Flat worms

[rwl5420]

I have a really nice fox coral that I think has to many flat worms on it, the coral looks very healthy at this time but I would like to do something about the worms before they do something to my coral, I do not know if they are harmful but if they are I would like to get them off of the coral, so that leads up to my ?, how do you go about getting rid of the worms? I do not want to harm my coral. Send any suggestions my way Thanx.
Ron

 

[Len]

You can buy a C.varians. They consume flatworms with gusto, provided you acquire healthy specimens to begin with. Read more about them at:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... /short.htm

If their population is localized on the coral, you can do a quick freshwater dip to remove all the flatworms. Make sure the temperature of the freshwater is the same as that of the tank, and dip the coral for 10 seconds, shaking vigorously. All the flatworms should just flake off.

Hope this helps.

Len

 

[Chucker]

If you'd like to play it really safe, it wouldn't hurt to make sure that the freshwater is also buffered to some degree.

 

[chester]

I've just used a treatment to rid my tank with 100% success,the product was by WATERLIFE and is called MYAXIN,I was advised to dose twice the recommended dose for 2 days whilst turning off skimmer.On third day fired up skimmer,did large water change and now I have no flat worms.I lost no corals,clams,fish etc. I was trying to control them by syphoning but whilst chatting at my LFS was suggested this of course at my own risk,all I can say is that this worked for me and apparently numerous others!

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW,

It seems I was able to mostly eradicate my flatworms by adding a species of Sargassum shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. There are several different species I am told, so I will not say which I have. The genus may be Latreutes, but I am not sure.

They are hard to find as I know of nobody commercially selling them - I got them shipped directly from an individual in TX through a fella I know. They are tiny - less than 2" and very cryptic. Nonetheless, 10 days after I added 4 of them to my tank (90 gal), my flatworm population was decreased by the THOUSANDS. No kidding. It is really hard to believe that these tiny shrimp ate them all, but nothing else changed in that 10-day period. It is possible, but very coincidental, that the large population crashed on its own. Still, I had them in large poulations in my tank for over 6 months and the numbers kept growing and growing - to the point where I just stopped siphoning them. Two other fellas tried them with me and unfortunately didn't have the same results I had. I can't explain it, but I just wanted to present my case. I know how staring into a tank of flatworms can deflate your satisfaction....

 

[rwl5420]

Thanks for all the replies, I'll give it a quick bath and see what happens, I'll repost to tell how things went.
Ron