Red Flatworms - What to do? What is the Cause?

[paulie]

I have had cycle after cycle of red flat worms. I know that they are harmless or hope that they are. I want to ELIMINATE them as I am just switching from my 12g Nano to a 24g Nano.

 

All the levels (pH, nitrate, nitrite, etc.)in the tanks are near perfect.

 

How can I be sure to get rid of these critters!!

 

I tried Flatworm Exit it works but they still keep coming back..

 

Anyone try a freshwater dip of all corals and inverts? I was told told to start the new tank and before transferring livestock, to do a freshwater dip possibly adding Flat Worm exit in the fresh water to be sure.

 

I don't know what to do and I can't stand these things.

 

Thanks

 

Paulie

[alexwbush]

A friend of mine had this problem and he took down his tank because it was so bad, well... and he was moving. He freshwater dipped a rock with polyps and GSPs and it seems like it killed them off. I have seen 1 or 2 and whenever I see them in my tank, I usually suck them up with a seringe (sp?). Good luck!

[Reefer Addict]

You may not be getting the eggs. I would do another dosing of flatworm exit immediately after they re-appear. Get them before they 'do the nasty' and start laying new eggs..

[reef hugger]

Alot of the time they reproduce by fission, I have a pic of one splitting in my gallery. http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/showphoto...&cat=500&page=1 You would think that the flatworm exit would get rid of the eggs too. You also have to dose a couple of times to get rid of all flatworms.

 

Do you QT/check/dip all new corals before putting it in your tank? Another way to get rid of them is with a 6-line wrasse or one of the other fish, that I can't recall off the top of my head right now.

[Tigahboy]

apparently wardley's wrasse works better than 6-lines. there was a thread over in RC about that.

[Killagoby]

Will a Fridmani Psudo eat them?

[Reef_Mad_Man]

5.99 yellow tail blue damsel from jacks. He will eat them all, no question.

[Six]

Unless the population is in overdrive, I wouldn't add anything to eat them. No animal commonly kept in the hobby erradicates them. I have never seen any of the recommended fish totally erradicate the problem, and honestly I wouldn't add a fish to solve the problem unless they did just that.

 

If you realllly want a fix, there are a few nudibranchs that will eat them. But then they die.

 

Flatworms aren't going to kill anything unless they are in droves, then once their population hits a peak, it crashes and they almost all die off. If the population is that dense, there's probably something else going on with the aquarium chemisty or set-up that needs to be fixed. Needless to say, the addition of another fish will not help the actual cause of the outbreak.

 

Good Luck.