Flatworms... ewwww....

[fortheloveofcrabs]

Hi everybody!

I was wondering, well, I have flat worms it seems. I suck them out, but more and more keep appearing. I have them at bay, it's just a never ending battle and I would like to rid my tank of them.

To my disappointment, I noticed that flatworm exit is no longer sold in Canada. So how do I get rid of these things?!

Thanks in advance!!

-Pauli

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Find someone who will sell you their Flatworm Exit! I know some LFS's still carry it.

Some wrasses eat flatworms too, I THINK.

[adidas]

you're tellin me!

i did 2 doses of exit and it didn't work, i also bought a red coris wrasse and he hasn't touched any

[justinl]

if you do end up with flatworm exit, you need to dose about 5 times the dosage on the bottle, then run carbon immediately afterwards to counter the toxins the flatworms will give off as the die. if you do the recommended dosage, you wont kill a single flatworm.

[Neil]

my melanarus wrasse seems to keep them at bay

[ron101]

Originally Posted by fortheloveofcrabs

Hi everybody!

I was wondering, well, I have flat worms it seems. I suck them out, but more and more keep appearing. I have them at bay, it's just a never ending battle and I would like to rid my tank of them.

To my disappointment, I noticed that flatworm exit is no longer sold in Canada. So how do I get rid of these things?!

Thanks in advance!!

-Pauli

How big is your tank? It might be more effective to tear it down and freshwater dip everything.

[Robw]

I had flat worms for about three years. Did multiple doses of FWE over the course of three years. I even pulled all the rock and soaked it in SW with FWE and blew all over the rock with a power head and they came back. When I moved from Yellowknife to Calgary I had the rock in tubs of saltwater with heaters and powerheads running off an inverter with a triple dose of FWE in the water in the back of my truck for two days. They still came back! I finally gave up with the FWE, it did kill them but not every last one. I started to do regular water changes and sucked up as many as I could. I did buy a yellow wrasse to see if it would eat them. I never saw him eat any but they eventually did go away, kind of just died off. The yellow wrasse sleeps in the sand bed. Freaked me out one morning when I saw just its head sticking out of the sand bed. I thought something ate it and left the head laying there. Until I noticed the gill covers moving. Neat watching it circle it sleeping spot in the sand then burrowing in. Kind of like a dog lying down to sleep. Now I am off topic and will shut up.

Rob

[adidas]

Originally Posted by Robw

I had flat worms for about three years. Did multiple doses of FWE over the course of three years. I even pulled all the rock and soaked it in SW with FWE and blew all over the rock with a power head and they came back. When I moved from Yellowknife to Calgary I had the rock in tubs of saltwater with heaters and powerheads running off an inverter with a triple dose of FWE in the water in the back of my truck for two days. They still came back! I finally gave up with the FWE, it did kill them but not every last one. I started to do regular water changes and sucked up as many as I could. I did buy a yellow wrasse to see if it would eat them. I never saw him eat any but they eventually did go away, kind of just died off. The yellow wrasse sleeps in the sand bed. Freaked me out one morning when I saw just its head sticking out of the sand bed. I thought something ate it and left the head laying there. Until I noticed the gill covers moving. Neat watching it circle it sleeping spot in the sand then burrowing in. Kind of like a dog lying down to sleep. Now I am off topic and will shut up.

Rob

you had bad luck with the wrasse idea too eh... i think im going to start syphoning flatworms and then sprinkle them in the water like its food maybe i will trick him and he will get a taste for them??

[untamed]

Originally Posted by justinl

if you do the recommended dosage, you wont kill a single flatworm.

That is certainly not my experience. Recommended dosage certainly killed a lot of them in my case. I was impressed that it really seems very targeted. I saw one Eunicid worm in distress, and I'm a bit worried about some starfish...other than that, there seems to be no side effects to the treatment.

I'm waiting another week to see if I can see any alive. Robw's experience is very concerning. I don't want to transfer any into the new tank.

The idea is to preserve life on/in the rocks while eliminating the flatworms. Aggressive treatment of the live rock is not an option.

[Robw]

The good thing is that they are finally gone. (knock on wood)