Flat Worms
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: SPS
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions SPS corals.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=31636
Printed Date: April 18 2024 at 5:20pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Flat Worms
Posted By: Reel Big Fish
Subject: Flat Worms
Date Posted: February 21 2009 at 10:55pm
| I have a flat worms in my tank. I was wondering the best way to get rid of them. I have a six line wrasse and it doesnt seem to do anything. I dont really want to use the flatworm exit, but if that is the best way to make them go away then i will. |
Replies:
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 22 2009 at 10:06am
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Fish are great Flatworm eaters if they are hungry enough. Besides the Six-line, other fish that eat flatworms are Yellow-tail Blue Damsels, Mandarins and some other wrasses, one especially good wrasse whose name I don't recall now, but I believe it starts with the letter M. Show us your tank by posting a few pics. It could help us help you. To get fish to eat things like Flatworms, it is sometimes necessary to stop the feeding. Let them go hungry and they will search for other food in the tank. There is another medication, much cheaper than FW Exit. It is a pig medication called Levamisole. When using any medication, we have found that it is better to utilize a sequence of increasingly larger doses. I have discussed this here on the MB many times regarding Flatworm Exit. Basically you start with a 10% dosage (1 drop FW Exit per 10 gallons) and see if the flatworms start to wiggle and move around. If they don't show signs of irritation in about 5-10 minutes, add another 10% dosage. When you see some flatworms releasing their hold and floating around the tank, wait 30-45 minutes and then add a bag of AC (Activated Carbon) in a place of good flow, typically this is near an intake or if you have a HOB filter use that. Don't use a so called "AC Reactor" That works too slowly. The next day remove the AC and repeat the procedure above. This dosage will probably reach 50% before the remaining flatworms start to die. Repeat this each day until the dosage has reached 100-200% and no flatworms are left. Don't forget to add the AC after the last, largest dosage. There are two extremely important reasons for using Flatworm Exit according to this slow dosage procedure rather than the manufacturers directions. 1. ** Some tanks have so many flatworms, many of them hidden, that the full dosage overwhelms the tank with dead flatworms releasing lethal toxins into the water and even with major water changes, fish and coral may be lost. The slow dosing procedure puts NO fish or coral at risk of death.  2. The trouble and effort of siphoning flatworms and doing a massive water change is completely unnecessary with the slow dosing method.  ------------- 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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Posted By: Cameron
Date Posted: February 22 2009 at 10:19am
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I caught my flaatworms before they got bad. I only saw maybe 100 on All sides of my glass at one time. They were very not noticable. I got a spotted Mandarin. I have had him for like a month. I have not seen any flatworms for about 2 weeks, and my mandarin is so fat he looks like he swallowed a large marble. His belly is dragging on the sand. He is a Fatty. I would try a mandarin and stop feeding your fish. Also, stop feeding phyto and small foods like that as the FW's eat that. ------------- [COLOR="Red"](801)664-4240 |
Posted By: Reel Big Fish
Date Posted: February 22 2009 at 6:28pm
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I took all of my zoos out and put them in my nano, are there any more corals i should take out. I have frog spawn, feather duster, leathers (cant remove), Leaf Plate Montipora, flower pot, and candy cane. |
Posted By: Reel Big Fish
Date Posted: February 22 2009 at 6:47pm
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Posted By: Reel Big Fish
Date Posted: February 22 2009 at 6:48pm
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Posted By: Reel Big Fish
Date Posted: February 22 2009 at 6:48pm
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Posted By: Reel Big Fish
Date Posted: February 22 2009 at 6:52pm
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Posted By: Cameron
Date Posted: February 22 2009 at 8:26pm
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That looks bad. Try a mandarin and give him a week or so and also stop feeding your fish and try to siphon them out. Try reding this....Very informative. %3ca%20href= - http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html "> http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html - http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html ------------- [COLOR="Red"](801)664-4240 |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 24 2009 at 5:16pm
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Removed coral? Why? Unless you dipped those coral in freshwater or medicated water to remove all flatworms, you have flatworms now contaminating the nano tank as well.  ------------- 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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Posted By: sukie
Date Posted: February 25 2009 at 10:10am
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Here's the best resource I found to get rid of flatworms: http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html - http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html Good luck! Pest like these keep us on our toes when it comes to the hobby. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 25 2009 at 10:25am
