Flatworms!!!!

Wakeskater02

Wakeskater02

Member
I have a rediculous amount of those little brownish flatworms everywhere. They are even on my corals! I was wondering what is the best way to get rid of them?

I will be moving and I will be getting a new tank, however, I am trying to keep them out of the new one! What is the best way of getting rid of them? It seems they multiply over and over and over again every second.

Does anyone know anything about flatworm exit? Or what the chemicals from flatworms dying hurts? Fish, corals? Inverts? All the above?

Please help me with suggestions!

Thanks.
 
faust

faust

Member
6 line wrasse. is what i would suggest with a small population.i have heard good things about fwe but your must do a large water change after treatment
 
seafansar

seafansar

Well-Known Member
Flatworm exit works wonder! I had a horrible flatworm problem. It was just terrible. They were crawling on my zoas and I'm guessing when they were dying of old age and such they were releasing toxins and killed almost all of my LPS's. So I used fwe. Worked great at killing them, but it released so many toxins at once, that it turned all my SPS's brown or white and killed my tang. :( Afterward I found a few that had survived in low flow areas, so I fwe'ed again after the corals had some time to heal. Since there were only a few flatworms in there nothing bad happened to the corals. I used more than 2 times the dosage just to make sure I got all of them.

Since you have so many this is what I think you should do.
If you are planning on treating your tank as you move:
1) Take all the fish out.
2) Set up buckets filled with tank water and fwe and add the corals to the buckets.
3) FWE the tank with 2-3 times the recommended dosage.
4) Bag everything up and move! lol

If treating before the move:
1) Siphon out as many as you can see at least 3 or 4 times! And make a lot of extra saltwater.
2) Add the fwe.
3) As they start dying, siphon out the bodies before they disintegrate.
4) If the water starts turning yellow, start running carbon and doing water changes.

I actually would cut the first treatment short, so as to not stress your corals and fish too much with flatworm toxins. Then treat a second time after things have recovered and use 2X the dosage. Also it helps to blow the rocks and any dead spots with a powerhead to get to all the flatworms. Like I said before, the only ones who survived the first treatment were in low flow areas.

Pretty much the flatworm exit itself will not hurt your coral or fish, it's the toxins from the flatworms that will.

Good luck!

P.S. My sixline, radiant wrasse, and mandarin do not eat the flatworms. I guess it's hit or miss.
 
mettjl03

mettjl03

Member
I had flat worms too... Then I got a six line wrasse and did larger water changes... The worms were gone in about a week. Good Luck!!
 
Wakeskater02

Wakeskater02

Member
Sorry, I haven't responded in due time. I have been busy buying a house!

Thanks too all of you! The flatworms are pretty much everywhere. They are crawling all over my corals. Some are even stuck to the glass! However, it is going to be really hard to get all the fish out of the tank. I have about 150lbs of rock in my tank. And about $5,000 in corals. Mostly Softies a few LPS and a Birdsnest and monti SPS. I Can take out a Majority of the corals That are expensive. I have a 20+ head frogspawn and a couple of other things that are "Priceless" pieces to me. Including a Tyree neon green leather.

I think what I might do is take out the corals, treat them in a bucket, then put them in a buddies tank. I wonder if I can just take the corals and blow them off really hard with a powerhead? I am also wondering if it is too much stress to the corals to leave them in the FWE solution for 24 hours or whatever the dosage is, then move them directly in to another tank?

Hmm....I am not sure what to do. Now, I am trying to think of how I can incorporate my move in to the mix?

Here's what I am thinking.

1. Set up new tank at my house


1. Remove as many corals as I can from old tank.
2. Treat corals in a bucket / dust them off with powerhead
3. Bag Up corals and transfer them to new tank
4. Take Rocks out of old tank and treat them in large bin with FWE multiple doses to make sure they are gone.
5. Put rocks in new tank / arrange display / corals in display
6. ADD SOHAL TANG.......=)
7. Add fish.

