i really don't want to. Current tank livestock is various corals both hard and soft, lps and a couple sps. A wheelers pistol shrimp/goby pair are the main attraction for lively stuff. I've read that some kind of wrasse my help eat them, but I'm concered that if the wrasse burrows in it will disturb the pistol. Blue velvet nudi is another option I've been considering, but once the worms are gone starvation will be inevitable. I was thinking perhaps some others with flatworms could share one and we could pass it around, but not sure how good a plan that is. What thoughts does anyone have? I'm not seeing any real damage or stress on the part of the coral, so this more of a get those ugly things out. Total eradication is not required, just want to reduce numbers greatly.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

You could try coral dips. But if your corals are not that affected yet, maybe not needed.

Yes, many different wrasse are good eaters of flat worms.
The problem is tank size as I'm sure you may know.
you could "try" a sixline or a small fairy wrasse for a while and check progress. But longer term (10 gal) even those "small" wrasses would be too cramped. They'll need plenty of rock to make them happy, if you have enough of a scape in the 10 gal.

If it doesn't get better,
Isolate corals and dip. Maybe keep in a quarantine temporarily..?

then
Re do tank (the 10 gallon) to remove any leftovers.

I had a few that came into an old display on me once. I know they were on a newly purchased coral and not noticed at first. By luck I had a wrasse in the tank, it ended up erracdicating them shortly after they started moving around. In a couple weeks they were all gone with no signs of return. But my tank was much larger, the infestation was not overblown yet and the wrasse was already a tank inhabitant.

Flatworm exit does work too...but as you said, I don't blame you not wanting to use it.

So, I'm not sure everything you could do...? Perhaps someone else will offer more information as well.

Good luck

 

[PufferNut]

I have a new build underway and will be dipping and transferring a lot of corals once things are set. A related thought I had, are flatworms gonna be living in my rock work or do they really just stay on the corals mostly? Thought of seeding without infestation of the new setup.

I do have a lot of rock for the tank size. I was very close to buying this tiny six-line over the weekend, but again I wasn't sure how his burrowing would affect my pistol. Also non of my rock is glued, and the pistol makes me nervous enough, much less a fish trying to wiggle under the rocks. My new setup is coming online soon so his growth will not be an issue so much.

Also regarding dipping... I heard that freshwater dips will work against flatworms, but how stressful is that for the coral? I do have some froggies that while they don't show stress, there are a lot of worms on them. Kinda funny when the pink tips start moving around, the worms are an almost exact match to the tip color.

 

[SkiFletch]

I'd go with a "rent a fish" strategy. See if you can't find someone locally that wants either a small wrasse, psuedochromis, or dragonet. Then maybe split the cost with them or something, put it in your nano for a while till the worms are gone then ship it off to a larger home. The ony 2 hangups with that idea are finding someone who wants/needs that fish, and then catching the fish once it's done doing its' thing (the latter is probably harder)

 

[terry4505]

I used Flatworm Exit with great success (didn't lose any fish or corals) and I had out of control Flatworms in my 120. The problem is, my tank has 150 gallons total volume, so it could handle it.

Try to vacume out as many as possible. I used airline hose, with a mesh bag rubberbanded at the end, into a bucket, or my sump. I got as many out manually as possible. Then used FWE according to the instructions, changed the carbon and did a huge water change.

 

[PufferNut]

I vac the worms out every other day or so and decant the water back into the tank...sumpless on this one. I really kind of want a mandarin and heard they would work on worms before, I'm just worried I can't keep up with feeding them enough once all the worms/pods are gone. I do have a massive pod population, but I know that to a hungry mandarin its just a snack. Is there a particular one that does better against worms? I think someone once said a target mandarin was the best choice... legit?

 

[tmz]

I have them in two of my frag tanks, 60 g each. A sixline wrasse and green spotted mandarins help. Obviusly not opitons in a 10 g nano. I have none in my dispalys which are plumbed to the same system . There a variety of wrases, primarily halocoeres types do the job.
I've used fwe on several occasions without killing anything but I'm fastidious about siphoning them out before treatment and as they are dying .Netting them out as they die a fine net ,like a brine shrimp net can save water. Fresh activated carbon is put on line once they start to die and float about and left in place for about 24 hours . An extra powerhead blowing into the rock helps get at those lurking there. They almost always come back.

Several folks who know what they're doing have reported lost corals, particularly sps after strong treatments.

A nano would be challenging. Less water to enable siphoning and likely a heavier concentration of toxins and O2 depletion.
A bath for an hour or two in a gallon of tank water with a small powerhead for aeration with a drop or two of FWE , works . I'd be careful about it it with monitpora , acros and chalices though.
A dip of five minutes in three parts tank water an one part 3% hydrogen peroxide works nicely but chalices don't like it at all. Montipora may not either. Other corals tolerate it well ,ime

Some folks are reporting success with Bayer Complete Insect Killer for dips for a a variety of things including flatworms and red bugs. . Details are in a thread on the sps forum.

 

[Jacwil]

I have a small Synchiropus picturatus, (target mandarin). Depending on your location, probability of it eating the fw's, and how easy it would be for you to remove and return it to me, I would let you "borrow" Spot for a few weeks.

It's only about an inch and a quarter long.

 

[block head]

ive used flatworm exit in the 28. no issues. pretty tame stuff IMO. if you have a bunch of high end coral, that's one thing. if its a typical mixed reef, i'd treat w/exit 2-3 times and be done with them. FW are more annoying than anything. pretty easy to end up in plague like numbers. 10 g are pretty unstable in nature, chances are it can handle a few 50% WC . "green" solutions sound cool in theory. they often fail to deliver. nanos are nice in one aspect. a $20 make over can be with or without a reason. new sand, maybe a rock swap ? kinda like a new tank in 60 minutes or less.

 

[Haffs09]

I've had my battles with flatworms, and despite using FWE up to 3X the recommended dosage (after vacuuming as many as I could), and multiple treatments, they always seemed to come back after several months. When I broke that tank down, I transferred all the "contaminated" rock and corals into 2 40BR tanks and treated with several rounds of prazi-pro. I only had soft corals and they didn't seem effected by the treatment. I haven't seen evidence of flatworms since the treatments (about a year or so). It may be worth your investigation to see if it is okay with your coral. Good luck!

 

[PufferNut]

...of course I would have to have 3 chalices, 2 acros and a monti.... That solution (the peroxide) may be great for all my other corals, think a duncan would mind?

Jacwil; very generous offer and I appreciate that, however knowing how difficult it was to pull a fish out of this tank before was, I'd be afraid to do it again.

Blockhead; That idea has crossed my mind a few times. I'm hoping that I can stay the course long enough to get my new system online, then I can get some of the big corals out of my way and reset the 10, possibly into a 20l.

 

[tmz]

.of course I would have to have 3 chalices, 2 acros and a monti.... That solution (the peroxide) may be great for all my other corals, think a duncan would mind?
Don't know . I've used it on zoanthidae ,acros .pocillpora ,stylopora , hydnopora and seiratopora without ill effect, mostly for turf red turf algae but it knocked off the flatworms ,brittle stars and other pests too. Never tried it on a duncan . It's particularly effective on the algae because of it's cell mebrane structure . The alge looks fine after the dip but turns orange then white ,then gone over a couple of days.

When in doubt if it's just flatworms.you are after I'd probably do a 1 hour bath with 1 or 2 drops of fwe in gallon of tank water.