Flat worms (Da**)
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Invertebrates
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about invertebrates.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28808
Printed Date: July 16 2025 at 2:46pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Flat worms (Da**)
Posted By: MrViper
Subject: Flat worms (Da**)
Date Posted: October 22 2008 at 11:09pm
I have this strange looking creature, I am thinking its a shell less snail. What do you think? It is crwaling along the side of the aquarium
 ------------- Vipers look cool at a distant, but be careful of the bite..its a killer! Still to many cool stuff not enough money |
Replies:
Posted By: pa_reptileman_4
Date Posted: October 22 2008 at 11:16pm
|
flat worm ------------- pitiful guppy tank. shane |
Posted By: MrViper
Date Posted: October 22 2008 at 11:19pm
|
Is that a good or bad one? ------------- 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: Rioreefer
Date Posted: October 22 2008 at 11:23pm
|
Bad...
I think. I have seen maybe 1 or 2 in my fuge but never the main tank. I think my six line eats them for lunch. ------------- I dont mean to brag but, yeah it's 6ft long. |
Posted By: MrViper
Date Posted: October 22 2008 at 11:25pm
|
What do they eat? ------------- 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: MrViper
Date Posted: October 22 2008 at 11:26pm
|
Ive seen a few of these in my sump, but none in my main 125 which does have a 6 line.... this one is in my 28 gal ------------- 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: Mike Savage
Date Posted: October 23 2008 at 7:17am
|
It is a flatworm and to my knowledge this one doesn't seem to be bad. I don't see them in tanks too often but when I do it is in the refugium.
Mike -------------  |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: October 23 2008 at 7:17am
|
BTW great picture!
Mike ------------- |
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: October 23 2008 at 8:39am
|
This is not a bad flatworm. He is harmless. ------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: ReefBones
Date Posted: October 25 2008 at 1:50am
Agreed! .. the ones you have to worry about are the purple/red .. ------------- 140 gallon Reef 65 gallon Reef 55 gallon Aggressive www.thesalttank.com 801-865-6074 "encourage other divers and sea enthusiasts to take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but bubbles" |
Jake Pehrson wrote:Posted By: MrViper
Date Posted: October 29 2008 at 5:03pm
|
I did find a couple of red looking things, very small about 3-4 mm long. I take it these will be bad flat worms. They were on my glass.
I am going to get a 6 line wrasse to hopefully help with those. Will that work. ------------- 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: MrViper
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 3:43pm
|
Okay... It seesm I have more of these than I thought. A friend who was over looking at my tank pointed them out to me. They kind of look like this little guy but are reddish / brown in color.
I was told that they can completly cover my coral and kill or suffocate them. My one large mushroom had severl on iy, took it out did a fresh water dip and OMG there were tons on there
I know my wife has talked to Adam and I think someone else I am not sure. They advised on using flatworm exit.
How bad is this, Is my tank in serious trouble?
HELP
------------- 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: Spbeyond
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 3:48pm
|
Da** Im sorry that this is happening to you..... :( Good luck! ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Posted By: Cameron
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 3:51pm
|
Careful With flatworm exit. try to suck them up into a net and recycle the water back into your tank if that makes sense. ------------- [COLOR="Red"](801)664-4240 |
Posted By: MrViper
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 4:01pm
|
suck them out before i puit the exit in?
I am looking at doing this over a 3 day period of time, I was told would be much safer. ------------- 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: MrViper
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 4:02pm
|
I have been taking out rocks as i can and doing a FW dip. But that is also killing my good bugs and brits
So I am worried about that population. I do have 2 wrasses in the tank now and hoping they will eat up the little buggers ------------- 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: MrViper
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 4:11pm
|
Are there any good predators for these? I have a 6 line wrasse and another type of wrasse. Anything else that will eat them? ------------- 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: pa_reptileman_4
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 4:36pm
|
if you use the exit it will kill the good bugs as well. ------------- pitiful guppy tank. shane |
Posted By: Bluespotjawfish
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 6:55pm
|
You can siphon all of the ones that you can find and dip the rocks that are most infected. Do this daily until no more are found. Have you noticed if your six line wrasse eats them? If you siphon out what you can see, he will help with what you can't. Cut back on food too.
