Flat worm treatment

I have some flat worms in my reef tank that I am need of getting rid of. I was going to rearrange my live rock set up in my tank to give it some more open water space.

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to place all of my live rock in a separate container and treat that for the flat worms instead of the entire tank. After the treatment process, place it all back into my tank.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

There are a couple of ways to "treat" flatworms;

1. Get Salifert's Flatworm exit and follow the instructions to the T (best)

2. Sixline Wrasse's have been known to eat flatworms, but I have never seen mine do that. (better)

3. Theres a Nudibranch that is known to also eat FW, but Mine never got the chance to eat any as my Eng. goby ate him(I think). The Nudibranch is all blk with blue stripes, I dont recall the exact name. (better)

4. Last but least, you can use a child's medicine dropper and "suck" them out with the dropper. (ok)



Luna

 

Green spotted mandarin got rid of mine.

 

If you want to get rid of them completely, then your best bet is a product like flatworm exit. Several fish may help keep them under control, but they will never get rid of every single one. Make sure to use plenty of carbon if you use FWE.

 

coral banded shrimp, but are you sure the are destructive worms.
christmas wrasse also eat tons of little insects

 

+1
If you remove and treat the rock, some flatworms will remain in your tank and just reproduce again. Expect to treat with FWE at least twice. It helps to use a powerhead and blow the treated water into every nook in and behind the rock.

Jack

 

I kinda want to stay away from the flat worm exit if need be. The worms are not too bad yet. Is the nudibranch you are referring to call a Chelidonura hirundinina?

 

If you want to keep FW's under naturally, get a halicheores wrasse. 6 lines are of the genus pseudocheilinus, or the lined wrasses. These lined wrasses will not usually eat FW's, but the halichoeres wrasses devour them.

If you have any room in your tank for another fish, a halichoeres wrasse will fix the issue very well, and add a lot of movement to your tank.

There are several halicheores wrasses in many colors and a few stay smaller.

Mandarins will usually eat FW's, but they are not an easy fish to keep, whereas halichoeres wrasses are a simple to keep fish.

 

Close, its called Chelidonura Varians aka Blue-striped Nudibranch looks like this


Also known as: Blue Doris


The Velvet Sea Slug has a black with blue striping. color. The Velvet Sea Slug may grow to 3 inches. Omnivore. It likes to eat Flatworms. The Chelidonura varians is generally peaceful toward other tankmates. Many consider the Chelidonura varians a high-maintenance specimen. Venomous, secretes Hydrozoan Nematocysts. Has lighting needs. This nudibranch has been known to feed on flatworms. Requires expert reef keeping skills Considering their small size, often bizarre body shapes and dazzling coloration, it's no wonder nudibranchs are often unidentified by divers, aquarists and tide-poolers for what they are; marine snails that lack shells, just like their lowly terrestrial cousins found sliming around under rotting wood and vegetation. But most of us emote "oohs" and "aahhs" rather than "yecch" when we view these "butterflies of the sea". Unfortunately, few efforts at keeping them in captivity have been successful. Many failures, as you'll see, are aquarist-originated; chemical poisoning, unstable conditions, and most importantly, starvation. Life span lasts three months. Keep water quality high (SG 1.023 - 1.025, pH 8.1 - 8.4, Temp. 72 - 78° F)The Velvet Sea Slug is commonly collected from the Indo-Pacific.. This item comes to you in a general size. There are no size selection guarantees on this item.



luna

 

A couple years ago I had a huge "bloom" of flatworms. I had a six-line, and just as horkn said above, it did nothing to help. I manually removed as many as I could with a turkey baster (seemed like millions). Then I used the Flatworm Exit just as the label suggested. None of my corals/fish/cuc seemed to be affected at all. I haven't seen a flatworm since.

my 2 cents...do something soon. They multiplied very fast in my tank!!