red planaria (flatworms)

[bellylaugh]

Desperately need help ridding tank of red planaria commonly known as flatworms. Someone out there PLEASE help me. 180 gallon reef tank, beautiful live rock, lots of hard and soft corals. <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" />

 

[lordofthereef]

i too had flatworms once. my brittle star ate them all. also, i heard that longnose hawks eat them, but they can reek havok in a reef tank, so i would stay away from that idea. you could also take a airline tube, and start to siphon them out into a bucket to cut down on the population of them.

 

[keitho]

they also don't apparently like changes in water temperature. i'm not suggesting this, but all of mine went away after my heater failed and the temperature of my tank went from 80 to 72F. also, the nudibranch C. varians (i think that is the right species) eats them and so do certain types of arrow crabs. luckily, for whatever reason, they don't tend to be a permanent pest but rather disappear rapidly after a few month stint. hope this helps

 

[richard rendos]

I have had a longnose hawk in my reef tank for over two years. He never bothers anything. He eats right out of my hand, and otherwise just perches around on the live rock. Super peaceful reef inhabitant. Don't know if they eat planaria though.

 

[lordofthereef]

I just found the nudi that eats the flatworms in the collectors corner of <a href="http://ffexpress.com" target="_blank">THIS SITE.</a>

 

[lordofthereef]

BTW, its called a varians nudibranch.