If you decide to use flatworm exit, you must siphon all of them out first. The toxins they release when they die can kill fish.
------------- Home of the baby Picasso! |
Posted By: pa_reptileman_4
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 7:19pm
|
and you must run A/C, and take out all of your crabs and snails or you will loose all of them when you use the exit. ------------- pitiful guppy tank. shane |
Posted By: Bluespotjawfish
Date Posted: November 21 2008 at 7:44pm
|
And have WC water on hand ready to use!
I would try the siphoning first if you have the time. ------------- Home of the baby Picasso! |
Posted By: ReefBones
Date Posted: November 22 2008 at 1:00pm
|
I have used FW Exit with no ill effects ... this is what I did ..
First day I sucked and dipped the most infested corals .. tried to get as many of the little buggers out as I could ... Than used the recommended dose ... cranked up the skimmer and had a few pounds of carbon ready ... as the FW would let loose and start floating in the water I would take a net and net as many out as I could ... after about 3 or 4 hours I put in the charcoal .. 6 hours later I did a 25% water change .. called it good .. nothing was effected other than the FW ...
Day 7 (one week later) I did a 1.5x the dose ... again following the same as above ...
Day 14 (yes another week later) I did 2x the dose .. once again following the same maintenance as above ..
0 flatworms in the tank .. and nothing died ...
FW exit in it self is not harmful to other corals or fish .. its the "Juices" that the FW excrete when they die. .. so I took Mark Peterson`s suggestion on how to use the FW exit and modified it a little .. it worked great for me .. and again .. NOTHING DIED! ------------- 140 gallon Reef 65 gallon Reef 55 gallon Aggressive www.thesalttank.com 801-865-6074 "encourage other divers and sea enthusiasts to take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but bubbles" |
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: November 22 2008 at 3:26pm
|
If you can find something that will eat them then great, but this seems to rarely happen. I would siphon out as many as possible (the method above looks like it would work well). I use a strong current to get them to gather in the low current areas. I like to do this for a couple days to get as many as possible. Then I would use flatworm exit to finish them off, siphoning them out of the aquarium as they die if possible.
Then after all that make sure you don't reintroduce them into your aquarium.  ------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: MrViper
Date Posted: November 24 2008 at 4:17pm
|
So do the treatment over a period of 2 weeks. That way things can settle down.
I was told to put 1 drop for every 10 gallons the first day, wait aboout 6 hours the do a 10% change Day 2 put 1 drop for every 10 gallons or so and repeat the process Day 3 put 1 drop for every 5 gallons and wait then do a water change
if aftr this, most should be dfead..but if they were still there orjust a few do a full strength treatment
I was planning on putting a bag on my drain as well as on the intake to capture the bugs as they got caught and skim them off. I was also thinging of putting like cheese cloth or netting in my intake so I could easily remove them.
On aadvice from another I was going to the day before turn off all the lights place a light in one corner and then suck out the ones that gather. I do not want to kill my good bugs though...
------------- 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: bannshy
Date Posted: November 24 2008 at 4:53pm
| I would do the three different weeks not three days in a row. I don't know how long it takes the eggs to hatch. The eggs would be my main concern I have heard that FW exit doesn't hurt the eggs. |
Posted By: Bluespotjawfish
Date Posted: November 24 2008 at 7:07pm
|
Be aware that flatworms can become resistant to Flatworm Exit. I would start with a single dose, but if I didn't see any dieoff within 20 minutes I would add another dose. You must be religious about siphoning out any dying flatworms as soon as they die and running a TON of carbon shortly after they are dead (I think the instructions say to run the carbon the same day). They are toxic when they die and you want to remove that toxin before it affects your fish.
A repeat treatment may be needed if you find any more. Treat again as soon as you see any (doesn't matter if it is one day or one week or one month). ------------- Home of the baby Picasso! |
Posted By: Jeff Morrill
Date Posted: November 25 2008 at 8:38am
|
http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html - http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html
Al, Some reading for you. In a nutshell ,all that has been posted.
