what ate your flatwoms?

[blackthunda77]

Im having an outbreak of flatworms. the reddish brown ones. Im going to siphon out as many as i can next time i do a water change, but what fish have you guys had luck with. I heard that six line wrasse and madarins are good o im considering getting one, or maybe both. any opinions?

 

[InvaderJim]

I've heard six lines eat flatworms.

 

[fishysteve]

I had a couple million flatworms in my 120. I added a six line and in a matter of weeks I couldn't find one no matter how hard I tried.

 

[blackthunda77]

Ohh wow. ok cool. were they the "rust" colored, brown ones? In any event, i have a sixline in my 20 gal, and i have no flatworms, so i guess i should put 2 and 2 toghether. I dont think i wana transfer him in the 55 cuz i love him in that 20 so much, so i guess ill buy another one asap. Thanks guys.

 

[InvaderJim]

Yes, the brown ones are the bad ones. The clear ones on the other hand are ok. Either way, if you add a six line you will have neither.

 

[Jerslev]

I used 2 scooter blennies to get rid of the flatworms, and a six lined wrasse and it took them 2 weeks, and I have not seen one flatworm for half a year

Jerslev

( sorry for the language - I am from Denmark )

 

[SDguy]

If you don't have plague proportions, consider using flatworm exit by salifert. I used it when I just had a few dozen FW. Worked great, and I didn't have to worry about massive FW die off affecting water quality.

Just another option. And believe me, I'm very anti-solving problems with chemicals, but it worked so well for me.

 

[Esabasard]

I got a damsel and it took care of them really fast, though some people consider the damsel just as much of a nuisance. It is a yellow-tail blue damsel, don't know if that matters.

 

[eaglesrx]

you could try a six-line. should work; i've heard reports that it doesn't work, too. same goes for a spotted mandarin. However, you'll need a tank that can keep it long term, unless you want to be able give it up after it clears your flatworms.

I've used the flatworm exit with success. However, as stated earlier, you probably dont' want to use it if you have plague-like proportions in your tank as the toxins from the dead flatworms could potentially kill any shrimps and potentially other livestock in your tank. If using the flatworm exit, give at least 3-4 days in a row, and then once weekly after for 1 month. blow your rocks with a turkey baster or powerhead to get the ones that are hiding. in addition, check for resistance. some may not die at the recc doses.

good luck!!

 

[rick s]

The six-line didn't do anything for me. Flatworm Exit did.

 

[blackthunda77]

aded the sixline last night. hasnt rreally looked at them yet, but i hes new in the tank so prolly still getting adjusted. hopefully hell start noticing them. if now ill get a manderin.....which one? the spotter one or the green one?

 

[hahnmeister]

6-lines seem to be hit & miss. Ive had 3 or 4 (one want carpet-surfing, one was caught by the green brittle star, one was traded away when I decided to go mandarin). Anyways, of those, one seemed to eat the flatworms. Maybe the red ones arent as tasty as others though.

I had a target mandarin that used to go actively go after them though... that and acro bugs. I loved that bugger.

 

[reef fanatic]

I second the scooter blenny(dragonet). I had one that decimated my pop. in a 12g but then moved him to my 55g because I was not sure if the 12g held enough "bugs" for the scooter to continue eating.

 

[MrPike]

I have tried green target mandarin, yellow coris, scooter blenny, six line, none of them have worked. So far the best is the yellow coris, and the scooter. Occasionally they pick one up and spit it out.

I think it has a lot to do with your pod population. If you have a really nice pod population, the fish will go after those instead of the nasty smelling flatworms. Im hoping that my pod population will become extinct and the coris and scooter can start earning their keep.

I have done flatworm exit 4 times. Every time it kills all visible flatworms, but it seems like no matter what I do, one always survives and the population becomes huge in a few months. I have done 3x the dosage every other day for a week, with the same result.

My next attempt will be to add a few more wrasses and maybe a target mandarin, along with my scooter blenny and yellow coris. Then ill flatworm exit, and hopefully the fish will then be able to keep the population decimated.

 

[schnell76]

I had a flatworm problem and just a small neon goby in my 12 nano for about 4 months. Then I added a pair of clowns and they eat every last morsel of food. Now that there is no decaying and uneaten food the flatworm population that survived my FWE doses has now died off. I have not seen any flatworms since the clown additions. My goby ate leisurely before the additon of the clowns, now he is as ravenous as the clowns (has to be to survive).

I really believe that the different type of waste in the tank from every piece of food being eaten prompted the flatworms eradication.

 

[hahnmeister]

True, I forget who said it (Shimek, Bornemann... etc) but the red flatworms I suppose show up in systems with more organics in the water? They dont eat anything really... they are photosynthetic actually and just use nutrients in the water for food? Something like that.

 

[blackthunda77]

that can be true, cuz i havent done a water change in a bout two months, been slacking off.

 

[rockindacheeks]

Flatworm exit "ate" all my flatworms when i had an outbreak a while back... my 6-line wont even look at them.