[simon]

Anybody know how to get rid of flatworms! I seem to have a breakout in my tank. I spoke to jason about it and he reckoned that i should increase the flow in the tank to make sure i didn't have any dead areas, and possibly add some wrasses. Has any body else had problems with flatworms and how did you rid them.
Many Thanks
Big Si.

[ben]

thankfully ive not had them, but i agree with jas on how to get rid.

whatever you do, dont go down the chemical cure route, as its very risky

[big chris]

i had them not many and got a leopard wrasse, he cleared it up in about a week,


i was gonna get a 6line but was put off by the horror stories you see about them

[Social D]

Siphon them out also and cut back on any iodine you add to the tank

[chriss]

I had an outbreak of them a while back, they didn't reach plague proportions and were pretty localised to an area where some detritus was collecting. Changing the flow helped a bit but didn't get rid of them completely. I got a couple of scooter blennies and haven't seen the fw since, whether it was the work of the blennies or they just burnt themselves out I don;'t know.

[TrevC]

Pyjama wrasse and a Radiant wrasse = no flatworm

[Rockstar]

My Sixline wrasse wallops them as soon as they come out of the substrate.

Rocky.

[Lost Boys]

I have them and my six line does not touch them going to look to get a leopard and or a bannana wrasse and see if any of them touch them

[Matt G]

I don't think that any fish is guaranteed to eat them. In my tank I have a mandarin and leopard wrasse and neither touch them. I am on the look out for a peacock wrasse, but not holding out that will eat them either. These fish have always been part of my stocking plans and I was hoping they would help to keep flatworms etc under control. I was speaking to someone at the weekend who suggested that starving the fish was a good idea to get them to eat them, but I have so many pods that wouldn't encourage them.

At the weekend I did buy a lettuce nudibranch to see what it would do with my bryopsis. The nudi hasn't left the bryopsis since it went in, but I can't work out if it is eating the bryopsis or the flatworms on it. Will keep you posted on that one.

In my old tank I had flatworms and overtime they just burnt themselves out, I believe that this will happen in the new tank also. I am helping this by using an old canister filter to syphon them out just before lights out when they are sunbathing, I think that this also helps in the control.

[Indulge]

I too have brown flatworm, they are on my Hammer Coral and so are not easy to get off as the coral just closes up if I touch it. I tried to suck one off with a pipette but just ended up taking off the head of the coral. Thankfully it has healed over and seems to be none the worse for it. I haven't touched it since. Was thinking of getting a Blueline flat nudibranch , Chelidonura varians, these eat flatworm only, has anyone has any luck with these?

[Matt G]

I have used them in the past, they didn't last very long in the tank though.

Here's a video I took of them doing their work in a pot before I added them to the tank.

[gattsps]

chriss, on Jun 22 2008, 06:59 PM, said:

I had an outbreak of them a while back, they didn't reach plague proportions and were pretty localised to an area where some detritus was collecting. Changing the flow helped a bit but didn't get rid of them completely. I got a couple of scooter blennies and haven't seen the fw since, whether it was the work of the blennies or they just burnt themselves out I don;'t know.

Totally agree with the scooter blennies . i had a huge break out around 18 months ago and the blennies wiped them out within weeks , the only thing is you just cant mix scooters with wrass as the wrasse just take all there natural food as well as the flake and other stuff you supply

The blennies get nothing and mine just starved over a period of about 14 months . such a shame ! was gutted , adding constant supply of pods want enough either
cheers barry