Good luck!!! ------------- WHAT KINDA GUM????... Give em 2 sticks. |
Posted By: MrViper
Date Posted: November 25 2008 at 12:19pm
|
I tried doing the light thing to see if I could get them to gathr in one spot to siphon. didnt see any of the target flatworms, but saw some other very interesting things.
saw some red little creatures about the thickness of a .5 pencil lead, real small wiggling around. they were swimming in the water with an undulating motion (remember Adam demonstrating that one) they were like only 1/8 inch long. Could not get a pic of that. Saw something that looked like a caterpillar come out of the sand. it was about 1/4 inch long and white.
So I guess I will have to do the exit stuff. ------------- 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: November 25 2008 at 6:19pm
Siphoning flatworms out is a waste of time and effort. Using the easier modified method, the first dosage of Flatworm Exit is the key. And it's not so much a set dosage as it is a starting point. My experience is that different tanks require different dosage amounts of FWE. In other words, because of differing tank conditions, flatworms in different tanks have differing levels of resistance to the chemical. I do not believe that they build up a resistance. As you slowly increase the amount of FWE on the first application, it will start to indicate how many flatworms are in the tank because most of them will get irritated and start moving around, coming out from under the rocks and from the sand. But not all of them will die at the lower dosage amount. You do not want them all to die on the first application. This method of step dosage on subsequent days is really much simpler than it may appear and certainly much less trouble than the manufacturers recommendation and Melev's instructions. It requires AC (activated carbon) but no immediate water change.  Here is the method: First application: #1 - remove AC from the system. #2 - Add 1 drop/gal. of FWE in a high flow area and observe for 5 minutes #3 - Repeat #2 every 5-10 minutes until a few flatworms are seen floating around dead. #4 - 20 minutes after last application add a loose bag of at least 1/2 cup AC per 20 gals. in a high flow area, (not in an AC reactor, that's too slow) Second application: As early as 4 hours later the above procedure may be repeated beginning where you left off, with the number of drops per gallon last used. (Remember to remove the previous AC and prepare a new bag.) Just keep in mind that you are trying to kill them a little at a time, not all at once, so there is no need to siphon them out, because they are not dieing "en masse". The last application should be 1 to 1.5 drops per gallon to ensure death to all flatworms that may have been hanging on till the end. A surprise fact is that, because the chemical is not harmful to other tank inhabitants, once the last of the flatworms has died and their toxins have been removed by the AC, there is no need for a water change, even if final blast of 2 drops/gal. is done. (Note - for larger tanks more than one bottle of FWE may be required) ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: Bluespotjawfish
Date Posted: November 25 2008 at 6:52pm
|
The ones I tested resulted in a dose over 50 times the recommended dose not killing them. I would say that is "resistance". Note - I did not do this test in my tank! ------------- Home of the baby Picasso! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 25 2008 at 7:12pm
|
I know, I have personally seen a bottle of FWE that must have been just water because it had no effect. To me, that is not evidence of resistance, that's poor Quality Control. If I had flatworms I would be trying to find the pig medication that's been mentioned or at least use the competitors product. FWE has doubled in price in the last 2 years. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: MrViper
Date Posted: November 29 2008 at 3:49pm
|
Ok. I have done a treatment. Put in about 36 drops into a 125 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump. I saw about 20 or so dead flatworms and we netted them out, but that was about it after almost 2 hours.
Should I have seen more, or does it just take time for it to fully go into effect?
Before we did the treatment I did take the corals that I saw that had alot on there and did FW dips.
I have not really seen any more on any of the corals, especially those that had them before. I can not visually see any anywhere live or dead.
What do you all think. Shoud I add more fw exit, or just let it run through? ------------- 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: pa_reptileman_4
Date Posted: November 29 2008 at 3:56pm
|
the exit does not always kill all of them you will need to up the next dose as they quickly can build a tolerance to it. i did an experiment with this in a few buckets, i set up a few one gal buckets and used the recoomended dose in the 1st one, it did not kill them all, 2nd bucket i put double it killed a lil more and i did this up until the 4th one and where it wass almost 5 times the recomended dose and thats where it killed everything, well as far as i know. ------------- pitiful guppy tank. shane |