flat worms

[gusman4]

hi,

ive had my 120 gallon tank set up for about a week with cured live rock and live sand. i dont have anything in the tank. ive seen two flat worms on the glass. do you think this is a problem or one on the horizon? should i do something now before anything is in the tank or see how it progresses?

thanks in advance
angus

[Sir Crabby]

do it now with flat worm exit before it get to be a plague.

[Paintbug]

if they are clear flatworms no need to even worry about them. they will die off in time on their own. you will probably see a fairly large bloom maybe a couple of hundred, then they will start dieing off as their food supply is consumed.

[gusman4]

they are of the red kind. should i just let them be?

[mpcart]

No. If they are the red flatworms then treat with flatworm exit now. They multiply fast and are much harder to get rid of when they are present in large numbers.

Its much easier to get rid of them when there are just a few.

-Mike

[Paintbug]

the red ones will cause problems if they get a large population, and you have corals. they will gather on the corals, and block the light from the corals causing it to die. they also release toxins when they die. so if you use a chemical like Flatworm Exit, be sure to have a way to remove them handy! if you kill all of them at once which is what will happen with FE then the amount of toxins released could wipe out the entire tank! heres a good link on removal of the flatworms with FE plus a little more info on them.
http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

[CKreef]

My mandarin ate all mine