Flatworms

[Joe_P]

Hi Guys,

Got a really bad flatworm infestation in my softies reef.

Jus acquire a bottle of salifert flatworm exit and plan to nuke that reef this wkend.

Read a few of previous threads regarding such nuking sessions but just to be on the same side... any advises or anything worth taking note of from you guys prior to the administration of the mentioned medication?

[Achilles Tang]

Pray hard.

[Achilles Tang]

Seriously.... standby a massive water change.

Loads of carbon. Use a beckett skimmer for fast & high water turnover cleaning. You can easily fill up a bucket of orange water when the flatworms melt.

Suggest siphoning up as much visible flatworms as you can. Probably there will be 80% more you can't see hidden in the rocks and sand. These are what can crash your tank.

Oh... it's better to overdose from the start to make sure none survive. Even ONE survivor will mean BIG TROUBLE coz it will multiply into a billion drug-resistent MONSTERS!!!!

I suggest another FW Exit session one week after 1st treatment to kill off any survivors.

Wish your tank loads of luck! Oh and prepare to lose your bristleworms, brittlestars and even some pods with FW Exit.

[szesteve]

What about natural forms of removal like 6-lines?

[joolye]

best is take out ALL corals and nuke them in a tub. Catch out all fishes and then u can nuke the tank with LR onli! I try that and it's safer!

[nicken]

how does flatworm look like?

i got a few white color , look like strings, ard 2-3mm long kind of worm on the glass. are they flat worms?

[Joe_P]

Thanks Guys for all your valuable adivises.

Will remove corals and nuke then in a tub and nuke the tank after that.

Of course with some massive water changes added in too.

A 8 footer reef flatworm nuking session for those who are interested .

[ambystoma82]

any pics of flat worm initial stage?

or they are yellow originally ?

i got a lot of microscopic stuff on my glass

duno is what,sum got feelers

[tivoli]

Hi Joe,

1) wondering did you try to buy the flatworm eating slug :

the blue strip one that was sold in ML a few months ago ?

The Chelidonura Varian ?

2) i bought a 6 line wrasse and somehow the flatworm population in my

tank start to go off. I dunno if there was a direct relationship

cos I never saw the 6 line eat the worms .... but the guy was always

swimming and investigating all the time.

Cheers

[andysho]

i also got those flatworm in my coral

before, for me i just dump the whole coral

away to save the trouble of it

[Joe_P]

1) wondering did you try to buy the flatworm eating slug :

the blue strip one that was sold in ML a few months ago ?

The Chelidonura Varian ?

Nope. But I know of reefers who did just that.

However from the way these flatworms multiply in reefs, reckon that you might need quite a number of those slugs to totally eliminate the pests.

2) i bought a 6 line wrasse and somehow the flatworm population in my

tank start to go off. I dunno if there was a direct relationship

cos I never saw the 6 line eat the worms .... but the guy was always

swimming and investigating all the time.

I have 2 reefs.

One's a full fledge SPS and the other where I keep all my precious softies.

Both system's hooked up together via a large sump.

The SPS reefs houses 2 six liners that always appearing with bulging tummies even though I sheldom feed the reef.... and no sign of flatworms unlike my softies ..... whether the six liners contribute to the absence of flatworms is uncertain...

BUT... I'm gonna nuke it anyway. Jus in case.

[ambystoma82]

sorrie bit off topic

did any of ur 6 liners wrasse go disturb ur shrimps?

who got keep ###### shrimps together with 6liners one?

any problems?

[Joe_P]

sorrie bit off topic

did any of ur 6 liners wrasse go disturb ur shrimps?

who got keep ###### shrimps together with 6liners one?

any problems?

My pair of sixliners are housed with 8 of those shrimps..

together for 2 months and I dun see them them anymore.

[Fireclown]

I've just found 3 one inch flat worms on my LPS this morning. Couldn't find more. Should I nuke them with FW exit too??