Red Planaria Advice

Aaron Shapiro · Jun 24, 2020

Hey all,

I have flatworms. This has been particularly frustrating because I'm in the process of setting up a larger tank, and was planning on transferring some rock and corals over to the new/larger tank.

That's now obviously on pause.

My question here is... What's the best treatment here? I've tried Flatworm Exit (including dosing 2-3x more than the advised amount) and it gets maybe 60%, but the remaining 40% seem unaffected.

I bought a Yellow Coris Wrasse, and while he's an awesome fish, he seems to have no interest in the worms.

So I guess my question here is: without being rash and taking quick action -- what would my best course be here? I've dosed FWE 3x so far...and while it seems like their numbers are low (only maybe >5 visible at any one point in time on the glass) they never seem to go away entirely.

I've read posts advising everything from, "don't worry about it," to "tear down the tank and start over"

This is particularly frustrating because I was hoping to use this tank as a frag grow out system.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Spare time · Jun 24, 2020

Get yourself a scooter dragonet. They are amazing at knocking those planaria out. You could also try prazipro. I think it was a red one (not ruby red) that basically took care of a 160g tanks worth of the flatworms and now you really can't see them in that tank.

Aaron Shapiro · Jun 24, 2020

Spare time said:
Get yourself a scooter dragonet. They are amazing at knocking those planaria out. You could also try prazipro. I think it was a red one (not ruby red) that basically took care of a 160g tanks worth of the flatworms and now you really can't see them in that tank.

you don’t mean a mandarin right??

Spare time · Jun 24, 2020

Aaron Shapiro said:
you don’t mean a mandarin right??

I haven't seen the mandarin dragonet eat them but they might. I am talking about their cousins.

Aaron Shapiro · Jun 24, 2020

Spare time said:
I haven't seen the mandarin dragonet eat them but they might. I am talking about their cousins.

These guys:

kyleinpdx · Jun 24, 2020

I also have red planaria, I've had them for some years, came in with a nem I picked up. I've trived FWE, twice so far, albeit far apart so it never removed them all, just kept their numbers in check. However towards the end of the old tanks life, I was much more hands off and they multiplied like nobody's business.

What I did was blast all of the rocks with a pump and tank water in a few buckets to remove most all of the live worms before transferring to the new tank. I added a melanurus wrasse to the new build specially for the flatworms, but also general pest control. I started to see some adult flatworms popup a few weeks after moving everything over, they once again started to multiply but as the various systems started working themselves out, I've seen them mostly dissipate. You can see a few here and there on the rocks, but they are probably at their lowest level since they got introduced to my original tank years back.

I attribute this to increased predation by the wrasse but also to other microorganisms and overall increased competition. I added pods pretty heavily at the very beginning, in addition to a bunch of macros in the sump and a significant clean up crew for the size of my setup. This is speculation, but I believe the amphipods, having thinned out all of the pods I added have begun to push out the red planaria, not sure if its additional competition or direct predation, but I've noticed the amphipod population has increased as the red planaria have decreased.

Aaron Shapiro · Jun 24, 2020

kyleinpdx said:
I also have red planaria, I've had them for some years, came in with a nem I picked up. I've trived FWE, twice so far, albeit far apart so it never removed them all, just kept their numbers in check. However towards the end of the old tanks life, I was much more hands off and they multiplied like nobody's business.

What I did was blast all of the rocks with a pump and tank water in a few buckets to remove most all of the live worms before transferring to the new tank. I added a melanurus wrasse to the new build specially for the flatworms, but also general pest control. I started to see some adult flatworms popup a few weeks after moving everything over, they once again started to multiply but as the various systems started working themselves out, I've seen them mostly dissipate. You can see a few here and there on the rocks, but they are probably at their lowest level since they got introduced to my original tank years back.

I attribute this to increased predation by the wrasse but also to other microorganisms and overall increased competition. I added pods pretty heavily at the very beginning, in addition to a bunch of macros in the sump and a significant clean up crew for the size of my setup. This is speculation, but I believe the amphipods, having thinned out all of the pods I added have begun to push out the red planaria, not sure if its additional competition or direct predation, but I've noticed the amphipod population has increased as the red planaria have decreased.

This brings me a little hope. My frag tank is only 25g so I don’t think I can get a Melanrus, but I could try and catch the Coris to swap with a Six Line, I’ve heard they’re effective hunters. Or try a scooter blenny like the guy above suggested.

That being said, I’m kinda hoping it sorta takes care of itself with time. There aren’t a ton of them and I am fairly diligent in sucking them out when I see them.

Maybe I’ll try some pods too.

CivicS14 · Jun 24, 2020

6 line wrasse are a work horse when it comes to pest but they are the biggest a holes.

Aaron Shapiro · Jun 24, 2020

CivicS14 said:
6 line wrasse are a work horse when it comes to pest but they are the biggest a holes.

that might be fine in a frag grow out system.

Spare time · Jun 25, 2020

However, i

Aaron Shapiro said:
These guys:

Yes, but now I am second guessing and thinking it was this one https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1635+96&pcatid=96

I'll try and see if I can get a picture of it to confirm

vetteguy53081 · Jun 25, 2020

Lunare wrasse , scooter blenny or blue velvet nudibranch will eat these.
Flatworm exit also good but make sure to siphon them up daily to prevent toxins from entering tank

rhastareefer · Jun 25, 2020

Spare time said:
Get yourself a scooter dragonet. They are amazing at knocking those planaria out. You could also try prazipro. I think it was a red one (not ruby red) that basically took care of a 160g tanks worth of the flatworms and now you really can't see them in that tank.

My Scooter never touched my planaria, just ate himself silly with my pods. I would say if you did heavy manual removal for about a week before a heavy FWE, followed by another week of manual removal and a second FWE treatment (you're probably being a lil too aggressive with the pure chemical route), you should win this fight. Your first and most used weapon against these guys should be a section of rigid air line connected to a filter sock in the sump by flexible air line. Then finish em off.

Springer Damsel is the only fish I know that has a good chance of eating them. Even my Six-line wouldn't touch them but he did kill 5 of my most valued fish...

Blue Velvets work great but you have to have ZERO flow for days while they do their thing... one powerhead going and they'll just blend themselves eventually