Flatworm ID and advice!

[bugaboo9495]

Hello all. I got this blasto frag today and there are ***** worms crawling on it. I did a freshwater dip for 10 seconds while shaking the frag and then right back into saltwater where I scrubbed the frag plug with a tooth brush. I don’t have coral RX dip right now so this was the best I could do. Any ID on the flatworms and should I be worried?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Image very small and fuzzy but appears to be a polyclad. These are known to smother coral thereby blocking the light coral use to produce its energy source known as zooxanthelle.
suck them up with a 3/8” tubing. Or you can add a wrasse such as yellow coris, 6 line, lunare or melanurus.
Final option, chemically using salifert flatworm exit

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I just tackled these guys. Admittedly I caught them early. Use flatworm exit and follow the directions very closely.

1. Mix 50 new water.
2. Siphon out as many of them as you can. Do this over a few days leading up to water change night, not minutes or hours. I used a piece of rigid air line with silicone airline on the back of the rigid.
3. Have carbon ready. I don’t have a reactor so I ran a aqua clear filter with a mechanic bag of carbon.
4. on water change night, plan to monitor tank for hours. dose recommended amount and siphon out every one you see whether dead or alive they are what will kill your fish.
5. Do the 50% follow up dose as recommended in the instructions. Even if you think you are clear of flat worms. Remember flatworm exit is safe. It’s the dead worms that are toxic.
6. After 6 hours of monitoring and siphoning out flat worms, do your normal water change and reserve the remainder of you mixed water in case there are adverse reactions to the flatworm toxins.
7. run carbon.

I made an all day ordeal out of it because I didn’t want to lose stock or have to retreat down the road. Better safe than sorry, right? Regardless, this stuff worked and none of my little aquatic animals were harmed.

if you end up not needing the excess saltwater, save it for your next water change.

 

[bugaboo9495]

I just tackled these guys. Admittedly I caught them early. Use flatworm exit and follow the directions very closely.

1. Mix 50 new water.
2. Siphon out as many of them as you can. Do this over a few days leading up to water change night, not minutes or hours. I used a piece of rigid air line with silicone airline on the back of the rigid.
3. Have carbon ready. I don’t have a reactor so I ran a aqua clear filter with a mechanic bag of carbon.
4. on water change night, plan to monitor tank for hours. dose recommended amount and siphon out every one you see whether dead or alive they are what will kill your fish.
5. Do the 50% follow up dose as recommended in the instructions. Even if you think you are clear of flat worms. Remember flatworm exit is safe. It’s the dead worms that are toxic.
6. After 6 hours of monitoring and siphoning out flat worms, do your normal water change and reserve the remainder of you mixed water in case there are adverse reactions to the flatworm toxins.
7. run carbon.

I made an all day ordeal out of it because I didn’t want to lose stock or have to retreat down the road. Better safe than sorry, right? Regardless, this stuff worked and none of my little aquatic animals were harmed.

if you end up not needing the excess saltwater, save it for your next water change.

you’d think the LFS would be in full melt down over these guys. If they are that bad I wonder why there were so many on the frag I bought and why they didn’t warn me of their infestation.

The freshwater dip got rid of all the visible worms (about 10) and I hope scrubbing the frag got rid of any possible eggs?

I’ve never used flatworm exit but will purchase some this weekend. I just got new carbon last week. Thank you!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

you’d think the LFS would be in full melt down over these guys. If they are that bad I wonder why there were so many on the frag I bought and why they didn’t warn me of their infestation.

The freshwater dip got rid of all the visible worms (about 10) and I hope scrubbing the frag got rid of any possible eggs?

I’ve never used flatworm exit but will purchase some this weekend. I just got new carbon last week. Thank you!

I probably wouldn’t even treat in your situation. I’d spend some time monitoring if the frag wasn’t in your tank before you dipped. But if you put it in the tank then dipped afterward because you saw flat worms. Then I’d consider it.

 

[bugaboo9495]

I probably wouldn’t even treat in your situation. I’d spend some time monitoring if the frag wasn’t in your tank before you dipped. But if you put it in the tank then dipped afterward because you saw flat worms. Then I’d consider it.

Ah! Okay cool. Yeah I put it in my tank after I dipped in freshwater and scrubbed the frag. Thank you for the advice!