Best Wrass for Flatworms POLL

[Kdocimo90]

Which type of wrasse do you think I should get to chow down my Flatworm population?

Also, do you think I should get a pair?



(P.S. I spelled wrasse wrong >.<)

[dancewithethan]

Which type of wrasse do you think I should get to chow down my Flatworm population?

Also, do you think I should get a pair?

I only have the six line, so I can't make any suggestion on other one. my wrasse very actively hunting for pest on corals and live rocks. The down side with six line is it's very aggressive toward smaller fish. if I have to do it again, I'll go with the non aggressive kind.

Best

[Kdocimo90]

Thanks for sharing your experiences dance.
Yeah I have heard that they are aggressive (they look quite aggressive as well with those eyes they've got lol).

[Kdocimo90]

Anyone have any opinions of whether to grab a pair or just a single.

[talon4x4]

I have several smaller blue/green chromis in the tank with my 6-line and he doesn't harass them at all.

[iamwrasseman]

it really depends on the individual fish ,they all will eat them but some will not stalk and pick all day long if they get any other food source. each and every is different

[Kdocimo90]

jeesh looks like sixline took the lead big time.

[Kdocimo90]

it really depends on the individual fish ,they all will eat them but some will not stalk and pick all day long if they get any other food source. each and every is different


but is one type of wrasse more likely to eat them than another?

[iamwrasseman]

like i said i really think they would eat the food you feed first but will pick if needed . i have seen many lfs put wrasses in sps tanks etc to eradicate flat worms and some times it helps others it doesn't . sometimes the starve when there are many available so its a tough question to answer correctly . yes most listed will become opportunistic pickers but will the eat all of them ? not usually and you still end up with problems with the worms.if we were talking about pods that i guess are much better tasting wrasses will usually demolish the population very quickly .

[Kdocimo90]

Well that's not something I wanna hear :(

It's too bad all these people with "wrasses that have destroyed their populations of flatworms" arent looking to sell theirs lol.

[iamwrasseman]

meleneuras or the six line are what most are trying to use ,after that its a crap shoot .

[reefD]

not sure about the stats but i have a sixline also...it does do a great job but for flatworms they wont erridicate them. mine eats well but i still have certain flatworms that are not in any threat due to him. basically if you have flat worms i say dip all corals first then do water changes and suck..aka syphon any left overs. flat worm exit is good but they all die and if u dont get all the dead flatworms out they produce a poison. ive never use it so i dont know how bad it is for the ecosystem in long run. thats my 2 cents.

[reefD]

my advice is that when u have an issue and u are trying to use a fish or invert to help its a lost cause. like with algae and using a algae eater or such...it will keep growing if u dont eliminate the cause. search what is helping the flatworms grow. certain types like light or slime from corals ...search and find out what typre of flatworms u have..best bet my friend

[reefD]

again realize there are different types of flatworms what type do u have?

[Aquatope]

I like using an army of yellow wrasse, Halichoeres chrysus, let them graze the tank clear of the little red flatworms then move them on to another's tank in need. I find them to be a little bit more effective then the other species, I know that they do not mind conspecifics. You also can't beat that nice color yellow.

[Kdocimo90]

Yeah The yellow wrasses are very nice.. I have taken them into consideration.

ReefD:
Idk the exact species, but they are very dark red. I'm just going to be constantly siphoning them, regardless of whether I get a fish (which I'm hoping to do) to take care of them, or using FWE.

[iamwrasseman]

they are also moderately priced too !

[scapes]

the melanarus hands down. i see it didn't make your poll. it's a reef safe fish and is not hostile towards any of my fish. my lfs recommended it to me and i have one in each tank. i have a male in one tank and a female in the other. they have been the best additions i've ever made to my tanks

[abrian]

My melanurus (not for sale) did wipe out my flatworms, but I also increased tank flow significantly at the same time which I am told also contributes to their decline. Lowering your feeding also encourages the wrasse to not be a freeloader while also limiting the flatworms food source. I was able to clear my tank up without resorting to chemical warfare this way, but maybe on this one issue I got lucky.

