Flatworms!!!

sandi

sandi

Member
Well it has happened - we have flatworms. Actually it took me quite a bit to figure out what these guys were. Anyway, we are going to be using the Flatworm Exit this weekend. We are going to try to syphon as many of the flatworms out as possible before using the Exit. We are preparing a 75% water change to do - the guy at the store told us to wait about 8 hours after adding the Flatworm Exit before doing the water change. After reading on this site, I understand some of you say a significantly less time to wait before doing the water change. We are also going to go ahead and quarantine our fish and inverts just because I do not want to chance losing any of my fish or shrimp.
Any additional ideas from you guys would be appreciated.
 
petieaztec

petieaztec

Member
75%??? Wow seems excessive. how big is your tank? as soon as those guys start to die i would get a turkey baster and start to take them out. they will be floating in your water. it says that the exit should work within like a half hour. when the worms die off they produce the toxin so get them out ASAP. Then mine says to monitor for the next 6 hours and take out the remaining worms. Thats just what i do and you dont need to QT the tank. but if ya wanta be safe go for it. good luck!
 
sandi

sandi

Member
It is a 55 gallon. I thought the 75% was excessive too. I also thought that waiting 8 hours after putting in the Flatworm Exit was quite a while to wait. We will probably start with a 50% and go from there. I know the Exit says you don't have to quarantine, but I have read horror stories on here about the same situations and our tank has quite a few worms in it - it took me forever to figure out what these things were - just never crossed my mind that they were some sort of worm. We are going to spend the next week getting as many of the worms out as we possibly can before we use the Exit but I am still going to quarantine the fish. I have lost a whole tank of fish before and do not want to go throught this again.
 
cannonman

cannonman

Member
I had an outbreak of them when my tank went without having fish in it for a while, added two clowns and a blenny and now I rarely if ever see one.
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
better safe then sorry. There is a member of my local reef club that has had to do his tank three times, and has lost both fish and corals. not sure why he didnt tank fish and coral out of his tank after loosing so much the first time.
 
npage

npage

Member
Google melevsreef. He has an article about killing flatworms.
He even rigged up a flatworm vacuum. Its hard to find the article, use the SiteMap.
 
cannonman

cannonman

Member
I could be wrong but I think that there is different kinds of flatworms.. the ones I have are clear and very small- they haven't caused a problem with any of my corals or anything else in two years.. of course I don't have many of them either..something in my tank must eat them.
 
sandi

sandi

Member
Thanks guys. NPage, I actually already saw melevsreef. I thought the vacuum was a cool idea - my husband did like the idea of sucking on the end of that hose though. Anyway, going to start getting those suckers out tonight. They aren't the clear ones - they are the red ones. Wish me luck
 
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