flatworms

[sassyfrassy]

How bad are flatworms? Had egg casings on glass - thought they were snails. Hatched out - FLATWORMS! Do they eat corals or something?

[Footbag]

What color are they? The white ones tend to be harmless. The red/brown ones are the ones to worry about.

[Bucksnort]

Here's the long and short of it: sooner or later these will find their way into your tank. They hitch hike in on live rock, corals, macro algae, you name it. Yes, you can buy medication like Flatworm Exit and treat the tank and they will die but eventually they will somehow return.

Buy a wrasse in the Halichoeres family. They are cool fish and they eat flatworms. If you have lots of flatworms, siphon them out, use Flatwork Exit and add that wrasse. The fish will keep them in check.

[thegrun]

Here's the long and short of it: sooner or later these will find their way into your tank. They hitch hike in on live rock, corals, macro algae, you name it. Yes, you can buy medication like Flatworm Exit and treat the tank and they will die but eventually they will somehow return.

Buy a wrasse in the Halichoeres family. They are cool fish and they eat flatworms. If you have lots of flatworms, siphon them out, use Flatwork Exit and add that wrasse. The fish will keep them in check.

I had a battle with them a couple of years ago, treated with flatworm exit and they have never been back, although I now dip then quarantine all my fish and corals. Since I started to dip, I haven't even seen them in my QT (which is morphing into a nano reef tank). When I had my outbreak of flat worms, my wrasse could not keep up with the population explosion (if he ate them at all).

[slickmin]

can u post pic of what u have in ur tank i believe i have them to but im not sure. i see these white think hangin on my glass. took one out stuct a needle thru it but it did not reply.

[sassyfrassy]

The ones that hatched I had to look at w/magnifying glass. It's a flat (of course!) slightly oblong w/lyretail. Sorta looks like an indian arrowhead w/ point rounded off.

[returnofsid]

I'd question if you have flatworms or not, because they don't lay eggs.

[MikeTR]

If they look like this.. prepare for battle.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/WormPIX/FlatwormPIX/Flatworm_city.jpg

Harmless:
http://coralpests.com/flatworm.jpg

[sfboarders]

The ones that hatched I had to look at w/magnifying glass. It's a flat (of course!) slightly oblong w/lyretail. Sorta looks like an indian arrowhead w/ point rounded off.

Sounds like an acoel. They're harmless. Feed less and they will go away.

[sassyfrassy]

They look like the bottom one, but I smushed most of them. I'll leave the rest alone.