how to get rid of flatworms!

[ashley84]

my moms tanks is filled with flatworms all of a sudden! just coming on here to see if ne1 had a personal experience with this and a successful ending lol...ive read that wrasse eat them....would ne wrasse or just the six line? she might b getting a mystery wrasse? would those eat the flatworms too you think? if this has happened to you what did u do to get rid of em? ne feedback is appreciated

thank you, ashley

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by ashley84
http:///forum/post/3251884
my moms tanks is filled with flatworms all of a sudden! just coming on here to see if ne1 had a personal experience with this and a successful ending lol...ive read that wrasse eat them....would ne wrasse or just the six line? she might b getting a mystery wrasse? would those eat the flatworms too you think? if this has happened to you what did u do to get rid of em? ne feedback is appreciated

thank you, ashley
SOME Sixline Wrasses will eat flatworms, most will not. If the tank is being feed daily for other inhabitants (fish, coral, etc), the sixline is not going to scavenge and eat all the flatworms. Sure, it may pick off a few here and there, but it won't make a dent if the tank is infested.
I had a flatworm issue in my 40G about a year ago. It was a nightmare at first. I lost some zoanthids to the flatworms, but that was it. I bought a sixline to take care of the issue, BIG MISTAKE. He was a super aggressive fish. Killed my mandarin and attacked everyone and everything in my tank. The issue with sixlines is, they can be aggressive and are a lot like a damsel. Within seconds of placing a sixline in your tank, it will learn every inch of your rock work, so if you do have a problem, good luck trying to catch the little demon. I was finally lucky enough to get my stuck in my overflow.
The best way to get rid of flatworms without using chemicals is to siphon, siphon, siphon. I was siphoning in the morning before work, in the afternoon when I got home and at night once or twice before I went to bed. It took a few weeks, but I was able to get rid of them without ever dumping a chemical in my tank (such as FlatwormeXit). If you go the chemical route, please do a lot of research and make sure you follow the steps EXACTLY as they are written and you MUST have lots of extra RO/DI water on hand.
Good luck, they can be a nightmare.

 

[ashley84]

yea thanks..funny thing is now i looked in my tank n i seen some too lol! ive been suckin em up i dont have a lot but i dont want it to get to that point! n i will never add that chemical crap who knows what that would kill plus i dont want those worms to die n release toxins..thank you n hopefully u never have to experience that again so i guess screw the six line lol?

 

[btldreef]

I wouldn't get the sixline, I had an absolutely awful experience with him. I mean, if you want him as an addition then yeah, maybe, but don't get him just for this purpose.
Do you dip your corals?
I now QT corals because of the flatworm issue I had.

 

[cableguy]

For newbies to SW like me... when you say Vacuum, are you saying vacuum your sand / gravel because they live in it and you vacuum them up to get them out?
Thx for the help

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by cableguy
http:///forum/post/3252513
For newbies to SW like me... when you say Vacuum, are you saying vacuum your sand / gravel because they live in it and you vacuum them up to get them out?
Thx for the help
They're not in the sand. They lie on the top of it and on the top of rocks and corals. You can use airline tubing and just slowly suck the out. If they're on the sand, you have to be careful not to suck out ttoo much sand because sand is beneficial to the tank AND too much sand will clog the airline tubing.