It`s official...I now have flatworms

let me know how it goes I have minnie flatworms that are not really causing any problems that I can tell . I bought few 2 months ago and have yet to pull the triggr and use it out of fear. I have a small tank with a total of 14 gallons of water. Still afraid of toxins.

 

Red Planaria Flatworms aren't that big if a deal. They make great six-line food.

If you're really concerned about them, the other option is a Blue-Velvet Nudi.

 

+1 to Jb, gives you an excuse to add a few new cool wrasses that love flat worms

 

My flatworm population grew faster than my sixline ate them and I ended up with a flatworm population explosion. It was to the point where I didn't think that they were getting eaten by the sixline at all, but I now know differently. Now I have two sixlines and a melanarus wrasse and I still have plenty of planaria. Blue Velvet Nudis are hard to come by, so I think it's going to be the pig wormer treatment for my tank. I'll get as many out as I can manually, then dose. Once they're dead, put a bunch of carbon reactors online (I think I have the stuff to run 4 chambers of carbon) to get the toxins out of the water and do a big water change...and hope for the best. Getting rid of planaria can be a pain... 
All that being said, try a wrasse or two first, but keep a close eye on things and don't let it get out of control.  I'm learning that the hard way.
--AJ

 

I am a fan of looking for a natural predator for whatever ails my tank. granted this does not always work but i end up with some cool stuff in my tank. you dont need to restrict yourself to a sixline, most wrasse will predate on flatworms.

 

If you decide to go with meds vs a natural predator, you should do a test to determine proper dosage that will actually kill things.  Get a 5 gallon bucket and put 2 gallons of water and a rock with flatworms on it.  Dose two drops (documented dosage) then wait.  If you don't see them releasing from the rock within 30 minutes, add a drop and wait another 10 minutes.  Repeat this until you figure out how much is going to kill them.  4 drops and you need a 2x dose, 5 drops and it's 2.5x, 6 drops and it's 3x.  I've heard many people try using Flatworm eXit but it doesn't work for them.  I believe that it's because they are not using enough, not because it doesn't work.  Good luck and let us know what you decide to do.
--AJ

 

Here's another link that might be helpful. http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

--AJ

 

Flatworm Exit works, but you have to do what AJ suggested and you have to dose repeatedly or they will come right back. It's cost prohibitive on a large tank. For meds, pig wormer is a better solution IMO.

 

I also have open top tank and about 6 wrasse nothing jumps. of course im sure it will happen sooner or later

 

You can make a nice jump guard out of screen frame material you can get at your local hardware store or BRS. A screen kit comes with four corners and four pieces of frame material that you cut to length. Then you use clear net available http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/clear-1-2-screen-netting-6-5-x-2-5.html. Make sure that you also get the screen spline (thin rubber strip that holds screen/net in frame) and you'll get best results if you have a spline roller too. You can buy all that from BRS, but I would recommend checking your local hardware store as you might find better prices on those items.

--AJ

 

Thank you again for the frags....all seem to be doing fine.

 

Thats what I m thinking. I have lost almost all my sps in a matter of 2 weeks to these things. I have only my bali slimmer and it was succumbing as of yesterday. I used FWE and in a 14 gallon volume i had to use almost 10 times the dose to get any reaction. Still not sure it killed them all if any. Never saw any floating some got a little smaller but never floating away dead. Did the clean with canister filter and carbon. Broke off piece of bali slimmer to get ahead of melting hope it worked .as of this morning the die off has stopped SO FAR. Tank was really doing great until I added algae for the sump from a shops tank and didn't clean it long enough.