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brentwinterton 
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 Topic: flatworm help!!
Posted: January 09 2010 at 1:04pm |
 I have a flatworm problem in my 50 gallon reef tank and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if these flatworms are pests. It appears as though when they run out of food to eat, they begin to feed on the flesh of coral, killing the coral from the inside out, or so it appears judging from the look of the coral when it is pretty much dead. I put a link to a picture of what appears to be the kind of flatworm I have. I bought some flatworm control by blue vet, but apparently it only works on two of the four problematic flatworms. If anyone knows whether or not I need to get rid of these flatworms, and if I do what I need to use to kill them; my tank has soft coral, LPS coral, fish and starfish in it- no clams or shrimp although I will be getting at least clams shortly. Any help would be appreciated thanks!
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brentwinterton
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Posted: January 09 2010 at 1:05pm |
I guess the picture didn't go on so here is the website where I found it: http://www.tcmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15881
Edited by brentwinterton - January 09 2010 at 4:04pm
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jcom
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Posted: January 09 2010 at 1:44pm |
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How many of these are you seeing? To the vets out there, are these a problem if you see any at all (I see them occasionally in my refugium) or only when you start seeing excessive amounts? What would be considered excessive amounts?
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tileman
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Posted: January 09 2010 at 1:52pm |
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Just add a six line wrasse, or a yellow coris wrasse and it will be taken care of naturally.
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335G Reef
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http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium
ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month
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tileman
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Posted: January 09 2010 at 1:57pm |
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They can get to be a big problem if not kept under control, but useing chemicals to kill them all at once will create problems also. They put out a toxin into the water when killed and if you have alot of them, it can be toxic to your other animals in the tank.
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335G Reef
TOTM.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium
ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month
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brentwinterton
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Posted: January 09 2010 at 4:03pm |
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I have a six lined wrasse in there now. They were pretty much completely gone but then just yesterday, I just noticed them all over the glass and some on the rocks. I am thinking somehow when I used Melafix Marine by API to clean the five coral frags I got at the frag swap on Thursday it might have destroyed some of the worms but only to the point that they could still regenerate; or maybe the rocks were full of worms and Melafix doesn't kill that species. Does anyone know how effective Melafix is in killing flatworms? In particular that species of flatworm? What is that species of flatworm? I want to be able to look up information on it for myself online if there is any. Also my main question is whether or not this species is reef safe so if any one knows that specifically it would be great if you could post that info. Thanks again.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 10 2010 at 12:37am |
That looks like the common photosynthetic flatworm we do know how to eliminate. I prefer to completely eradicate them. Go here and look in the Tips section for "How to eradicate Flatworms."
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Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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