Words of Advice....

TheReefGeek · #1 06-22-2006, 06:16 PM

That Chaeto was from me, after Lee told me there were flatworms I checked my fuge, and indeed I did have some little red flatworms on the glass in my refugium. If I had known I had these, I would not have given the chaeto away. I won't trade anything more from my tank until they are gone. Sorry Lee!

They came into my fuge from either the chaeto I got from local reefers (Michca & Joe Reefer you might want to check your chaeto) or else on frags I bought and held in my fuge.

My flatworms are almost all gone, in a tank that is skimmed well they often die out on their own in a couple months. I don't like using chemicals like Exit, read to many horror stories about it. I will wait it out, they aren't doing any harm right now, and definately reducing in numbers and they haven't spread from my fuge yet.

But definately fresh water dipping seems to be the order of the day, I have been lucky the flatworms are dieing out on their own for me, but I should definately have dipped my chaeto & frags.

Are you sure these red flatworms eat corals? Red bugs eat acros, but these are not red bugs. The corals in my fuge are doing fine.

OCDP · #2 06-22-2006, 07:48 PM

Ahhhh geez Rory, way to go! hahah... just kidding.

Thanks for the friendly reminder Lee. I am one to talk, I never dip... I am sure one day it will come to kick me in the butt.

TheReefGeek · #3 06-22-2006, 08:05 PM

Been reading up on these Convolutriloba retrogemma

Recommendations to keep these guys in check are good skimmering to keep nutrients down, and wrasses often keep them in check. Also they don't like high flow areas. This is why I am not seeing many of these guys, my tank is very overskimmed with an ASM G6, and my display tank has a fairy wrasse who is probably eating any that make it from the fuge to the display. Any my display tank flow is really good.

One reason I have a fuge is to feed my display, so in this sense it is working!

They don't do any harm to a tank unless they get so out of hand that they are covering corals and blocking light to them. I can find a couple on my fuge glass, so this is not a problem for me. Tanks with higher nutrients, no wrasses, and low flow might get an epidemic of these prolific worms.

So to me, it is actually adding diversity to the tank, and providing natural food for my wrasse. As long as they stay in check and don't proliferate in my display then they are welcome to stay in my fuge and I won't try to eradicate them. They are probably a good measure of the nutrient content of my water, if their volume increases, my system is out of balance.

TheReefGeek · #4 06-22-2006, 08:11 PM

Reeferadict, good to hear you solved it naturally.

I think my wrasse is keeping my display clean.

Lando thanks for checking, good to hear you dont have em. I believe they came in on corals frags. I held the frags in my fuge, and they are still there actually.

The other possible source was the reefer I bought red halimeda algae from, a guy in Calgary, can't remember a username.

TheReefGeek · #5 06-22-2006, 08:15 PM

Here is a good picture of them in case others have them.

Kryten · #6 06-23-2006, 01:50 PM

I have things that look kinda like that, but they're not red. Would those still be a problem?

Matt · #7 06-23-2006, 02:23 PM

Interesting... not to dismiss Lee's original point, I know some reefers deliberately don't dip chaeto because it contains a lot of pods and other good stuff.

I've had red flatworms too. I got excited, and dipped a lot of the corals I found them on. Killed a couple of corals that way... The flatworms got siphoned out with water changes, and they just disappeared later. Here's a nice article from the excellent Melev's Reef site.

AFAIK, they don't eat corals, but they can "smother" them when they get to plague proportions. When they die off, they release a toxin which can be harmful if it is too concentrated (too many at once).

Anyway, like so many other reef pests, they seem to come and go peacefully most of the time for most folks. When they do find the right balance for population explosion, they can apparently become quite a problem. I'd safe the "exit" products for those times.

BTW, the white ones aren't considered a problem, most of the time.

Back to the OP's point. Dipping / QT: good.

reeferaddict · #8 06-22-2006, 07:56 PM

This is just from my own humble experience -

I had flatworms a year or so back & had never seen them before so I never knew... I tried Flatworm Exit not once, but twice. Each time it seemed like they all died, only to come back with more determination than before... being that the treatment itself can be a stressful event, (siphoning rock before & after treatment, and having 50g+ water on the ready to do a 25% water change, I decided to let nature run it's course... I got a 6 Line Wrasse and a Copperband Butterfly and within a couple of months have never seen one again. (I never actually saw either one of these fish eat a single flatworm BTW.)

Interestingly, as I have 2 tanks plumbed to a common sump, I never saw ONE in my softy tank, and never observed any of my corals being consumed.

Joe Reefer · #9 06-22-2006, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheReefGeek

They came into my fuge from either the chaeto I got from local reefers (Michca & Joe Reefer you might want to check your chaeto) or else on frags I bought and held in my fuge.

None here, I just took a close look.