A cannister filter may present even more of a problem.

Part of the problem with Oomed and the like,is that after the flatworms have died they release toxins (likely why they stink so bad).

So now not only are you killing fauna along with the flatworms,you are releasing all that they contained back into you water column.
Crashes many have had afterward are likely due to this aswell im sure.

Cannister filtering them out would present the same problem,they would die within seconds of getting sucked into the filter,and you end up spewing all that stuff back in the tank.

Id still have to say just make life miserable for them,is the only trustworthy way to keep their numbers in check.


Hey Doug,went to reefland to check out the tank.....nice job! (wheres the emoticon for envy ?)

Thanks Marc.

Anyone interested in seeing the toxin results Marc is mentioning, you can search under my name on RC or a recent thread named Oomed & flatworms, or something like that. :)

It has the posts on what happened to my fish as a result of flatworms toxin.

My experience
 

I had flatworms in my fuge for a good 12-14 months.. I never saw a single one in my main tank.. I beleive it was my 6 line that was taking care of them. About a month ago, flatworms entirely disappeared in the fuge.. I even dipped a small rock in water to test if any were present.. None.. I am almost starting to think that maybe flatworms work in some kind of cycle. They will thrive for only a certain amount of time in one specific area and if there is no where new to move on to, they will slowly die out.

Hi Marc,

Hmm...so how do they die ? The floss filter should trap them...and keep them alive. The pump is usually on the other side of the floss so it usually does not become a blender. You could put carbon in there to suck up any foreign material that is in the water -- so toxins can be soaked up. As you know, flatworms are almost impossible to kill -- slice them in half and you get two live flatworms and not two dead ones.

Making their life harsh presents another problem : eventually, they will die and release their toxins in the tank. They will die slowly, but there is no guarantee that they won't die all of a sudden. The "all of a sudden " scares me because I can't prepare the tank with toxin traps. It can happen today...but it can happen three years from now.

IMHO, The siphon think doesn't really work because it has the same problems as using it to deal with algae problems. The siphoning helps, but the replacement water is suspect. The replacement water may contain enough ingredients to replace and to expand the unwanted algae or flatworms.

- Victor.

I had them in my reef tank for about 2 years. They never got too bad and I kept them under control by syphoning with a piece of airline tubing, everyday or so.

My sixline wrasse and the heat wave this summer (tank got to 90 :shock:) seem to have finished them off. :D

I think its easy,place a few hundred flatworms on some foam within a 4-5 inch area....and pass a few hundred gallons an hour over it,see what comes out the other side.
Were not talkin halves here......more like flatworm paste. :wink:

And honestly,its not a theory.....
When you take the hose out after a minute of siphoning,place it in a salt pail.
It will have a nice red hue to it and to be blunt, a smell that`ll rival your best Saturday mornin beer sh!t. :shock:

Thats the whole idea, then regular water changes can cope with the released toxins,unlike chemicals or cannisters,they arent released all at once.

Im not saying this will rid you of them totally,it just means they are no longer an eyesore,and cannot multiply so vigourously in an environment that is just not suitable.

I'd have to agree with Marc here. My personal feeling in my reef is they are a welcome adition. Don't get me wrong I don't think I'd buy more, but at the level they are at I don't mind them and feel they do their part. And if they do get to be a problem, you need to look at your reef and see what you can improve to make it less likley for them to multiply. Their was a time I didn't like them though. I've tried the siphon thing and that is clearly a waste of time unless your doing other things like improving water movement,skimming,less feeding and general water quality improvements.

Victor I didn't think you had flatworm or I don't remember seeing them at the meeting a while back. If you did was it the canister filter use that cured them?

Well I guess if you have a SPS tank with major waterflow they probably wouldn't even be noticable. In my Sump/Refugium (20g 2/3 full) where there is a 30-40x turn over rate, there are very few Flattys in there, unoticable unless you look for them. I have never syphoned even 1 single Flatty out of there. But with a Softie/LPS tank where you can't run that kind of turn over rate, you have to syphon them out don't you? Would you recomend that I stop syhoning them all together and see what happens?

I also believe they are good for the tank... it's just there are too darn many :P .

Mak,
Because someone doesn't have an sps tank doesn't mean they don't need desent water movement. Also if one can increase or change the flow to help increase flow to the lower flow area were they seem to group that would help. IMO the siphoning time would be better spent cleaning your skimmer and turkey basting rock that collects ditritus.Then do your water change while the ditritus is in the water column. If you siphoning them now, do you see a decrease in them or are they back to par when it's time to siphon again?

Mak,

I bet your softies would love ya for the changes. ;)

As for the siphoning,

I would then refer you back to Dale D`s post....

It did work for him to keep them in check by siphoning.....but it goes on to say "every day or so"

Dale is a good friend and his tanks are among the nicest ive seen,and i dont doubt what hes says as true.

I just looked at it as a means to an end,rather than another daily chore to do.