Red Planaria .... what would you do ?

[Herbie]

O.K. So ............
I have been gathering up a bunch of live rock for a 120G build coming soon.
I am transferring everything out of 60 cube into the 120 during an upcoming move. Everything in the 60 is great..... thriving reef.........lots of sps, lps etc.
I am curing a bunch of live rock in a vat until it goes into the 120 ..........soon to be joined by everything out of the 60g.
Well I noticed quite a bit of Red Planaria flatworms in the curing vat. Along with a lot of other beneficial clean up crew amongst the RP flatworms. Bristle worms, snails,starfish crabs etc. Actually there is a LOT of bristle worms, lol.
I want to get rid of the RP flatworms, because I don't want to compromise anything in my thriving 60 reef that will be combined with this live rock in the new 120.
I am not against using Flatworm Exit although I don't generally use chems in my tanks. Think I can use Flatworm Exit without doing much harm to the bristleworm,starfish,crab and snail population ? I know there may be some collateral damage, but I am hoping that if I use FE , I wont loose everything.
Any other options ? The live rock is VERY nice except for the flatworm infestation, lol.
I have a yellow coris wrass in the 60 that will likely eat up the RP like candy. But I will never get him out of the 60 short of a complete tear down. So that's an option to clean up any RP that make it into the 120 display.

What would you do ?

Thanks for any input,
Herbie

 

[Calappidae]

I read here:http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html
That a six line wrasse outa do the trick. If a dragonet would eat them (it says madarian soo...) that would be perfect.

 

[Herbie]

Thanks,
I already have a coris wrasse that should keep any RP populations to a minimum if they get into the main tank.
I was just trying to figure out what the best course of action would be before the rock (and RP worms) make it out of the curing vat and into the main tank. I figure now is the best time to do something about it.
Just don't want to kill of any of the beneficial critters on the live rock.

Herbie

 

[Calappidae]

You just never want to kill them all at once. And run carbon. They are toxic so when one dies they release their toxins in the water.. if ALL them die at once from a chemical they could nuke the tank.

 

[faithenfire]

Currently, the blue velvet nudibranches are available. but once they eat all the flatworm you have to find someone else that has them. or the poor little guy will die

 

[Calappidae]

where?

 

[Reef Frog]

I've found they congregate in areas of low flow that build up biofilms. So flow & nutrient control is the long term, organic solution. And fish that eat them would help further I suppose. Using these ideas along with siphoning as many out as possible will break the populations' back IME. GL with the move.

 

[Herbie]

O.K. so here is what I did with my flatworm infested live rock tub.
I got some Flatworm Exit and instead of dumping in a high dose into the live rock bin, I setup a separate 5 gallon pail with a fresh mix of saltwater, and treated it very heavy with the FWE. I also had a separate 15 or so gallon tub with a fresh mix of saltwater, heater and a BRS media reactor loaded up with fresh carbon running in the new rock tub. So at this point I have 1 live rock tub that is infested with flatworms, 1 5 gallon bucket treated with FWE, and a new live rock tub for all of the post treated rock.
So, I treated 1 rock at a time in the 5 gallon pail of FWE. Dip was about an hour per rock. Anything that came of the rock that was not a flatworm I was able to "save" quickly before it was killed off (crabs,snails, etc). After the heavy dip of FWE, each rock went into the new live rock tub that was already circulating with a Carbon reactor. So after treating all of the 60-70 lbs of live rock, its now soaking in the new live rock tub running with a heater and carbon reactor. Everything is looking pretty good now. Lost some snails, a crab and some bristle worms. Most of the flatworms are now gone.
I disposed of the 5 gallon bucket of flatworm death (lol) , and the old live rock tub water. The new live rock bin should now be fairly clean. Just for a little more preventive precaution, I dosed the new live rock bin with the normal dosage of FWE and monitored everything for a while. Nothing seems effected now at a normal dose, and I don't see anymore flatworms either.
I would say this was a success without having any major loses of beneficial clean-up crew.
Thanks for the tips, and maybe this process may help someone else who doesn't want to risk wiping out anything besides flatworms.

Herbie

 

[Calappidae]

Hope there were no survivors to reproduce all over again.

Atleast you found some more hitchhikers in the process. :thumbsup: