what to do about flat worms

[vr697getta]

my hammer coral hasn't looked that good these last few days
i looked very close today and i see brown spots all over it
from what i found on the net it looks like flat worms
what is the best way to get rid of the flat worms
Leopard Wrasse will eat them but i see they are hard to care for

 

[albert817]

My Yellow Coris wrasse took care of my problem and this fish is typically cheap.

 

[vr697getta]

ok i will check it out
thanks roland

 

[vr697getta]

i my try Flatworm Exit

 

[Kimberly63]

If you don't want to do the chemical route, you can do a freshwater dip but that's depending on if your coral is easily removed.

Doing a little research on flatworms myself, I found that they migrate to places with low flow and to the brightest spots in the tank. I found out - from ones that have tried this method - that they turned off all the lights in their tank and take a flashlight and position it to an open spot on the sandbed and the flatworms will migrate to that spot - then siphon as many as you can up while they're grouped. I would leave the flashlight on in the spot for about an hour and just watch and see if it works.

The flatworms I have in my tank now stick to the sandbed and every time I do a water change I siphon out as many as I can. If you let them get too bad, they will take over your corals.

I never used FWE but you could try - but just a warning, it does kill mini brittle starfish and I don't know how it effects other inverts.

 

[vr697getta]

yeah i understand the risk with it but i want them gone my hammer is hurting but thanks for your input Kimberly63

 

[Kimberly63]

No problem! Hope everything works out for you!

 

[raynist]

I have used flatworm exit with good results and never lost anything.

I tried a mandarin and 6 line wrasse (couldn't find Yellow Coris) but they did not help.

I think Under the Sea has it for about $15.

 

[raynist]

As a side note, the FWE is not usually what damages anything in the tank. The problem arises when you have thousands of dying flatworms that release toxins in the tank.

If you are going to use it I would siphon as many as you can before using the treatment.

The time I had a really bad infestation was in my 40g breeder tank. I was upgrading to a 180 and dipped every coral and piece of rock into a bucker with FWE in it. Then just to be sure, I dosed the 180 when everthing was setup. This was 2 years ago and I have not seen one since.

-Ray

 

[vr697getta]

yeah i don't seem to have that much right now i am sure there are more that i can see but there around 10 on my hammer and only 5 or 6 on my frog spawn i will vac out as many as possible then use Flatworm Exit

 

[ReefWidowed]

They are like cockroaches...It's not the ones you can see...but the ones you can't. I had only so-so results with FWE, I added a 6 line wrasse and a spotted mandarin.....really seemed to do the trick.....just make sure your mandarin eats flake, or that you keep your pods up

 

[vr697getta]

yeah i have a mandarin already for about 7-8 months now plenty of pods for the fish i was thinking about adding a wrasse any way its been awhile since i got a new fish

 

[ReefWidowed]

which kind of mandarin do you have? only the green spotted ones eat fws

 

[vr697getta]

yeah its not spotted