How do you get rid of flatworms

[nickbuol]

I am wondering if anyone has been successful at controlling flatworms before they plague (or even after) a tank? It looks like I aquired some on my last live rock purchase, and I would like to get rid of them while the live rock is in a holding container and not in my main tank.
I've heard many different rumors, even that the use of a seaslug from the genus Chelidonura. I know nothing about seaslugs, so I don't know what it takes to 1) get one, 2) care for one, 3) not endanger anything in my tank...
Please advise what options I may have to control these before I put the rock in my main tank.

 

[nickbuol]

I DO actually have a very nice 6-line wrasse in our main tank, I've heard that they MAY eat flatworms, but I think that if I can prevent them from getting into the main tank, that would be best.
I was wondering if I took the live rock and really gave it some good shaking in the temporary tub that it is in to knock of as much good (and bad) stuff from the rock as possible, and then to a fresh water dip with all of the new live rock before putting it in my main tank, then I can work on what is left in the tub and try ti dispose of any that are left.
Any other thoughts anyone?

 

[flydan]

Hey,
I also have a 6-Line Wrasse and have never had a problem with flatworms. I even saw my Bangaii Cardinal eat a bristle worm once. (I knocked it loose and it was floating in the water and the Bangaii swooped in and ate it. Pretty cool.)
Also, I don't believe that bristle worms are bad in a reef tank, although if I ever saw a giant one I'd try and remove it.
Dan'l

 

[-shawn-]

There is a nudibranch that will eat flatworms. I'm not sure of the exact name, but I think is a blue-lined nudibranch. It has a black body with two blue strips run the length of it. Although they are very hard to come by. Another method I hear works is to get a small piece of airline tubing and siphon at 50-100 per day and eventually their numbers will dwindle, until now more are left. Good Luck!

 

[adrian]

The nudi you seek is Chelidonura varians.

 

[burnnspy]

Dip each rock in freshwater for 30 seconds, flatworms explode and die very fast that way.
BurnNSpy

 

[nickbuol]

BurnNSpy (and anyone else for that matter)...
Will that kill off any "good stuff" on the rocks, orshould I not worry about that as the flat worms are worth it (killing I mean)...

 

[ironreef]

fw dip will kill everything on your LR

 

[nickbuol]

Go to the following web site to see the critters in question... http://www.geocities.com/nickbuol/USC.html
Also, by "it will kill everything on the live rock" can you be more specific. I know it will kill all of the critters, but will it significantly damage the coraline algae? Will it make the live rock useless?

 

[-shawn-]

I'd say it depends on how long you dip the rock for. Somethings can with stand the dipping a lot longer than other. Flatworms will explode in about five seconds after a freshwater dip, but I'd leave it in for at least ten, but more like fifteen seconds, and hope for the best. I couldn't really tell you how long each critter will last, so the decision is yours and yours alone.

 

[@knight]

I would try my worst looking rock first and wait a week to see how it fares if you are skeptical. that way you can judge for yourself with minimal risk. if the flatworms explode, I would venture to say that so would your tube-worms, amphipods and copepods.

 

[adrian]

You could also just rinse them in a bucket of SW with a powerhead, they don't grasp onto the rock very well and are easy to blow off. Some corals and especially inverts that are sensitive to salinity changes may not do well with a fresh water dip.

 

[@knight]

btw,
do these things slide across the rock and glass and resemble a gost? something like a snail without a shell.

 

[nickbuol]

They are in a seperate tub right now as I haven't pu tthe live rock into the main tank yet. I bought some southdown sand, got some "sludge" from my LFS's curing tank, and put in the 3 week cured (at the LFS) live rock into the tub to help to "pre-seed" the sand into live sand before I did a crushed coral/UGF swap to live sand. These critters do NOT look like little ghosts like I have seen in other photos...
I have seen only about a total of maybe 30 of these at the most. I'd say a good 50% of them are in that one picture on the web site. They seem localized to 2 spots, that was until last night I started playing around with everything. They were still in the 2 spots, closest to the top of the tub where there was some light (do these guys need light?) I took some boiling water and a syringe and squirted them. I went a little too strong the first time, and they scattered into the water column. I kept shooting them with the water as best I could while they were floating around... The 2nd spot I did a little slower. While I didn't see any explosions, I had a hard time finding them.
In retrospect, I should have removed the rock from the water, and then squirted thier locations.
I was originally doing the crushed coral/UGF to live sand swap tomorrow (Friday)... But now I am a little leary....

 

[burnnspy]

A 30sec dip would only hurt Xenias as far as I know, but my Xenia was able to recover anyway and as a matter of fact I have more because some of the heads that fell off grew into new colonies.
BurnNSpy

 

[ironreef]

the bacteria,pod coralinne can all die. the stuff that makes lr live. FW is like acid to the LR. I did that when I first got into sw to rid bristle worms. Rock looked like base. Some stuff lives some dies= not worth it. The flatworms are in your rock sand probally everywhere. = losing battle if dipping is all you can do. The seem to like nutrient rich tanks sometimes the dissapear on the own?? I would find another way JMO

 

[aquaman2]

insted of doing a freshwater dip you could dip it in very salty water instesd. just a thought.

 

[@knight]

nickbuol, you might want to go to the disease treatment forum and talk to Terry B about this, he seems to be well educated on hypo/hypersalinity. he may put some of your concerns at ease.

 

[ironreef]

hypo salinity treatmend isn't gonna get rid of planeria/flatworms= to simple no one would ever have a problem with flatworms. freshwater dip isn't gonna do it. very few ppl have had luck. some say they usually dissapear =high alk or run out of there food source usually some sort of film alga. Sometime ppl get luck and some fish will eat. But you can search all the bboards many more active than this. They can be hard to rid.
[ October 06, 2001: Message edited by: Ironreef ]

 

[firegarden]

I have been battling the disgusting little things for a few weeks in my tank as well. I haven't resorted to fresh water dips for fear of damaging the rock. The only thing that seems to be helping is I bought a huge Arrow Crab, he loves 'em!