brown obnoxious flatworms

[leigh]

hi
so i have those brown evil flatworms with the third 'tail' and red dot in them. i've tried sucking them out with a turkey baster to no avail. ( i think i got 3 out that way )...and am contemplating other solutions. I am not keen on adding chemicals and an arrow crab sounds quite risky. I would like to add a sixline wrasse to deal with it but am worried about fish space then. My setup is a 100 gal system (two 50 gal tanks plumbed together) with one as a reef and the other as an invert/refugium/sump type deal with a dsb and 30lbs live rock as well. My fish load (all three are in the reef) is 2 bar gobies and one purple tang (yes, I know tangs need more swimming room, this is a rescue project on a tang with hlle). So, do you think I can add a sixline without freaking out the other fish? I am not so worried about bioload since I do have 100 gals of water, but more I'm worried about swimming space since they're all in the reef. My fish store has also offered to take in the 2 bar gobies... I like them a lot, but my main objectives are building a nice reef and healing up this purple tang. The bar gobies are there for movement more than anything and if they detract from the reef or the tang at all I will return them. A sixline however I figure would serve a distinct purpose. What do you think? Should I add a sixline and keep the gobies? Add a sixline and remove the gobies? Or do something different altogether?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
-leigh

 

[leigh]

surely someone has an opinion

 

[thomas712]

leigh - I have tried the 6 line wrasse, and while he has made a wonderful addition to my tank, the flatworms continue but not nearly as bad as they did in my 55. Now in the 90 the population seems to be steady and they are not covering around the rocks and the substrate like before.
I did purchase some flatworm killer but have yet to use it. I have decided to save it for when the flatworms reach plauge proportions. I just don't wnat to nuke the tank if I don't have to.
They can be pesky critters or part of the deverse part of a reef tank. If you try to nuke them beware thet they will release a toxin that can cause serious problems to your corals. There have been some threads about them on this board, check them out with the search.
Thomas

 

[leigh]

Thomas, thanks, I have searched the forums, that's why I am asking about the sixline specifically with my setup. If I had a bigger tank I'd do the sixline without a thought (based upon an extensive search of this board and others). I'm really not looking to obliterate them, just keep them from taking over, and I don't want to chemically 'nuke' them as I do have other beneficial flatworms I'd like to preserve. I don't want to take the chance of killing my fish from a mass toxin release. Any input on my situation--and ideas as to if I should return the bar gobies or not?

 

[thomas712]

I have concidered a real pain in the rear way myself. Like dipping the rocks that do not have corals in a bucket with the flatworm killer, then rinsing them off with tank water before putting them back, and then taking the rocks with corals and putting them in a bucket of tank water and trying to blow the little butt heads off with a turkey baster or power head. Of course the end result would be time down the road they would be back. another method I have tried was to blow the rocks and substrate and get the flatworms into the water colum and then syphon them out, at the end of the syphon I had one of those smaller micron bags to catch them, then just poured the water back into the tank.
In answer to your question about he 6 line in with the gobys. Given my experince with my 6 line I really don't think it works that well for flatworms. But the one you may put in just might do the trick, who knows, would I try to put a 6 line in with the gobies, sure, but thats just me. I could be wrong.
Thomas

 

[leigh]

Just as an update--as hopefully this might help folks in the future--i had terrific luck with the six-line wrasse flat worm eating machine I bought. I was lucky in that my favorite lfs guy is moving (where he lives, not where his shop is) so he's been selling off all the livestock he had in his own house tank and is going to start up a new one once he moves into his new place. Anyhow, he had a sixline that'd been a resident of his tank for a while and had been living in the display tank at the store since he packed up his tank. It's virtually wiped out the population of the nuisance flatworms I had. I still see a few--and fortunately I still see other pods and some of the beneficial flatworms...but he's definitely helping to control the population. So...so far so good