Flat Worms

[reefburnaby]

Hi Marc,

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

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.