red flatworm question

babyb

babyb

Active Member
my boyfriend just bought a 24 gallon a.p. it has been up for 2 years before he bought it ( we bought it from the fish store, it was one of there display tanks) after i set it up and the stuff settled i was looking really close at the rocks trying to look for hitchhikers well i found some, he has red flatworms, the corals that are in the tank are some green star polyps mushrooms, some zoos, i think thats it i have heard of flatworm exit, has anyone ever used it, i have heard also that there are fish that eat them, but i cant remember what kind
what has worked for yall, the red ones are the bad ones right?
any help would be appreciated
 
petjunkie

petjunkie

Active Member
Well they aren't really bad per say, just ugly. As long as you have good enough flow they shouldn't get to plague proportions. I have them in all my tanks but you can't even find them in two of them, just my Aquapod they spread like mad. I've used flatworm exit before, it worked on my 10 gallon but not so good in the Aquapod. I actually just redosed that tank tonight because I hate the way they look, rearranged the tank while I was at it.
Just siphon out as many as you can for a couple days before you dose and have carbon and extra water mixed up in case. Some wrasses will eat them as will certain mandarins but they can't get to all of them and once the fish is gone they just come back. You can also freshwater dip your rocks and corals to get some of them off before you dose FWE.
 
babyb

babyb

Active Member
thanks, i thought the white ones were good and the red ones were little coral eaters
 
keith burn

keith burn

Active Member
Originally Posted by BabyB
wow is all that flat worms
Do not know got it off the web i have one but no pic of it .
 
gman08016

gman08016

Member
Flatworms are bad for your tank.First they multiply really fast for how small they are.Then when they start dieing off and release toxins in your water.It is enough toxins to change your water perimiters then your corals will start going down hill.If you use flatworm exit make sure you use it as directed.Also use enough carbon like the directions say.Thats so it asorbs the toxins they release in your water.I had a bad outbreak a couple of weeks ago and had to dose my tank twice.I would suggest a 20% water change after you dose.Some fish do eat then i picked up a orange spot manderin just to be on the safe side.
 
namas05

namas05

Member
Use a freash water dip for your corals.
Match the water temp of the DT and dip the corals in the fresh RO water for a few minutes. Shake to knock off the flatworms and place back in the tank.
May take awhile for the coral to reopen but they will be fine.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by saltn00b
lugols iodine dip is likely a lot less stressful for corals than FW.
i just rid my tank of them, check out the last page of this
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/247342/saltn00bs-multi-phase-upgrade-diary
I agree, Fresh water is really really bad for corals.
Flatworm exit is an excellent investment. I would never encourage anyone to use it on a reef tank but it makes a very very effective dip for new corals BEFORE they go into the tank.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
hey bang, i did as much research on this as i possibly could before dosing my reef. i was not able to find any cases of coral death from this. some LPS and leathers may become slightly distressed for the 2 hours or so that it is most concentrated in the tank, but they quickly bounce back. i only had a small open brain inflate in a strange stressed looking way, and that was it. the only real danger from this is not syphoning out all of the visible FWs for a week or so, and the toxins released from the result.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I'm glad you have had positive results.
I have seen it decimate infauna populations in live sand and live rock.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top