View Full Version : Flatworms
stripevt
02/20/2009, 11:51 AM
lately i have noticed some flatworms and have been siphoning them out with water changes. today I look and it looks like i have been saving the flatworms over time and just dumped them my tank. what can cause an explosion of FW. also how do i handle this problem i have heard of FWE.
thanks for your time
reefnetworth
02/20/2009, 12:07 PM
a six-line wrasse will devour them & bristle worms too.
L98-Z
02/20/2009, 12:45 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14441105#post14441105 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefnetworth
a six-line wrasse will devour them & bristle worms too.
My sixline does neither, however, flat-worm exit should work.
stripevt
02/20/2009, 12:56 PM
doesnt dying worms kill corals and such
fishysteve
02/20/2009, 01:08 PM
Natural solutions are always better than dumping chemicals in the tank to fix a problem. I second the addition of a six line wrasse if your tank is big enough.
Plus, there are a lot of horror stories of tanks crashing from FWE.
Captinshinyside
02/20/2009, 01:19 PM
I have the same problem too. It seems at first i only saw ten or so in the whole tank, then bang they WERE EVERY where and i mean every where. I noticed at about the same time my Pods seemed to explode also. I am anti adding any chemicals at this point.
I have added a six line... very good looking fish and he seems to be eating them, and mysis shrimp lol. I siphon them out when i do water changes or when ever they start to take over. I think part of my problem is i have a small clean up crew for the size of tank I have. I plan in the next week or two to add to my clean up crew alot and see if that helps. I also read that mandrin Gobys will eat Flat worms also
Hope this helps
fishysteve
02/20/2009, 01:26 PM
Mandarins do eat them as well.
Captinshinyside
02/20/2009, 01:30 PM
And mandrins are a very sweet looking fish. I have yet to see a bristle worm in my tank. However I know that means i just havnt seen one yet. My tank is around 8 months old. Hmm maybe I will try to buy some from a local reefer just to get my tank seeded. If they eat flatworms it will be well worth it.
SDguy
02/20/2009, 01:59 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14441497#post14441497 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishysteve
Natural solutions are always better than dumping chemicals in the tank to fix a problem. I second the addition of a six line wrasse if your tank is big enough.
Plus, there are a lot of horror stories of tanks crashing from FWE.
While I'm usually a believer of this mantra, I personally did use FWE with great success. As a biochemist I have to admit I was thoroughly amazed and impressed at how quickly and selectively it killed the red/brown flatworms. Nothing else seemed affected, except for a couple bristle worms, which decided to come out of the rocks and play twister :D
IMO/E using FWE is IDEAL when you have just a few of the worms. Treat 'em once and you are done.
Any of the fish listed are not guaranteed to even eat the worms, and can practically never rid your system of them entirely.
coralfragger101
02/20/2009, 02:20 PM
FWE has been used with success by many. You MUST follow the directions to the T.
DO siphon as many out as you can first. DO use carbon (at the appropriate time). DO have water ready for a water change and do it IMMEDIATELY if your water starts to turn yellow on you (that would be the toxins from the dieing flatworms).
The only other thing I would add is that you should do another treatment several weeks later even if you don't see any flatworms.
It's been my experience that they tend to come back (because you didn't get them all). Doing a second treatment should get the ones you missed the first time around.
Captinshinyside
02/20/2009, 02:31 PM
I have read on the FWE and have a pretty good understanding of it I think. I will do it as a last resort, I guess. At this point I belive alot of my problem is to blame on the lack of a strong clean up crew to be honest. I think the flatworms are filling a void left by my small clean up crew. If i beef it up here in the next week or so and then dont see a large change in the flatworms I will put alot more thought into useing the FWE.
For me I know I need a larger clean up crew. I wanted a six line wrasse and I want a Mandrin Goby. So these additions are both welcomed by my family.
Thanks for the advice I have read many good things about the FWE and just feel im not ready for it just yet.
stripevt
02/20/2009, 03:26 PM
Is there anything bad with the worms other than eye appel. May just try sixline just to add a fish either way. Have none in there now
Captinshinyside
02/20/2009, 03:47 PM
I dont belive they do anything other than look unsightly. I know they can get over pouplate a tank to the point where they will coat damn near everything in a tank like a blanket. If a massive die off happens they can screw up all your parameters that way.
IMO someone correct me if im wrong they are actualy acting like a clean up crew... a very ugly and unwelcome clean up crew all be it.
Stripevt.... I added a six line he is eating them... but not makine a huge dent in my pouplation by any means at this point.
stripevt
02/20/2009, 07:50 PM
Yeah not going to rely on the wrasse alone.... Mainly just siphon and see what he does and will take it from there
stagcrazy
02/20/2009, 08:42 PM
imo i would use FWE now i also used it with great success most of the horror storys u hear from using FWE is beacuse when they used it there was so many flatworms in the system it was just to much toxin realeased at 1 time even with syphoning out as many as u can see imagine just how many u dont see imo use it now before they start to overrun the tank.btw like evryone said heavy carbon dosing and a water change after the treatment should take care of everythin gl
ROLLINS240Z
02/20/2009, 09:32 PM
I probably had 1500 + in my 125. This was in my newbie stage and I thought they were cool. 50% of my 150lbs of live rock was cover with the little red/orange buggers. I followed the FWE directions to a tee and nothing died in my tank. A few came back a month later so I followed up w/ another double dose. 1 Year flatworm free. BTW, my pair of mandarins did not touch them.
Ncastro1981
03/08/2009, 07:17 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14442589#post14442589 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Captinshinyside
I dont belive they do anything other than look unsightly. I know they can get over pouplate a tank to the point where they will coat damn near everything in a tank like a blanket. If a massive die off happens they can screw up all your parameters that way.
IMO someone correct me if im wrong they are actualy acting like a clean up crew... a very ugly and unwelcome clean up crew all be it.
Stripevt.... I added a six line he is eating them... but not makine a huge dent in my pouplation by any means at this point.
Some eat corals, some eat clams, some eat zoe's. I had some in my tank, been manual removing them with syphen. Found that my zoo's were closing up longer, and my hawk fish stayed away from one side of the tank where he used to sit. there was alot of them. so i manually removed over a couple of days and no signs, all issues with zoo's have gone as well. i think that maybe when the go from egg state that they can feed off them then. when they get larger then seem to eat more of the same as the clean up. jmo but they are not so good. I notice an increase when i upped my DT's phytoplanktin. They must feed on this as well.
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