Battling Flatworms

[Squishie89]

So I have started fighting the flatworms in my tank. I found I could manually remove them with relative ease by using my magfloat as a flatworm magnet. They get caught in the fibers and I pull it out and was in the sink, and repeat this a number of times until the glass is mostly clear. I can see there are more on the back panel and probably in the rocks. I have already purchased FWE but am very nervous on using it. My main concern is carbon. I need help figuring out a way to use/run carbon for the FWE. This is my sump:

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(Skimmer section, fuge section with LR and macro algae, return, ATO reservoir) and I have kent nitrate sponge in the baffles between the skimmer and fuge section.
What would be the best way to do carbon? Should I invest in a reactor or try to borrow one? I do have a spare HOB filter that I could stuff with bags of carbon but it is rated for a 25g tank and my display is 90g and sump holds about 10 gallons of water. I just don't want to kill my fish and inverts. I was thinking about getting a blue velvet nudibranch (if I can find one). I am planning to get a mandarin anyway and starting tomorrow I am going to be searching for a good one.

 

[46gReef]

I went through the same battle last year. First I'd tell you to skip the nudibranch, I spent $200 on 5 of them and saw them for 1 day. I too was nervous about using FWE, but Ill sY it's a great product. I was lucky and didnt have any flatworms in my sump so I killed the flow to my refugium & treated my DT only. My regimen was dose the FWE, once I saw them dying I would start netting them out using a fine net, I would also always do a 10gallon H2O change with each treatment. As far as the carbon goes I have a canister filter (a H.O.T. Magnum)& I would replace the carbon each time I treated. I would tell you if you do a H2O change with each treatment and suck/net out as many as possible you may be okay just running the HOB filter you have packed full of carbon. It took me 5 treatments (every 3 days) before I didn't see any & then I did 1 more treatment after that just to be on the safe side. Goid luck & I hope this helps!

 

[CoralLover49]

I have read on here, not too long ago, someone's battle with flatworms, he said he also used FWE, but had hundreds of them dying all at once.. He couldn't get them out quick enough. Also said when they die, they release some sort of stuff that is dangerous for the livestock.. I think he lost 75% or more of his corals+ fish.. I also read that some ppl has done it with no problems. I'm new so that kinda scared me... Where do these worms come from and why? Good luck with your battle, I sincerely hope everything works out perfect..


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[46gReef]

Red Planaria(flatworms) are bad hitchikers that can come in on LR, coral frags, macroalgae...pretty much anything with the exception of fish. The thing that makes them terrible besides thd toxin they produce is the fact that they can reproduce asexually&thrive in high light. They basically feed off light which makes them thrive in our well lit reef tanks. Since my battle with them I dip everything in flatworm exit before it goes in my tank.

 

[CoralLover49]

İ wish i knew that before i put LR, corals etc. İn my tank. İ dont even know what they look like.. Will kerp my fingers crossed


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[danka-cedium]

A six line wrasse may/may not help.
Also they hate flow they can't hold on. Have you tried manually siphoning them out? Use a 1/4" hose(ice maker line from home depot)

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[MitchReef]

you can siphon straight to your sump with a filter bag tied onto the sump end of the siphon tube, then you are catching the worms but not losing tank water. I controlled them with just frequent siphoning of the visible ones.

 

[YVR]

Flatworm Exit does work well to help get rid of them when they have infested your tank. But, to help prevent a future infestation of flatworms, I dip all my new corals in an iodine bath like Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure before introducing them into my tank. Understandably I get a bit paranoid about introducing things like flatworms into my display tanks.

 

[jservedio]

If you catch them really, really early you can easily siphon them off. They seem to do really badly out of water and die quickly as well. I had a small amount of them that started reproducing very quickly so I set up an airline siphon to the sump and went after them that way. Got as many as I could and I just happened to be moving the tank the same week. When I drained the tank, I redipped all my corals and the rocks being out of water for a few hours killed off all the flatworms.

 

[Squishie89]

As far as the ones on the rock, they are so tiny I very rarely can see them. I appreciate all the insight on how to prevent break outs, but I need information on how to cure the breakout.
I only have 3 fish, 1 clam, 1 urchin, and 1 sea hare in the display that I could move to quarantine ( a long with some snails and crabs I adore) to do the FWE treatment. My other thought is to get a HOB or canister filter to stuff with carbon. The problem there is FWE suggests 1pound of carbon for every 50 gallons. So I would need 2 pounds of carbon. So for instance if I got the aquaclear 110, each bag of carbon is 9oz which converts to .5 pounds, so I would need 4 bags of carbon in the filter. So to accommodate that much carbon it might just be better to get a reactor. The small issue there is I have never used a reactor. The reactor may not be the worst thing as I am sure it will come in handy later on.

 

[46gReef]

I used about 10oz. of carbon on my tank when I treated, I have 50gal. total water volume...if you do a water change as well you should be fine not using the recommended dosage because you will be removing the toxins via water change as well...like I said in my earlier post, just net them out as they die and do a water change immediately after treatment. I let my tank sit for about 45 min each treatment before doing a water change....

 

[Rudy16189]

I got the same problem until im put six line wrasse and i dont see any flatworm in my tanks until now ...it is worth the try !

 

[Squishie89]

My concern about adding a fish (like a 6 line) is I am not done stocking the tank, I still have 2-3 peaceful/non aggressive fish to add before I get to the more aggressive fish. I think I am going to get a canister filter to run the carbon. I appreciate everyone's help. Thank you so much.

 

[Squishie89]

Update and some more questions. I bought an API FilStar XP 3/L canister filter and tons of carbon and bio chem zorb. Last night I did a total of a double and a half dose of FWE to the tank (and used 4 bags of carbon and 2 bags of bio chem zorb) and did a 20% water change. Everything lived, no real problems. However, I still have some flatworms and I knew I was going to have to do another dose due to eggs.

How long until I can do the next dose? Any ideas on how long it takes for the eggs to hatch?

 

[46gReef]

For awhile I was dosing every other day, as long as my fish were okay I repeated the dose. IMO it's better to treat more frequently because that way you don't give the flatworms time to reproduce therefore keeping their toxins to a minimum

 

[46gReef]

Don't forget too that they can reproduce by fission, they don't necessarily have to "breed" to multiply, so be aggressive in your treatment. I went through 3 bottles during my plague!

 

[Squishie89]

Oh wow. Thank you.
How long do you think I can go without changing out the carbon if I continue dosing FWE?

 

[46gReef]

Are you doing H2O changes after treatment?

 

[harriszm]

The first treatment is the most critical to worry about. That's when you will have the most die off and therefore toxin release. Wait about a week after initial treatment and dose again, you will need a double strength or more to kill all

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