MILLIONS of them now!

[Heliox]

Ok, maybe not millions but there are a whole ___load of them in my tank.

They appeared suddenly about one month ago, a few on the tank walls, then noticed them in huge numbers by the end of the week. The only thing that I noticed happening when they came into the tank that my emerald and hermit crabs all died suddenly. None of my corals nor my fish seem to be affected.

They are tiny and it took my awhile to figure out the macro lens on our new camera and finally got a good picture of the individual critters.

Actually on their own they are kinda cool, but they are definitely not cool in their groupings at the bottom of the tank and on the rocks. They give a red/brown covering that is not appealing..yuck.

My tank is a RSM and I have been set up for about 10 months now, and all my parameters (except for trouble keeping my salinity down) are good.

Anyone have any ideas? and then, what are my chances of ridding my tank of these unwelcomed denizens?

 

[redsea reefer]

Bad news, those are Flat Worms. There is a prodict called Flat Worm Exit but before you use it you have to siphon out as many as you can because a large die-off of them is toxic to your tank.

 

[tektite]

I'd get a small tube and siphon as many as you can out every day. When there's not too many left consider using something like Flatworm eXit, but when the flatworms all die with that they release a toxin that can nuke your tank if there's too many of them, so make sure that the flatworm population is as low as you can get it before using eXit.

 

[mettjl03]

Thats a pretty bad case of flat worms... Try to siphon out as many as you can and keep up on you water changes. I have had this problem once before and got a six-line wrasse. It took care of it.

 

[jcgardner]

That is the craziest thing I've ever seen. Did you add any new rocks or anything? Where would they come from?

 

[Heliox]

The last thing I added was a sun coral maybe 6 weeks ago. CRAP!

I often wonder if I have had so many hitchhikers in my aquarium because I started with uncured rock and my tank never cycled. This because I had live gravel apparently.

Anywho.. guess I have my work cut out for me in the next while. But honestly there are so many of them, I cant see this ending well, if they make my tank toxic. FRIG!



Thank you all for your help.

Also, I would imagine my Sea hare (another hitch hiker) would be in jeopardy if I used this flatworm remedy.

 

[mettjl03]

if you keep up on your water changes and get as many out as you can... you might be ok

 

[Heliox]

Thats a pretty bad case of flat worms... Try to siphon out as many as you can and keep up on you water changes. I have had this problem once before and got a six-line wrasse. It took care of it.

A six line wrasse will eat them???? And they are not toxic to that fish?

I am going to get a really good siphon (that turkey baster is useless) and will start getting rid of as many as I can.


Anyone know if there was any correlation to crabs dieing and the sudden appearance of these worms.
Did my crabs ingest them and die from it? Possible?

 

[BigAl07]

Also run CARBON in there for a while until you get the numbers down.

Also a 6-line wrasse usually LOVES them

 

[mettjl03]

Yup six line it!

 

[Heliox]

So siphon, carbon and six line.. and then perhaps Flat Worm exit if that doesn't work.
(I just wrote 'flat line exit'.. oops, my medical background showing)

SO much appreciation for all your help here. thank you again.

 

[mettjl03]

Thats what I would do...

 

[smoothie]

Look into arrow crabs as well. They are easy to catch when you are done with them, but they may also eat your cleanup crew

 

[Heliox]

Arrow crabs huh? Maybe, thanks.

I'll tell ya, trying to siphon those little buggers is time consuming and hugely frustrating. I feel like after about an hour and a 1/10th of my water removed I hardly made a dent in the population.

So my local LFS guy says he thinks that Mandarin gobies might chomp these critters. I would love that to be true, but can not find any substantiating information. Really want a mandarin, but 20 years ago when I tried it killed me to see the goby waste away and die.

 

[reefmasta]

haha, noo those things wont eat them sorry and they are dragonets not goby =) alot of people say that. but dont worrie the flat worm issue will be ok ive had it plenty of times due to the mass introduction of new corals weekely. BUT i used flat worm exit and everything is perfect now, and it was on a 180+G tank so yours will be fine. siphon as many as you can or kill a little at a time but BESURE to put carbon in first so your not rolling the dice. What i didd was dislodge them with a powerhead and blow EVERYTHING up and around getting it in the filter and P.skimmer. after that i didd half dose of flat work exit STILL blowing it all in every crevice. do a small waterchange after. NEXT day do the same step repeated (half dose) and make sure you blow it in every crevice because it ONLY takes ONE to make 100000000 of them they divide to reproduce. this is what i did and i actually never did a waterchange on the system, and if you think yours is bad you should of seen my plants and glass (all brown with them) haha. but i advise you to do the change just in case because every system is different.
the six line or arrow crab are great organic cleaners for those but they will not get EVERY last one in my cases so you usually will still have a couple around. BUT if you get the six line and let him get fat on them then once they are very scarce do the falt worm ext.

 

[Heliox]

Thanks reefmasta. Understand that Mandarins are not gobies, but I have yet to see one referred to as a Mandarin dragonet anywhere, so I am just sticking with convention.
Well, that makes me feel much better that I wont have a major toxic dump if I use the Flat Worm exit. I devised a much better device with a catch bag for the worms. I had put carbon in the day someone suggested it. And now I have the six line, always loved the look of them, so good excuse for me to add one. And it has been months since I got to add anything, and I imagine it will be months before I will feel safe adding anything else.

I have so many crevices, and they seem to have taken over the top layer on a good portion of my sand. They do not dislodge very easily, and I am a bit worried about disrupting all that sand and probably some of the rock. But will give it a go.

I am going to watch my six line and hope he does a great clean and then will follow your instructions for the flat worm exit.

thank you thank you and thank you again

 

[l3fty999]

So siphon, carbon and six line.. and then perhaps Flat Worm exit if that doesn't work.
(I just wrote 'flat line exit'.. oops, my medical background showing)

SO much appreciation for all your help here. thank you again.

Well, actually, you DO want those worms to "flatline" so you're still thinking in the right direction.:LOL:

Good luck
Aaron

 

[Heliox]

Well, after weeks and even months of frustration all the help here has paid off!
I bought the six line, but saw little change in the population (but a very plump and happy little six-line wrasse) . I siphoned what I could day after day, a very very tedious task and seemed to have absolutely no effect on the brown film of flatworms covering just about every part of my tank.

To add to my frustration, I could not find Flat Worm Exit at my LFStores, but finally found a product called Flat worm Control. I needed to do 2 treatments and I could still see the buggers. But as the weeks that have followed, they started to disappear, and now I am proud to say I can not see a single remnant of the creature.

But to add to my misery, amidst the flatworm, I had a horrid brown film on my sand and treated for cyanobacteria (red slime) and was afraid that I was toxifying my tank. As well as a never ending covering of brown diatom and algae that covered everything, the red-slime and the flatworms had me nearly giving up on my tank.

But this week, my tank has never looked better and have added a fire shrimp and replaced a lost goby. As well my corals and a few small additions are growing and looking colorful.

So many many many thanks to the help here. And probably one of my best lessons about patience in this hobby.The dividends of the work are paying off and I am back to loving my passion for the reef.

 

[MrPex]

Ya, it's frustrating fighting a pesky bugger that you just can't shake from your tank- my nemesis has been bubble algae- about every couple of weeks, a new bubble would show up, but I think I'm finally in the clear. It's such a relief and sense of accomplishment when you finally lick the problem!

 

[cindyp]

I don't mean to sound like an advertisment but I will never add anything to my tank again without treating it with coral rx 1st. that stuff is well worth the money. here's what came off one zoa I recently purchased