Best methods for flatworm control

[chainman]

What has given you all the most success at controlling reddish-colored flatworms? I've read that blue velvet nudibranches are excellent, but will starve once the population is trimmed back. I've also read mixed reviews about some 6-line wrasses and other fish. Any first-hand experience would be appreciated.

[Bill B]

Let's see I have heard Yellow Coris, Green Coris, Mandarin and Target Goby, Target Goby only. I had some flatworms and my Target did not seem much interested in them that I could tell - although 2 others I know swear by them. I tried dipping corals and they seemed to slowly fall off. I followed that up with Hydrogen Peroxide dip and they dropped rapidly. If I have the problem again I will probably try the H₂O₂ again and if I see any later, follow that up with Exit chemical control in the tank. The problem with using the Exit initially is if you have a bunch of them you need to spend a bunch of time trying to vacuum them up as they die to try to keep them from releasing too many toxins back into your tank. If it's just a few stragglers that shouldn't be much of a problem, but I would still keep my little 1/4 tubing vacuum handy in case I see a lot more falling than I originally saw,along with some carbon. TMSAISTI

Bill

[chainman]

Thanks for your input, Bill.

-Cheney

[Kkiel02]

I used flatworm control and that made them mad. I think it killed quite a bit. Something in my tank eats them and I recently bought a sixline just to make sure. I only see them(flatworms) in my overflow though.

[+o0zarkawater]

I had a pretty bad infestation of the tan/light brown ones in my 55gal. I think mine were common planaria, as I never saw them on anything other than the glass and in one corner they were on the rockwork. I never saw any on the corals. They never harmed anything that I know of, they were just unsightly.

http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/9026-can-anybody-identify-these-things-on-my-glass/page__p__56564entry56564 <-- my thread and peoples suggestions.

I took an old siphon wand about 3/4" ID and attached a razor blade to it to scrape/suck out as many as I could off the glass. I would do this weekly with water changes. I also purchased a target goby from Mama. Its been about a month and a half since I first saw them, and now I am hard pressed to find one.

I wanted to exhaust the natural options before dosing the tank with chemicals. For me it seemed to work great and I'm glad.

Just my 2 cents!

[innate1]

Sorry to hear about the flat worms; if you need help holla

[prof]

I had red flat worms (planaria, not the evil red bugs.) I added a sixline and he wiped them out

[chainman]

Thanks, all. The good news is I don't have the bad ones either, but I still don't want their presence to restrict the light to my corals. So, I think I'll try the wrasse route first to see if that addresses the issue. The whole act of balancing our little mini-ecosystems, while challenging at times, is a really cool experience.

[+Hydro]

I had flat worms for a minute, I got rid of the by dipping my softies in RO water. Only takes a couple of minutes and works very well. I was able to kill enough of them that they haven't come back. I do feel lucky though.....could have been much worse.