Flatworm Experiment

[CastAway]

The flatworms in my refugium seem to rest mostly in the chaeto now, basking in the light.

I was thinking of using a couple buckets to treat then rinse the chaeto, and reduce the population.

Instead, after recently hearing how resilient chaeto is, is simply rinsed it in fresh water, blasted it with the garden hose, and dried it as best I could using a salad spinner.

I changed out my carbon upon returning the chaeto to the fuge. So far no observable ill effects. Water change tonight just to do what I can to reduce any toxin released.

 

[Chriscrna]

The flatworms in my refugium seem to rest mostly in the chaeto now, basking in the light.

I was thinking of using a couple buckets to treat then rinse the chaeto, and reduce the population.

Instead, after recently hearing how resilient chaeto is, is simply rinsed it in fresh water, blasted it with the garden hose, and dried it as best I could using a salad spinner.

I changed out my carbon upon returning the chaeto to the fuge. So far no observable ill effects. Water change tonight just to do what I can to reduce any toxin released.

You can have a chunk of my chaeto if you need some.

 

[CastAway]

This is your chaeto!

It looks good still. No discoloration; dark shiny green. I don't want to speak too soon, but I really think the treatment was pretty effective.

Ive had the flatworm population wax and wane. I really hope by drastically reducing the number manually, they wane away.

 

[Chriscrna]

Lol didn't realize that.

Salad spun chaeto! Awesome.

Hopefully this works for you.
Interested to see the results.

 

[Nibejeebies]

Following along

 

[BlueDevil]

Jeff - are the flatworms you have the benign kind? The ones that are mostly clear with a two point tail? Everything that I have read up on them has indicated that they're not harmful (unless they reach plague proportions) and in fact add to the biodiversity of the system. Lionfish and Melev are two that have commented on this subject.

 

[Mark75]

I had an "outbreak" of the harmless flat worms myself. The population explosion lasted about a month, there would be hundreds of them on the glass when I would clean it. I didn't do anything to eradicate them yet I haven't seen a single one in over a month.

 

[CastAway]

Jeff - are the flatworms you have the benign kind? The ones that are mostly clear with a two point tail? Everything that I have read up on them has indicated that they're not harmful (unless they reach plague proportions) and in fact add to the biodiversity of the system. Lionfish and Melev are two that have commented on this subject.

Yeah, these are Red Planarian I think. "Plague" is subjective perhaps? I just don't like them, so I wanted to do something.


I was worried, because they've instantly stained and run red when I've manually removed them before, and I could see tendrils of red when I replaced the chaeto - very very little compared to when I cleaned it however. Everything seems perfectly normal after 24 hours now.

 

[BlueDevil]

The red colored ones are the ones you definitely want to get rid of. The clear ones that I mentioned are called amphiscolops and are typically seen on the glass. Only when they reach plague proportions do they start to cover corals suffocating them.

Here's what the amphiscolops look like. Notice the two point tail as opposed to the more rounded body that the red planaria have.

 

[BigKid4788]

Put a 6 line wrasse in your fuge. That's what I did and they eventually were gone.

 

[CastAway]

Put a 6 line wrasse in your fuge. That's what I did and they eventually were gone.

I think it would cease to be a refuge with a wrasse, not to mention it would decimate my pod population before turning to the flatworms.

Other than harvesting macro, I really try to take a hands off approach to the fuge. Just stepping in a little due to the worms.