Planaria Flatworms: How big a deal?

[PufferNut]

After searching I'm 100% sure that I have a planaria flatworm that has been crawling around on my ric shroom. I noticed a red spot on one of the polyps that other day and saw that it seemed to move. My question is how big a deal is it to have them? I've read up and it seems like as long as the population is low they don;t bother much. I'm sure that there are more than one in my tank, but I only just saw this one so shouldn't be a great number of them. I do have a blue damsel that is said may eat them, but is it worth it to just do the flatworm exit now while the pop is low to avoid problems in the future?

 

[Jacwil]

I've read that they can get out of hand in a hurry. They can become prolific and if they do they may congregate around the mouth of the ric/shroom causing a downward trend in the health of the critter.

 

[oneradtek202]

get a wrasse like a sixline or melanurus. i have some in my tank,. but they are just a tasty snack for my fish

 

[low riderr]

go get the fish .the fish look good and they are not going to poison your system.

 

[block head]

flatworm exit. strike the hammer while the iron is hot. fish are hit or miss/prevention

 

[mr86mister]

get a wrasse like a sixline or melanurus. I have some in my tank,.

+1

 

[lcs]

I had a pretty good flatworm population going for a while. I was wanting a wrasse anyway so I got a melanurus. Flatworms were gone in days. Of course I'm pretty sure he's also the cause of my lack of visible bristleworms, mini brittle stars, a few snails . . . you get the idea!

 

[PufferNut]

My tank is a bit crowed for a new fish as much as I would love to get one Think i'm gonna try the exit before they populate.

 

[oneradtek202]

Make sure you do it right, flatworm exit kills them and when they die instead of eaten, they release toxin. Fresh carbon and a nice water change should be done after treatment.