Red planeria help!

[Subtropic Reefer]

(I’m not sure where to put this thread, so I just put it here.) I have a red planeria issue. They aren’t covering the rocks or anything, however I see a good bit of them. My tank is 25 gallons and fully stocked. I have one yellow cirrus wrasse which eats them sometimes. I try to syphon them out but it is hard to get deep in rocks. I think I am gonna use flatworm exit. What do you guys/girls think of that? The tank in an all in one Nuvo 25 lagoon. so I plan to put 1/4 pound of carbon on each side (total of 1/2 pound of carbon.) 30 minutes after I use the exit. Also, 45 minutes after I use the exit, I’ll do a 10-20 percent water change. I will turn of protein skimmer and UV lighting. Is this good enough? Is there anything else I can do?

 

[laverda]

I personally will never use flat worm exit. To many people have nuked there tanks using it. An easy way to kill lots of them is to remove your rocks and give them a quick swirll in fresh water. Using a turkey baster to blast them off rocks will probably get your wrasse eating more of them along with some other fish.
Scooter blennies are a good addition to eat them in a small tank.

 

[Amstar]

Most nuke their tanks when they use flatworm x because the worms are toxic when they die- there are ways to make sure that doesn’t happen

This should help

How to eliminate Flatworms (Red Planaria) | Melev's Reef

Small reddish-rust colored creatures may already be in your tank. Or you may buy a coral and they'll appear as hitchhikers later. They may appear on the glass/acrylic, on the substrate, or on live rock. Due to their extremely thin bodies, they are called flatworms correctly. They appear almost...

www.melevsreef.com

 

[stanlalee]

I have 3 Springer damsels and also suck them out with 1/4 tubing mated to an acrylic rod weekly (I can suck them out at leisure without losing more than a gallon of tank water).. I only have one soft coral frag and that is the only one they mount. They congregate around it and mount it. I feel like I have them well contained otherwise but the minute they irritate/mount a single LPS/SPS or multiply to the point of becoming an eye sore theI have flatworm exit waiting to nuke them. Im just reluctant to use flatworm exit when they aren't harming anything.

 

[laverda]

I have never heard of them harming anything except when killed with Flatworm Exit. They just get ugly!

 

[Reefahholic]

Jake Adams had a few. He can help you.

 

[Billdogg]

I've had them. Well, not me. My 120 SPS dominant DT.

I tried manual removal. There's not enough hours in the day once their numbers get large enough to start noticing them.

I had a green coris wrasse that would eat some, but preferred prepared food. Then it went rogue and started randomly killing fish. Took a couple weeks and a barbless flyfishing hook (#10) to catch him.

So I tried FWE. First time I followed the instructions to the letter. Put a dent in them but didn't really help much. Then I went at 2x dosage. Knock them down, but not out. They quickly repopulated the tank.

On my LFS's advice, I got a pair of Blue Star Leopard Wrasses. Between them, they completely eliminated the entire population within a week or two. And got fat and happy in the process. Sadly, I lost one of them about a year ago, but the other, who changed to male before the other died, still cruises the tank searching for morsels to eat from lights on to lights off. As an added bonus, They are one of the most visually stunning fish I have ever had the pleasure of keeping.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I just used flatworm exit on my reef. My melenareous wrasse did a great job for years keeping them undetectable. I followed directions. I took a power head and blew off all rocks and corals best I could. Waited a half hour. I changed the filter sock. Dosed tank with FWE. Waited twenty minutes, changed filter sock again. Waited 20 more minutes, changed sock again. Started carbon reactor, and a 20% water change. Changed filter sock again. It was awesome to see them die. My thought was to change the filter socks before they fully released toxins.

 

[Subtropic Reefer]

I just used flatworm exit on my reef. My melenareous wrasse did a great job for years keeping them undetectable. I followed directions. I took a power head and blew off all rocks and corals best I could. Waited a half hour. I changed the filter sock. Dosed tank with FWE. Waited twenty minutes, changed filter sock again. Waited 20 more minutes, changed sock again. Started carbon reactor, and a 20% water change. Changed filter sock again. It was awesome to see them die. My thought was to change the filter socks before they fully released toxins.

Did u have any coral/ animal loss?

 

[toadstool_paradise]

I just did my first round of flatworm exit as well and no harm done to fish or corals. I kept siphoning them out and carbon + water change seemed to rid the tank of toxins. Was fun to see them die, but the first dose didn’t totally wipe them out yet.

 

[joseserrano]

I’ve used up to 4x dosage with no Issues. Carbon after. That being said, I never have had them in a large population

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Did u have any coral/ animal loss?

None yet. I’ll find out Monday as I’m at my cottage till then. Tank looked good and it is packed with mature sps. I was not at plague proportions. I’m also running carbon in a reactor.