FLAT WORMS

[REEFAHOLIC]

EH GAD - HELP

I have flat worms in my softy 55 gallon tank. What do I do.!!!!!

Tina

[Triggerman]

i think it was hammer in austin that posted last week sometime he was overrun with flatworms also, he treated the tank with quinsulex i believe and had success without harming the inverts. he was pretty darring in doing this, so you might want to read his post as he gave a good description of what he did. there is also the velvet nudibranch that has been reported to eat these guys up like a vacum cleaner however they're alittle hard to get.

[captexas]

Tina - which kind do you have? After doing some research on Reef Central, I figured out I have red planarians. Someone posted and called it the AIDS of reef tanks so I'm not to excited about my tanks future. Anyone have experience with these bad guys?

[Tim Marvin]

By any chance did you guys get any of the free stuff from Mike? Did you put it in your tank? He warned everyone, but all hope is not losts. Try Ed's solution it is supposed to work for all flat worms. Keep us updated... Sorry to hear about the problems....

[Texreefer]

yeah, I cured my tank good :twisted: flat worms and bubble algae don't do well without water :shock: ... i don't think Tina got anything from me. at any rate I am now rebuilding my tank and i'm excited about the possibilities and they don't include flat worms or bubble algae.

[captexas]

Does anyone know where this stuff comes from? I have gotten live rock from FFE and a few pieces locally at Alamo. I wouldn't imagine it would come from fish or corals, but I don't know. The red planaria that is in my tank is multiplying all over the glass and the live rock. It would really suck (cussing comes later!) to have to tear down my whole tank to get rid of them. From what I read, people have tried all kinds of things and some worked, but it's still the good old hit and miss. I read that the planarians require good lighting (explains why they are creeping up the sides of my tank to the top) and that they eat up excess food. I think I will try keeping my VHO's off for a few days and not feed for a few days at a time.

Just when I got my tank the way I wanted it! :x

[TexasState]

Did you trade some live sand? Over 15 months ago, I try to warn the Austin Reef Club against trading Live sand. I guess some peoples didn't listen.
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Description
FW are found throughout the Indopacific. They come in on corals, or on LR such as Marshal Island LR (tough bastards.) Some wholesaler do watch for them when they come in, other just past them on. Several of the online mail order places are contaminiated w/ FW. Basically, they are every where nowaday. Read my lips, IMHO, I don't buy detrivore kit online.

There many types of FW, some are beneficial (in cleaning your tank for you,) some are bad. The red tipped FW are definately bad. They can overpopulate and cover up your corals. Is your red tip hang around on your corals(mushrooms especially) or just on the sand bed? When they overpopulate, they can crash and poison your tank.

Turning off your light won't work. Your corals will die out b4 the FW die out. When you turn off your light, the red tip FW will get tiny. Several thousand of these tiny FW could crowd up in one gallon of water.
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Treatment:
If you don't have much fish or corals, the only sure way to kill them is to soak your whole tank in fresh water for several days. If your tank are establish reef tank, you can try that Quinsulex like Hammer did. You can try to kill them all you want to, but evently you will be infected again.
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Prevention:
After you buy some new corals, you can gamble, and dip the corals in warm freshwater for 10 second to prevent parasites. I think Kent make those dipping solution. These solutions are the same thing as cheap medical Lugol. When you dip corals, they'll slime up, and start to spill their gut. I haven't killed any corals yet, but it could happen.

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Story times,
I have several friends w/ SPS tank that offer me corals from their FW infested tank. I'm setting up a new high flow experimental tank. I'm itching to get those cheap SPS to experiment w/. But knowing me, I'll probably screw up and infect my main tank w/ the FW from my experimental tank. So far, I haven't taken any. I'm only running the new tank for 12 months, so I might just get me some FW. Or not!!!!!

[Tim Marvin]

Mr. Pham could not have hit it on the head any better! Starving and less light won't do it! It only takes 1/2 of a flat worm to wipe out a tank. They can actually be smashed and grow two new worms! These should be avoided at all cost, unless they are going into a tank just for those corals and rock to be treated! They can survive just about anything. I would keep them all in a separate set-up and trial cures. Once a cure has been found I still would not transfer anything for that tank to your display for a least 6 months, just to be certain! These little critters are very hardy!

[Texreefer]

i can tesify to how bad these guys are... like i said before.. they are one of the reasons i decided to take down my tank....they do not like high temps or extremely high lighting. so these things in conjunction with any medication might help

[REEFAHOLIC]

I am sure glad they are not in my two other tanks. I am not sure where they came from. I guess I will try and find the quinslex that Ray suggested, if I can find it. I also read if you lower the salinity to .019 it might get them, but the corals may not fair to well.

Does any know of a critter that might feed on them beside the nudibranch.

Tina

[REEFAHOLIC]

Oh, by the way, they are the lovely red ones.

[captexas]

From what I have read from other peoples experiences, six-line wrasses work fairly well if you do your part to remove as many of the red flat worms as you can so the wrasse has a chance to keep up with them multiplying. You can try to siphon them up or I just take a algae cleaning pad and wipe them off the glass. I'm also going to try to get some quinulex and try that as they have taken over some of my rockwork.

P.S. - My blue tang in named Papa Smurf!

[captexas]

No problem on using the name. I also thought about calling him Scaredy Smurf as when I first walk up to the tank he darts behind some rock to his hide out and then pokes out to see if it's safe.

I just got an email from a friend who works at Aquatek in Austin and he suggested trying an arrow crab on the red planarians or a dottyback. He said if I try the arrow crab, don't feed for awhile so that it will get hungry and start eating them. I'm sure this is still hit or miss like all the other solutions.