Flat worm problem 😔.
- Thread starter Ktexe66
- Start date
What kind of flatworms are you dealing with?
Red planaria - vacuum as much as you can then flatworm exit. The wrasses would take care of the rest.
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Flatworm Exit works great
Careful though. If you have a lot, the die off can harm your tank and possible wipe out your tank. That's why I suggest manually removing as much as you can. Years ago, I did this by using an airline hose and vacuuming it into a sock in the sump. I did this twice a week for a month until I barely saw any left. Afterwards, I did flatworm exit and to my surprise, there were still thousands. Afterwards, you want to carbon asap to absorb any of the toxins they release. Oh and water change!
Here is a very good write up that I followed and didn't lose any fish/coral during the process:
https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/how-eliminate-flatworms-red-planaria
I've taken a two pronged approach to flatworms with good success.
- Flatworm Exit. Follow the instructions closely. I've never had an issue but I'm pretty quick to use the product as soon and I see flatworms so the population isn't too crazy.
- Sapphire Damsel, Blue Sapphire Damsel, Springer's Damselfish - these are all the same fish but with different names. I've found them to be pretty good tankmates and they're supposed to eat flatworms. I recently heard a reefing podcast that claimed this was a 100% myth. It may be but I've had flatworms in my display, added a sapphire damsel and now I don't have any. I never treated because I don't sell anything out of that tank and it wasn't a big deal. It could have been a coincidence but I've added them to my frag tank (with treatment) and they're gone.
Thanks I will try the manual removal first. I used to vacuum my sand bed through a filter sock in my sump. So I will try that with the flat worms. I haven’t seen my wrasses actively eating them but I only feed my tank once a day and their bellies always look full so the are eating something. They are just small and I have a lot of flats, so they need help.
Oh, I almost forgot - you can go to most pet stores and get rigid 1/4" airline pipe. (It's a small clear rigid tube that people use on old-school under gravel filters.) Attach some flexible vinyl airline tube and use that as a tiny vacuum. There is enough suction to get the flatworm but it's small enough to keep the water loss to a minimum. I vacuum out the flatworms into a filter sock and just throw the flatworm-free water back into the tank.* This is a quick and easy way to get a bunch of the little buggers out.
*When doing this, unplug any auto top off system you might have. You don't want to pump fresh water into the tank as you remove the flatworm infested tank water. Another option would be to suck out the flatworms into a bucket and replace that lost water with freshly mixed saltwater. This would be like doing a small water change.
*When doing this, unplug any auto top off system you might have. You don't want to pump fresh water into the tank as you remove the flatworm infested tank water. Another option would be to suck out the flatworms into a bucket and replace that lost water with freshly mixed saltwater. This would be like doing a small water change.
