mandarins or sixline for flatworms?

[fungia]

if you had to try one of these to control flatworms, what would you buy? i have a lot of flatworms and exit is not working.

 

[Anonymous]

if you had to try one of these to control flatworms, what would you buy? i have a lot of flatworms and exit is not working.

Neither actually, I never advocate buying one thing to control another-mostly because with my luck I'd get a 6 line that is the only one in the world that won't eat the flatworms and then I'd be stuck :wink:
Seriously, I had a huge infestation and controlled them by using the high tech device found on Melev's page every night for a few weeks and cutting down on the amount of food in the tank. Also, good info on that page for upping the dose of flatworm exit if it doesn't work for you.

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

 

[Anonymous]

I used to have a bad case of flatworms, and used Flatworm Exit and it worked fairly well. 6 months later, I do see a few flatworms here and here and pick them out. I do have a sixline, too. He is not the solution.

 

[Anonymous]

I used to have a bad case of flatworms, and used Flatworm Exit and it worked fairly well. 6 months later, I do see a few flatworms here and here and pick them out. I do have a sixline, too. He is not the solution.

:lol: Chrispy, the only reason this is so funny is because it's coming from you.

OP, I think you've got your best answers. Definitely do not try to rely on a mandarin to eradicate the flatworms.

 

[Anonymous]

I always have a mandrain in my tank in past 12 yrs or so, and I can tell you, IMHE, they don't do squat for flatworm. Maybe I only have two mandarins, so my sample is a bit too small, but that is consistent to what I hear from others.

 

[Anonymous]

Since getting my sixline my pods and flatworms that were always on the glass are gone. However, I have never had the red flatworms so I cannot say if mine would eat them. I did not get a sixline for any controls, I got one cause I like em. They are all different, some eat flatworms and others do not.

 

[Anonymous]

Six lines almost always eventually turn into little psychos as well, so be careful adding to them to any non-aggressive tank.

 

[Anonymous]

6 Lines are the devil's own. Make it the last fish you add if you decide on adding him to control flatworms. I would be careful with FWE. You want to get as many flatworms out prior to dosing the tank as when they start to die (and there will be a lot more that crawl out in the open once you administer it) they release a lot of toxic crud in your system. Something like the siphon / bag thing works well and then after doing that and seeing almost no flatworms for a few days or weeks, then use the FWE.

If you don't get them all the first time some of them might become semi-resistant to the treatment and subsequent applications will have less spectacular results. If you go the FWE route I'd add extra aeration to the tank, get ready with a ton of carbon and a good size water change after the treatment is done. To be honest I have used FWE and biological controls but both are lacking, one for potential calamity on other animals and the fundamental stability of your system and the other for the problem of adding a fish that is either way too territorial (6 line) or too narrow in dietary requirements (mandarin). Also , I would avoid the blue/black nudibranchs if someone pushes them on you. They look neat, will eat the flatworms, but are delicate and have a tendency to wander into overflows and powerheads even those well screened. Plus they are very short lived and won't really cure your problem, jsut abate it.

Also if your tank is large enough there are some wrasses in the Haliocheres genus that will eat flatworms too, however they tend to be larger and while not as assertive as the 6-line, they are more rambunctious overall in their feeding / swimming habits.