Do you think this sounds like a good plan of action, please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks.
 
seafansar

seafansar

Well-Known Member
That sounds like a good plan. You may also want to treat your new tank after everything is put in it just to make sure no flatworms survived the first treatment. Better to just go ahead and treat again or one stupid flatworm might survive and repopulate the whole tank again! The corals should not be bothered by the treatment if there aren't many flatworms in there.
 
rmlevasseur

rmlevasseur

Active Member
If you have a smaller tank flatworm exit works great. I have a 180 and 2 mandarins and a 6-line did not control them. However, FE is very expensive. Leviamasole is a pig dewormer and can be obtained at many ag stores MUCH cheaper and is even better than FE. The only problem is is that only hobbysists are using the dewormer, and so proper dosages are still only a matter of opinion. I followed some instructions with leviamasole on RC and haven't had a bugger in 6 months, whereas I got them back after about 6 weeks after using Flatworm Exit.

If you do use FE, make sure to buy a double dose and repeat a few weeks later, even if you don't see any. Its extremely important that you follow the directions carefully and siphon out as many as possible before beginning any treatment. They are extremely toxic when they die, much much more so than the treatment itself.
 
Wakeskater02

Wakeskater02

Member
rmlevasseur thanks for the advice. I have a 75 gallon. I also work at a fish store so cost isn't really the problem.

Good idea with the 2nd dose and dosing in my new tank.
 
mps9506

mps9506

Well-Known Member
Ditto on what robert said. I haven't used the dewormer, but I had positive results with FWE in my tank, very important you siphon out those worms.
I did two treatments in two weeks and only got em back via unprotected frag swapping :D
 
Wakeskater02

Wakeskater02

Member
Nice....Well, then I guess that is what I am going to have to do. I hate the little bastards. I have coraline all over my rocks and they cover it all up and make the rocks look ugly!

Thank you for all the great advice....:bow:
 
mantid

mantid

Member
faust said:
6 line wrasse. is what i would suggest with a small population.i have heard good things about fwe but your must do a large water change after treatment
Click to expand...

I agree! I had a flatworm problem as well. it got so bad i could not even see some of my rock because they were so thick. I got a six line wrasse and it got every single one of the flatworms! I have yet to see a single flatworm in my tank since. Im sure the chemicals that kill them work just as well but I was always afraid of too many dying at once and too much and creating too much toxins in my water.
 
Wakeskater02

Wakeskater02

Member
mantid said:
I agree! I had a flatworm problem as well. it got so bad i could not even see some of my rock because they were so thick. I got a six line wrasse and it got every single one of the flatworms! I have yet to see a single flatworm in my tank since. Im sure the chemicals that kill them work just as well but I was always afraid of too many dying at once and too much and creating too much toxins in my water.
Click to expand...

This is exactly my worry. I have a ton of corals in my tank and I would hate to loose any of them... It looks like I am going to have to get a 6-Line. How are they tempered, I would rather try that than use any chemicals first! I would like to get a big one with a big appetite :D! I have so many that they are layered on top of each other!

Check here to see some shots of my tank and others!
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/aquarium-photography-forum/22412-full-tank-shot-thread-72.html
 
rmlevasseur

rmlevasseur

Active Member
Gotta say I'm really surprised by how many people are reporting good luck with a 6-line. I know they may eat one here and there, but I have never heard of them wiping out a whole tank. Maybe mine was on a diet, lol.
 
seafansar

seafansar

Well-Known Member
I like my 6 line. It doesn't bother the other fish, but I don't think it likes to eat flatworms.
 
luisgo

luisgo

Member
I solved my flatworm problem with flatworm exit from Salifert. This are some of my infected mushrooms and ricordeas



There are some important steps to take:

1. remove as many flatworms as posible with a siphon filtering the water if using the sump







2. Use double of the dose that the manufacturer recommend. This is very important to eliminate the worms the first time. If you need a second treatment they will develop some kind of resistance to the chemical.

After the FWE is added you need to continue removing worms from the water. They will get out of the rock. Watch the skimmer!



3. After the recommended time start to filter with carbon. I used a Hot Magnum filter. I also used a polyfilter in the sump.





4. Perform a large water change. I did a 25% change.



You will have a lot of fun watching the worms twisting in the water.

All my fish (8) and corales survived the treatment very well. I did this treatment in August 2008 and as of today I have not seen a single flatworm.
 
Miltonic

Miltonic

Member
I also found out a bout a week ago my tank has flatworms, i'll be trying natural methods first with a Mandarin and see how it works my last resource would be flatworm exit if it gets bad enough.
 
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