[Kdocimo90]

ahh the views are so mixed! I can't make the decision.

[Crypsis]

I've always found that the red planaria type of flatworm does not seem to like high flow areas of the tank. Also I don't think it does any harm and will go away on it's own.

I'm trying to find something to control acropora flatworms, red bugs and zoanthid spiders. Not happy!! I have two pinstripes, two leopard wrasses and a mystery wrasse. The mystery wrasse is not interested but I have watched the other wrasses picking at my corals.

A few years ago I dealt with zoanthid nudibranchs in my 75g. I added four small sixline wrasses and the nudibranches where gone in about a month. I did have a little fighting and had to pull the smallest wrasse out. The other three got along fine till I shut the tank down.

[overklok]

I know this fish is not on your list, but I have a fish I caught in Kauai, called a surge wrasse. It inspects every coral very closely. It is coral pest killer. I put a new mille in the tank, with a commensurate crab, he grabbed that crab so quick and chomped it down. The crab was pinching the wrasse's mouth but all that was left was a crab claw mustache.

[Kdocimo90]

Both stories very interesting. It seems like everyone is leaning towards a sixline wrasse, but they seem to be very aggressive. The aggressiveness honestly doesnt matter much to me, but I just want to get a wrasse that has the best chance of taking care of the flatworm problem.

[Crypsis]

You have a big enough tank that I don't think you'll have any problems. Also I have had better luck adding multiple specimens at the same time. That way the aggression is spread out and not concentrated on any one individual.

[Kdocimo90]

Well the thing is, I have plenty of time. I have very few fish in my tank that have ich, so I'm going to be getting them all out and put into a QT (along with some new fish I'm getting (including the wrasse(s))) (that was a lot of parenthesis lol). The tank will be "fishless" for about 2 months, in order to eradicate the ich in the DT, as well as treatment in the QT.

The good thing about this though is that I can test whether they'll eat the flatworms in the QT. Maybe I can just grab a few and toss them in the tank. It would make it much easier to catch the fish if needed. The only thing is, if the wrasse doesnt go after the flatworms I wouldnt know what to do lol. I guess I couldnt be sure whether the wrasse doesnt have a taste for them in the QT. The only way I could be sure of something is if he actually goes after the flatworms in the QT.

What do you guys think I should do?

[Kdocimo90]

anyone else?

[Kdocimo90]

^^^

[Mike de Leon]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1379+361&pcatid=361

[Kdocimo90]

aren't radiant wrasses not considered 100% reef safe?

[iamwrasseman]

yes they are not supposed to be reef safe but mine does not bother my LPS in any way ,they may pick at sps though . i have quite a few non reef safe wrasses with my LPS corals and none are getting picked at but i really think its mostly the sps that you have to watch out for .

[Peter Eichler]

aren't radiant wrasses not considered 100% reef safe?

When they get bigger, like any other wrasse, they'll eat small custaceans. All Halicoeres will be about the same when it comes to pests, the difference is ultimate size and initial hardiness. They're also not usually as aggressive as Pseudocheilinus sp. wrasses.


The poll isn't going to answer much of anything for you, it's a popularity poll and most people will just vote for the fish they own. As expected, one of the most popular fish in the hobby is winning. I've kept all the fish and have been around several individual fish of each species, melanurus from a utility/hardiness/beauty standpoint can't be beat.

[Peter Eichler]

yes they are not supposed to be reef safe but mine does not bother my LPS in any way ,they may pick at sps though . i have quite a few non reef safe wrasses with my LPS corals and none are getting picked at but i really think its mostly the sps that you have to watch out for .

The reason those fish and many other wrasses are listed as "with caution" for being reef safe has nothing to do with the possibility of them nipping corals.

[iamwrasseman]

okay then the boisterous burrowing must have something to do with it and they are also flippers looking for critters on the bottom of rocks .