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Melev's added notes from Salifert at the very bottom of the page exactly mirror what I recommend doing from the very start. To slowly increase the dosage until the flatworms react. This is a very sensible way to do it. Rather than using the full dosage and having to be prepared for a crisis in the tank because of too many flatworms dieing at once, simply use the slow dosage method described above. I promise it works. It is safer and less trouble than having to siphon flatworms and do a massive water change. Too many people have had things die in their tanks when they followed the manufaturers directions. Play it safe, use the slow dosage method. ------------- 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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Posted By: MrViper
Date Posted: February 25 2009 at 12:53pm
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I agree with the dosing method mark suggested. I had quite a few a few months back, I did that and had no problems. I did take my larger corals out and did a fw dip and that took out a lot. When I did the Fw exit, i just simply scooped out the ones I found dead floating. have not had any more probs since. For everyone you see, there are probably a hundred that you dont. ------------- Vipers look cool at a distant, but be careful of the bite..its a killer! Still to many cool stuff not enough money |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 25 2009 at 1:57pm
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But again, it's not necessary to remove the coral or the dead flatworms. I've been at this hobby a long time and have found ways to make it simpler, less hassle, less expensive and a lot more fun. Honest, I have.  ------------- 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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Posted By: BILLYBOB
Date Posted: September 21 2009 at 9:59am
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I have somr levimosole left call me, and ill hook u up, it works awsome. ------------- BILLY BOB 916-5000 |
Posted By: Chad
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 2:49am
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So how do you suggest treating the levimosole? Will the levimosole kill clean up crew and or corals? I have used flat worm Exit but never tried the levimosole so I am just curious. Chad. ------------- What?! You pooped in the refrigerator, and ate the entire wheel of cheese?! I'm not even mad.... That's actually amazing! |
Posted By: dduts
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 11:45am
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Bill is awesome and the Levimosole works great. He hooked me up with some and I haven't seen any more since. It won't harm the fish or inverts. The recommended usage was 1/2 tsp mixed with 240 ml of RO water then dose the tank at a rate of 1ml/gallon.......1.5ml/gallon max. Do it once a week for 4 weeks to make sure you get all the new hatchlings :) ------------- 90g mixed reef GOT CRABS? Sometimes I wonder "why is that frisbee getting bigger?"....and then it hits me |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 12:15pm
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We believe that Flatworm exit is a formulation of Levamisole. Start with a low amount of Levamisole and wait to see the Flatworms start to wiggle. From there on just follow the procedure in my post above.
Just yesterday I did Flatworm Exit in a friends tank. He has the large ones that crawl over LPS. He started with 1 drop per 10 gallons and got up to 2 drops before some of them started dieing. Then a few days later we did a full dosage but some are not dieing so we are going to have to keep adding it. Usually it finishes off all the flatworms at 150% dosage. There are so few left that we may not even need to do any AC after the procedure ------------- 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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Posted By: CapnMorgan
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 2:12pm
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Sounds like you won't have any problems at all. BTW it's nice to see another reefer out here in the middle of nowhere aka tooele ------------- Steve http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40637&PID=356246" rel="nofollow - My Old 180G Mixed Reef Currently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8 |
Posted By: jacobwilson222
Date Posted: January 15 2010 at 5:40pm
| how long after the last dose do you leave the carbon in? |
Posted By: oskrcg
Date Posted: January 16 2010 at 1:28am
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Really interesting
------------- I'm new in salt water aquariums |
Posted By: BILLYBOB
Date Posted: January 16 2010 at 5:34pm
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Look I have tried EVERYTHING!!! These little flat worm bastards damn new drove me out of the hobby my problem was so bad!
Try to save some money, stress, ultimatly your sanity!
Call me and ill GIVE you some Levamsole, Its free and its FREE (although a trade would be apreciated) ------------- BILLY BOB 916-5000 |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 16 2010 at 6:11pm
The last dose is for killing the stragglers, the last remaining flatworms. The chemical seems to harm nothing else in the tank so the last dose can stay for a while if desired. Watching the tank I would consider adding the AC sometime between an hour to a day.
Of course AC should be used in all reef aquariums regularly. I usually use it 2 weeks per month. ------------- 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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jacobwilson222 wrote:Posted By: jacobwilson222
Date Posted: January 19 2010 at 5:29pm
| There is a brand out called Flat Worm Control, Do you know if this is a knock off of Flat Worm eXit? |
Posted By: Chad
Date Posted: January 21 2010 at 12:50pm
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I think flat worm control is very similar to flat worm exit but I have used flam worm control in the past and had good success with it. ------------- What?! You pooped in the refrigerator, and ate the entire wheel of cheese?! I'm not even mad.... That's actually amazing! |
Posted By: jacobwilson222
Date Posted: January 21 2010 at 12:55pm
| man I swear the flat worm control with this method has doubled my flatworm population rather than kill it |