what wrasses eat flatworms?

[Lynnmw1208]

I saw a couple of flatworms in my tank today which probably hitchhiked in on a snail or hermit and I was wondering which wrasses will eat them. I heard the 6-line but I don't really want him because of his temperament. I was looking at the exquisite, but I wasn't sure if he'll eat those.

 

[lcs]

My melanurus took care of the flatworms in my tank and I had more than a couple! He eats whatever I put in the tank and still wanders around looking for things to snack on. He has a great personality; doesn't bother anybody, but also won't take crap from my coral beauty. And he's beautiful!

 

[cubsFAN]

+ melanarus. They'll take down a lot of your cleaning crew though.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

do green mandarins eat flatworms? or just pods? I'll look into the melanarus

 

[Drjusc00]

Mandarins eat pods. I heard 6-line wrasses eat flatworms

 

[jakearoe]

+ melanarus. They'll take down a lot of your cleaning crew though.

Agreed, but a great fish. Mine hasn't bothered my 2 big cleaner shrimp or my larger snails, but it will snack on smaller inverts. He spends all day hunting around the reef, a great worker fish. mine also nipped at my Deresa and I eventually had to move the clam to a different tank. Like most , each fish is different.

 

[Moort82]

The trouble is whatever you plan on getting to rid you of flatworms, will likely just pig out on what you feed it and ignore the flatworms. They are very hit and miss so don't go for a fish you wouldn't want anyway. That way if it does eat the flat worms its a bonus.

That comes from experience with my iridis wrasse who is supposed to eat flat worms, not why i bought it, but doesn't.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

My six line won't touch the flatworms. Yellow coris wrasse is another option.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

good points! I do like the way this wrasse looks though so I might just look into it for the heck of it. I really wanted a 6-line but I heard they hate mandarins and this is the fish I'm building my stock list off of that and the yellowhead jawfish

 

[frankpayne32]

I have always had good luck with six lines to eat flatworms. IME they aren't very aggressive in large tanks when they are added after the other fish.

 

[djkms]

Yellow Coris took care of my worms!:dance:

 

[aznepydna]

Potters wrasse destroyed my flat worm infestation in about two months. Is also a really cool fish.

 

[chimmike]

yellow coris wrasse safe for shrimp/cleaning crew and towards fairy wrasses?

I just went through an entire bottle of FWE trying to get rid of flatworms. Hopefully it got rid of 'em, but man, what a pain those buggers are. I didn't see them bothering any of my corals but who wants worms all over their glass?

BTW, FWE bothered my cerith snails. A lot. Most of 'em died. But my other snails, they're good.

 

[Theprettycolors]

do green mandarins eat flatworms? or just pods? I'll look into the melanarus

I had flat worm problems.. I bought a six line, then a melanarus, after that a green mandarin. After two months not one eaten flatworms in my tank. So I ended waiting another two months to find a blue velvet nudi at a local fish store. I brought him home and acclimated for a 3 hours. As soon as he landed in the tank he ate 6 flatworms then he sat there and didnt move for the rest of the night. The next day he disappeared never to be found again.. So after I exhausted my natural options. I went to flatworm exit.. FE worked well and almost killed all the little flat worms.. I still have some in the tank, but they seem to be looseing numbers slowly..

 

[capt85]

I have heard yellow coris wrasses will but mine sure hasn't.

 

[TrojanScott]

Tried a yellow coris in the past, no luck. Melanarus though, destroyed 'em all, and I had a huge outbreak of flatworms. Thousands. Can't find a one now.

Ignores my cleaner and fire shrimp. He's well fed too. Beautiful fish to boot.

 

[MItank]

my yellow coris cleaned every worm and nudi out of my tank in a matter of weeks. he single handedly wiped out monti eating nudis

 

[ssavader]

I was pretty sure that flatworms, classic planaria, were harmless. Why so much energy spent in clearing them from the tank?

From:
http://www.ronshimek.com/flatworms.htmlRed Planaria = Convolutriloba retrogemma

One of the more common pest animals in reef aquaria are small flatworms, often referred to as "red planaria," which is a truly excellent aquarium name for them as they are neither red nor planarians. These small acoel worms, (all "true" flatworms including planarians belong to a different group) have a brownish, tank, or pink coloration. They also contain zooxanthellae whose own color modifies the animals color in sometimes peculiar ways. They are small from about 1 mm to 3 mm long. One good identifying characteristic is the presence of three lobes at the tail end of the animal.

The red planarian, Convolutriloba retrogemma.

These little worms can rapidly reproduce asexually and reach huge populations in some tanks. They can literally smother some sessile animals. In small numbers, however, they are harmless. Presently there is no real defined cure for infestations with the possible exception of one species of head-shield slugs, Chelidonura varians , which eats them.

 

[chimmike]

^those are exactly what I have. But if they multiply and take over, then I'm screwed. Rather stop it before it happens.

 

[TrojanScott]

When they multiply in the thousands, they're unsightly, and can smother corals. (although even with my outbreak, this didn't happen)