Flatworm and Cleaner shrimp....... Sigh.

[oceanrider]

Hey all.


I have a no name, brown encrusting SPS with small , very small green polyps.

IT had been growing and growing, but then I moved it around, changed water, and now it is dying........ large white areas all bleached.

I do have those small clear flatworms , but not the larger brown red kind.


Question:


since cleaner shrimps ( red skunk , white stripe down middle ) clean parasites off of many fish bodies...

do Cleaner shrimp eat regular flatworms ? I ask because I have two cleaner shrimp, and it seemed likely.

Seems like they should or would, since they eat other pests.

problem is, I dont know if flatworms attach to fishes bodies, thus making it a natural food for cleaner shrimps.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Cleaner shrimp get the name from cleaning parasites and other objects from inhabitants and even known to crawl in mouths of fish to clean
They do not eat worms, etc.
Lunare and melanurus wrasse will. Flatworm exit is an effective treatment provided you are looking at flatworms. Do you a pic or two you can pist to verify they are flatworms?

 

[oceanrider]

Yes. Thanks for reply.

Just hoped that I could transfer one of my cleaner shrimp to the tank with flatworms.

Hoped that they would. Eat flatworms Since they eat parasites

 

[vetteguy53081]

Unfortunately they dont

 

[Billdogg]

Leopard wrasse did the trick for me .

 

[cloak]

Before you add a wrasse or any chemicals to the tank you might want to get some airline hosing and manually remove what you can first. This might be all that's needed. GL.

http://www.melevsreef.com/articles/how-to-eliminate-flatworms-red-planaria

 

[vetteguy53081]

Leopard wrasse did the trick for me .

Yep - leopard, Lunare, 6-line, Coris- It's like a steak dinner for them.

 

[lzrlvr]

No

 

[Fishguru]

I keep just a melanarus wrasse in my main reef and a six line in my sump to get any extras that are hiding. flatworm rx should work just fine as long as your VERY careful and haven't dosed before. Ive read that sometimes they can build an immunity