Help, Flatworms in my display. Treatment? Not snail eggs this time =*(

MarineGirl411 · #1 03/12/2007, 02:55 AM

Well,
I posted a couple of days ago asking if something in my tank was a flatworm. No, they were just snail eggs to my relief! Well, tonight, yes I did find some flat worms! ARGGGHHHHH!!!!!! Here are some pictures. They are mainly on my glass from what I can see. What should I do? I've heard of saliferts flatworm exit. It's in my main display and I'm very mad at myself. I am not sure where they came from. I've gotten a couple of corals from my friend, then a couple from different reef stores. :::Sigh. Help me please.

If you could tell me what these specific one's are and what they might have come in on I would be greatly appreciated. I recently added some micro's, and blasto's from my friends system. I then purchased an Open Brain coral and then a Montipora Capricornis. I have since then purchased a Tiger tail cucumber that is giving me another headache. I'd appreciate your help.

MarineGirl411 · #2 03/12/2007, 02:58 AM

Sorry the pictures aren't better. I meant to say I'd be greatly appreciative if you could tell me what these are and the treatment. Thank you.

LeslieH · #3 03/12/2007, 10:47 AM

These small acoel flatworms are not harmful to corals or other large animals. Depending on the species they eat diatoms, microalgae, & small animals such as copepods. Some, like corals, have symbiotic algae in their tissues. The main problem with these in a reef tank seems to be that they rapidly reproduce & look bad or shade corals.

The ones in your tank are more likely to have come in on the rocky base of the corals than on the corals themselves. Depending on species they can reproduce both sexually & asexually or just sexually. Either way, start sucking them out as individuals now & hope you get them before the population takes off. Some opistobranchs do eat flatworms but target specific species so there's no guarantee that getting a slug will help.

MarineGirl411 · #4 03/12/2007, 01:42 PM

thank you leslie. I do need them out because I am trying to get my pod population up. I need as many pods as I can get. I will try siphoning them out.

jsrtist · #5 03/12/2007, 05:21 PM

We have recently dealt with this problem too. We started by siphoning out as many as we could and then hit the tank with Flatworm Exit. We started with normal strength and added a few more drops till we saw them all start to detach from the rocks and glass. We have done two treatments and (knock wood) have not seen any since!

You do have to be careful to immediately do a water change and add carbon after the application as the sudden large die-off of worms can cause an ammonia spike (you will be amazed how many start to crawl out of the rocks after you add the treatment!).

Krazy · #6 03/12/2007, 06:22 PM

I had these in my tank before, I had good luck with the salifert flatworm exit myself.

I had to treat 3 times, but they are finally GONE...

I advise to not use it normal strength, I advise 2 times the normal strength...

Remove all carbon before you dose it... Dose, then watch as they all come out of no where, lol, scoop and syphon as much as you can out, wait about an hr/ hr and a half, do a 10% waterchange and add some carbon to wipe out the toxin's from the worms...

I didnt suffer any loss, my zoo's and mushrooms did look pretty stressed until I put the carbon back in though...

Good Luck

MarineGirl411 · #7 03/12/2007, 06:34 PM

Hi,
I only have found a couple so far. Do you think I should still use the flatworm exit? Do you think there are some I am just not spotting? Please let me know. Thank you.

LeslieH · #8 03/12/2007, 08:52 PM

Take a look at the flatworm with a forked tail and round anterior on Melev's reef id page: http://melevsreef.com/id/flatworm.html That's the one that eats copepods. Your critter looks like a grazer; if its green that might be because it's carrying symbiotic algae in its tissues. I don't think it's going to affect your pod population unless the flatties & pods compete for the same food resource. Why don't you try siphoning to start? You can always use flatworm exit if more keep showing up.

MarineGirl411 · #9 03/13/2007, 01:39 AM

Hi,
Thank you leslie. I went there last night and actually did look. It looks the most like the one in the middle with the hooked tail. It however doesn't look exactly like that. I will try siphoning before the flat worm exit. Thank you. Just wanted to make sure he wouldn't attack my corals. I'd love to know what they came in on too. =(

MarineGirl411 · #10 03/13/2007, 01:40 AM

Thank you krazy K as well. I will try it if it gets bad.