Christmas Flatworm surprise

[officialreefbros]

Polishing my tank up before Christmas guests arrived and found some small flatworms!! This is the 1st time I've seen them and the odd part is it's been about 6 months since I've added anything.

I've found 4 so far. Think I should siphon and flatworm exit asap or just pull them out and wait?

 

[CoralB]

Depending on what else you may have in the tank I personally wouldn’t use exit unless it’s last result . Chemicals never fare well for me in the reef tank . If it were fish only no worries and that being said their are wrasses that eat them . I have a less aggressive yellow wrasse that has served me well and not just for flat worms

 

[officialreefbros]

Depending on what else you may have in the tank I personally wouldn’t use exit unless it’s last result . Chemicals never fare well for me in the reef tank . If it were fish only no worries and that being said their are wrasses that eat them . I have a less aggressive yellow wrasse that has served me well and not just for flat worms

Right now I only have softies but I think they might be the pod eating type and not coral thankfully. I have a 25g tank so a little small for a wrasse

 

[CoralB]

Right now I only have softies but I think they might be the pod eating type and not coral thankfully. I have a 25g tank so a little small for a wrasse

If you don’t mind a little aggression line sixes are small for a 25 gallon and are excellent critter control

 

[officialreefbros]

If you don’t mind a little aggression line sixes are small for a 25 gallon and are excellent critter control

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. I may have to just go toxic

 

[Katherine Corals]

Easily treatable with Flatworm Exit. 2 courses, 2 weeks apart. Ensure you do heavy sand bed sifting through each treatment and you may want to consider running your water change through the skimmer. I like to connect a hose to the collection cup and run it into a bucket or drain and do my water change through it.

 

[officialreefbros]

Easily treatable with Flatworm Exit. 2 courses, 2 weeks apart. Ensure you do heavy sand bed sifting through each treatment and you may want to consider running your water change through the skimmer. I like to connect a hose to the collection cup and run it into a bucket or drain and do my water change through it.

Thanks!! I'll give it a try and hope for the best

 

[Dan_P]

Polishing my tank up before Christmas guests arrived and found some small flatworms!! This is the 1st time I've seen them and the odd part is it's been about 6 months since I've added anything.

I've found 4 so far. Think I should siphon and flatworm exit asap or just pull them out and wait?

Wouldn’t worry about such a tiny number. They might not be a problem. You can kill 4 just easily as 400 later.

 

[CoralB]

Wouldn’t worry about such a tiny number. They might not be a problem. You can kill 4 just easily as 400 later.

True to a point as if there are more than four that you can’t see , that’s how you get to 400 and beyond

 

[Gatorpa]

Wouldn’t worry about such a tiny number. They might not be a problem. You can kill 4 just easily as 400 later.

Except killing 4 releases far less toxins than killing 400….

 

[officialreefbros]

Except killing 4 releases far less toxins than killing 400….

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I ordered some flatworm exit, because my lfs did not have any. It's going to be a few days so figure I'll see how it's looking and maybe to a dose to kill any residuals

 

[Gatorpa]

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I ordered some flatworm exit, because my lfs did not have any. It's going to be a few days so figure I'll see how it's looking and maybe to a dose to kill any residuals

Knock them out now before there is a population explosion.

 

[officialreefbros]

Knock them out now before there is a population explosion.

Yeah I'm still surprised on what triggered them. There was no sign of them and then I added in some phtyo on night after not dosing for a while. The next morning boom lots of pods and the flat worms. So strange as I haven't added anything new

 

[vetteguy53081]

Polishing my tank up before Christmas guests arrived and found some small flatworms!! This is the 1st time I've seen them and the odd part is it's been about 6 months since I've added anything.

I've found 4 so far. Think I should siphon and flatworm exit asap or just pull them out and wait?

these are acoel ghost flatworms and least harmful ,,,, but in numbers they can smother a coral and block the light corals need for zooxanthellae which is their energy and building blocks
Simple removal if few is siphoning with a 3/8" tubing into a net or nylon stocking and discard
If many, wrasses such as yellow coris, lunare. 6 line and melanurus will eat them
Also a springieri damsel will eat them.
Make chemical the last option unless huge infestation as if used, you will need to siphon the tank daily to remove dead ones which can release toxins.
Lastly- Check tank daily for next 2 weeks for signs of any eggs which are really tiny. Generally eggs are laid underneath coral

 

[Gatorpa]

Yeah I'm still surprised on what triggered them. There was no sign of them and then I added in some phtyo on night after not dosing for a while. The next morning boom lots of pods and the flat worms. So strange as I haven't added anything new

May have come in as eggs, they are very good at hiding i rocks as well. Some people per dip with flat worm ext any new additions.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Yeah acoel flatworms aren't terrible, and their plagues rarely if ever approach that of something like red planaria. On top of that they're significantly less toxic. More fish will also nom on them for that reason. IMO not worth a display tank flatworm exit nuke. Get a wrasse or just live with them. Unlikely to cause trouble unless there is NOTHING AT ALL eating them. They also look kinda cool imo and if you do have a fish that eats them it's free food

 

[OrionN]

Those are benign free living flat worm. I would not worry about it. They are not the brown red flat worms or the parasitic flatworms that live on some corals.

 

[o2manyfish]

Please be very very careful with the Flatworm Exit. We did a 75% dose on a packed 560g reef tank. And at 45 minutes into the treatment fish just started falling to the bottom of the tank dead. We had followed directions and were running carbon. In a brief period of minutes we lost more than $25k in fish. Our corals were fine. But the fish loss was devestating.

Be very very careful.

Dave B

 

[officialreefbros]

Please be very very careful with the Flatworm Exit. We did a 75% dose on a packed 560g reef tank. And at 45 minutes into the treatment fish just started falling to the bottom of the tank dead. We had followed directions and were running carbon. In a brief period of minutes we lost more than $25k in fish. Our corals were fine. But the fish loss was devestating.

Be very very careful.

Dave B

That's horrible!! I'm sorry for your loss.

these are acoel ghost flatworms and least harmful ,,,, but in numbers they can smother a coral and block the light corals need for zooxanthellae which is their energy and building blocks
Simple removal if few is siphoning with a 3/8" tubing into a net or nylon stocking and discard
If many, wrasses such as yellow coris, lunare. 6 line and melanurus will eat them
Also a springieri damsel will eat them.
Make chemical the last option unless huge infestation as if used, you will need to siphon the tank daily to remove dead ones which can release toxins.
Lastly- Check tank daily for next 2 weeks for signs of any eggs which are really tiny. Generally eggs are laid underneath coral

I'm scared to go either way at this point to be honest. Worried about the chemicals hurting anything but also worried about them taking over. My tank is a 25g with 2 clowns already so hesitant on introducing more fish right now.

Thanks for the help everyone!! I'm going to debate it over of seeing how many I still find after sucking out the first few. Last night I didn't find any so hopefully it only correlates with the pod boom I had. I may let it run for a little and consider the damsel. Thanks!

 

[i cant think]

There is a wrasse I’m surprised hasn’t been mentioned yet. If your tank is low on stocking (1-2 fish currently) then I would try get a Pseudocheilinops ataenia. These are much less aggressive than sixlines are.
And their look is just as beautiful, my 3 (in your tank I would only grab one) helped with Monti Eating Nudibranchs a while ago.