[Kdocimo90]

so would you say the larger the wrasse the better?

[Peter Eichler]

okay then the boisterous burrowing must have something to do with it and they are also flippers looking for critters on the bottom of rocks .

Yes, they can certainly be trouble if you just like to leave frags laying around on the bottom of your tank. Mainly it's because some will take a liking to smaller custaceans as they get bigger.

[Peter Eichler]

so would you say the larger the wrasse the better?

No...

[Kdocimo90]

No...


Oohh.. I didnt see the bottom of your post.. sorry..

Yeah I figured it was turning into a popularity contest.

So you would say out of all the wrasses a Melanurus is most likely to have a taste for the flatworms?

[Kdocimo90]

^^^

[Beaun]

I would say Halichoeres sp., but melunuras seem to be the best. I used a Halichoeres leucoxanthus successfully.

[Nerd1717]

Isn't a huge flatworm population usually related to overfeeding? I would tend to avoid buying a fish to "control" something that might lead to another problem down the line (bad water params etc.). Is that true or am I off base?

[Beaun]

Flatworms can increase rapidly with more nutrients in the water. But they will always be there untill you completely eliminate them.

[Kdocimo90]

Do you guys think I should be getting a pair?

[Kdocimo90]

Do you guys think I should be getting a pair?

[ochriso]

Melanurus has woked quite well in our 75. It's about 2.5-3" long and the morning after acclimation I saw it chowing down on fltworms before the lights came on.

[Kdocimo90]

thanks for the info Ochriso! Yeah it seems like I'm gonna be going with a Melanurus.

Would you guys recommend I get a pair or just one?

[CBehr]

Sixline does nothing, I have a melanurus coming this week from Blue Zoo.

I would stick with a single one but that's up to you.

[Kdocimo90]

Lol I was just on bluezoo and saw they have a few different sizes and both genders of the Melanurus. Hmm to get a pair or not to.

[halcyon_diver]

i purchased a melanarus to try and eliminate flatworms, he didnt touch them, but that aside he is an awsome fish with beautiful colors and is an avid swimmer, gets along with evryone and doesnt bother any of my corals or inverts.
im going to try the canary wrasse(Halichoeres chrysus) hopefully iy will enjoy the flatworms, but if not its another beautiful fish.

[Kdocimo90]

oh thats a bummer, both for you and for me to hear :-\

I'm probably going to treat all my fish, including the new ones, for ich. Then maybe I should get a few different species of these possible "flatworm eating" wrasses and test out which one(s) eat the the flatworms before putting them into my DT.

[flamron]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v189/flamron/IMG_9719.jpg

I'm a fan of the melanarus. mine has done an excellent job of flatworm eating. And he is pretty to boot!

[Kdocimo90]

I think I'll try out a mystery wrasse, yellow wrasse, and a melanurus wrasse..

I think I'll keep the mystery wrasse regardless, just because they are awesome looking lol.
If it does eat flatworms I dont know if I would want to keep the other wrasses. I would probably just sell them locally.

[Kdocimo90]

awesome picture flamron... kind of looks like a mystery wrasse.

[finsurgeon]

My melanurus ate all my flatworms, behaves well, and looks just like the one above. I'd tried arrow crabs, velvet nudbranchs, dragonettes, other wrasses, etc, but had hundreds or more. His belly got huge, but he just kept working away. Haven't seen a flatworm now in over a year, and I still like him for his looks and activity as much as almost any other of my fish.

[Kdocimo90]

wow thats good to hear.. Lol my mind keeps going back in forth as to what I would like to do.

Maybe I'll just go with a pair (male and female) of Melanurus.
Anyone have any words about this?

[Grant W]

my mysery wrasse seems to be the one in my tank and I also have a leopard and a large yellow stripe but they dont seem interested

[Kdocimo90]

yeah mystery wrasses and Melanurus seem to be the way to go, from what I've heard.

Which would you guys prefer of the two? Money not being an issue.

