Interesting way to rid flatworms

[renogaw]

I was at a reef club meeting the other day, and one thing that is a constant problem for even the huge sps tanks is flatworms.
the speaker told us of a way to naturally rid the tank of flatworms: natural predators. any time he gets new wrasses he keeps them in an acclimation bucket in the tank. it looked like a bucket you find in your pool strainers to catch leaves. He actually breeds flatworms and feeds these new wrasses nothing but flatworms. after a couple days, he puts in corals that have flatworms on them to teach the wrasses to pic flatworms off the corals. after that, he releases them into his 1200 gallon tank, and they are trained to only eat flatworms!

 

[groupergenius]

Were any specific wrasses more adapt to do this?

 

[jmick]

I know radiant wrasses will eat flatworms and other pests.

 

[renogaw]

every single wrasse he puts in gets trained to eat them. 6 lines, flasher, everything.
michael s paletta (most know his new marine aquariast book) was our speaker. he has over 100 wrasses in his 1200.

 

[earlybird]

pretty cool. So these fish are trained to ignore prepared foods? What happens when there are no more flatworms?

 

[saltn00b]

i was going to ask what early bird just did. oh and 100 wrasses, that is AWESOME , id love to see it.

 

[renogaw]

from what he says, there are always flatworms.
they do eat prepared food as well, but they primarily eat flatworms.

 

[renogaw]

btw, mike gave everyone his email addy at the meeting so if you want to ask him questions about it i can give out his email addy. he truly was a great guy to talk to

 

[trippkid]

There is a thread on -- covering this, also can use Camel and Peppermint shrimps in a QT tank to rid of flatworms, nudis', and other little SPS destroyers.

 

[fishy7]

Wow that is a pretty cool way to get rid fo flat worms. I have a 6 and a leopard and my population is steady going down.

 

[renogaw]

if you can catch you 6line, do this bucket training thing for a week. if i had flatworms (that i can see ) i'd have done it with mine.

 

[fishy7]

what is the best way to catch a 6line?

 

[renogaw]

heh, take the tank down...
that or find out where it sleeps and catch it at night.

 

[teen]

camel shrimp are awesome for this. im sure they'd be more effective than a wrasse. only thing is you have to be careful because once they eat all the pests, they will move onto the tissue of the coral.

 

[trippkid]

Originally Posted by teen
camel shrimp are awesome for this. im sure they'd be more effective than a wrasse. only thing is you have to be careful because once they eat all the pests, they will move onto the tissue of the coral.
yes, the camel treatment should last an hour or so, peps tend to be safer, nobody is certain if both do the exact same job or not yet. Hopefully, someone will set up some more controlled experiments on this.
Matt

 

[teen]

i think camel shrimp would do a better/ more thorough job of cleaning the coral. we have both at work and the camels seem to be more active/ efficient.

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by teen
camel shrimp are awesome for this. im sure they'd be more effective than a wrasse. only thing is you have to be careful because once they eat all the pests, they will move onto the tissue of the coral.
maybe, but you also show the downside to camel shrimp. would you rather a wrasse eating your flat worms off of an expensive, rare SPS, or a camel shrimp?...

 

[viper_930]

renogaw, did Mike mention which type of flatworms he was using for his wrasse?
Camelbacks are supposedly good for AEFW and red bugs but cannot be used to rid a tank of red planaria. These shrimp should not be added to the display. Infected corals are placed with the shrimp in a seperate QT tank for short periods.

 

[renogaw]

oh goodness... i'll check my pm's elsewhere (when they are done with their nightly back up) and get his email and ask him. they honestly looked solid and red (he had a pictures) but he has added so many sps that he says he has all of them.
also, one thing he suggests is if you get corals from indonesia to snap them off their bases and throw the bases out. they are generally full of algae and flatworm eggs that has given him nothing but nightmares.