flat worms

[Nylaspop]

good, bad, or just cheap food?

[mnherper]

BAD!!!!

[Nylaspop]

is it color dependent? and what can you do to get rid of them? they are like 5 billion strong..

 

i didnt even notice them until this week

[BibleSue]

Are you over feeding things in your tank?

[Nylaspop]

i dont feed my tank anything, no fish ... and the CUC i have are plenty busy the tank has been up and running just over a month and nothing has changed as far as what is being done...

 

the CUC is happy eating the stuff that is in there

[nematoad]

For what it's worth, I've read here and there that they're a sign of a healthy system. As for if they're good or bad, it's not really black and white.

 

Yes, they are bad if they are acropora eating flatworms (if you have Acros), or if you have untold hundreds of thousands of them and they coat everything and snuff it out. But in low numbers, they can be considered part of a CUC too. And some critters and fish will eat them too.

 

It's when they get to plague proportions (as they've apparently done in your tank) that they're bad, as they coat everything and eventually kill it by blocking light off.

 

Here is a treatment regimen that seems to be the one to follow:

 

Get a piece of rigid airline tubing, and put it into a bucket or into your sump, but have it empty into a filter sock to catch the flat worms you suck up. Try to get as many as you can.

Do this over several days, until you get most of the FW off of everything. This is because when they die, they release toxins, which in high enough numbers of dying FW, can severely hurt your tank.

So once you've gotten most of the FW out, treat your tank with Salifert Flatworm Exit. Make sure you account for the total water volume of your system (refugiums, sumps, etc) when treating. I've seen a lot of people also recommending to overdose by a bit, just to make sure you've gotten them all.

Remember, while you run any medication, remove all chemical filtration (chemi-pure, active carbon, etc), and turn off UV sterilizers.

So, treat your tank, let it run through for an hour or so, then run carbon, or do partial WCs. Hopefully you're rid of them

 

If chemically treating your tank isn't your first option, maybe adding a fish is. Try a sixline wrasse, most have success with them.

[Nylaspop]

nema thanks for the info i will do that, the havent started covering anything other then the glass but i am sure if i let it go they will begin to cover the rest of rock and small amount out corals that i have in there...