[iamwrasseman]

i would leave the mystery wrasse out as they become quite aggressive with age . the melanurus will certainly do you justice IMO but remember that each and every fish is different and you may or may not have luck with the first try but don't give up and i hope you get one that loves flatworms for breakfast ,lunch and dinner .

[Kdocimo90]

I understand that. Should I grab a pair oro just one (or have you already answered this o.O)

[Stanley-Reefer]

black leopard ate all my AEFW!!!

best $80 ever!

[Kdocimo90]

really a black leapord wrasse? I thought they normally only go for pods. But who knows.. it's all chance when it comes to this topic lol.

[jjmcat]

My six line has been awesome for pest control.He can be a turkey but I wouldn't trade him for any other wrasse.

[Kdocimo90]

bump

[mak3mydae]

Just going to chime in and confuse you a bit more :) I bought a yellow coris wrasse and my tank has quite a bit of pods, so i dont really expect it to go for flat worms over pods, but it's not really eating any flat worms. It seems to suck some up while eating pods, but then spit the flat worms out. Sigh.. Now it has a cloudy eye... I need to get rid of it soon.

[Kdocimo90]

ohh sorry to hear Mak3

[coralrich2267]

My melanurus wrasse and leopard both on do a great job on flat worms.

[Kdocimo90]

good to hear.. Thanks coralrich.

[eidillitih]

I have a male/female pair of Melanurus wrasse and they do a great good on flatworms. I bought a rock from a reefer and didn't know it had flatworms. I suck out as many as I could and bought the female first and within minutes she was pick at the rock. I bought the male cause he was so pretty. But I see him also swimming the rocks looking and stalking. I haven't seen any flatworms since.:wavehand: I'm sure their are some still in the crevices but scared to come out:hammer:

[Kdocimo90]

haha thats awesome. Are the wrasses usually always together or do they just wander about the aquarium by themselves? A pair would be nice both because they are awesome looking fish, and it will increase my chances of having a wrasse that eats flatworms.

[eidillitih]

They are usually near each other, never far apart. I'm hoping by having both that it help the male retain his color.

[Peter Eichler]

I understand that. Should I grab a pair oro just one (or have you already answered this o.O)

Good god man, there is no right answer. If you want a pair get a pair, if you just want one, get one... As I already pointed out in the first thread you made about this, it's fun to watch pairs of fish interact, but beyond that it just depends on what YOU want.

[Kdocimo90]

Good god man, there is no right answer. If you want a pair get a pair, if you just want one, get one... As I already pointed out in the first thread you made about this, it's fun to watch pairs of fish interact, but beyond that it just depends on what YOU want.

No need to bring religion into this. Just was wondering if anyone knew the temperament of these specific fish... If you posted about this before I don't understand why you feel the need to go insane and post again.

[jimmy n]

Why are the yellow coris and melenarus wrasse listed in the non-reef safe wrasse category on live aquaria?

[cwschoon]

I was away for 2 weeks and came back to a flatworm outbreak. Just purchased and am dripping in a yellow coris wrasse and an arrow crab. Hoping not to resort to chemicals but an researching PraziPro.
Any suggestions/opinions are appreciated!

[FullBoreReefer]

A Melanurus wiped out my invasion. My tank was eradicated in just weeks, here I thought I had millions haha. I followed up with two treatments of flatworm exit to get any that were tucked away in the rocks. I figured let the fish wipe out majority, then any left wouldn't be as toxic in fewer numbers. After about a year being flatworm free I traded it back in as it was eating my pod population, that's my only complaint. Other than that, it's a great looking fish.

Now it's been years and still clear, then again I haven't added much of anything in years Haha

[johnike]

Leopards, hands down.
They LOVE flatworms, and they're beautiful.
I have a pair of Hawaiian Potters.

[johnike]

oopsie, double post.
Carrion...

[cwschoon]

I put in a yellow coris wrasse and an arrow crab yesterday. I am sure I will have to use FWE but am hoping to diminish the population a bit first.