Advice on getting rid of Flat Worms?

I have flat worms. OK I said it.

I had a large out break about 3 weeks ago. I sucked as many out as I could, then treated with Flat Worm Exit, ran carbon, did a 20% water change. Almost all died, but i knew they would not all die. I treated again a few days later when there were just few and none of those died. Now I am seeing their numbers climb. They are not on my corals or causing issues, but not pleasant to look at.

Does any one have suggestions on how to completely get rid of them? Tricks on getting rid of them? Limit their numbers? Any advice would be great. I have attached a pic so you can see what I am dealing with.

Thanks!

 

Levamisole HCL. It is a sheep dewormer that you can usually find at tractor supply. This stuff is crazy strong, and when i say crazy strong i mean CRAZY strong.

RESEARCH it first and use it at your discretion. But one treatment should kill them all, and after 2 treatments there is pretty much no chance they will live.
The flatworm toxins will hurt or kill your fish and corals so please use caution.

 

Flatworms are such a pita to get rid of. I eventually had to take my entire 20L apart, put all my rock in a 10 gallon container with extremely high flow. I put half the flatworm exit bottle in on the first dose then 24 hours later used the rest of the bottle. In about 48 hours I had no flatworms, but talk about a pain! I hate flatworms far more than any other pest out there!

I hope you have much better luck than I did.

 

I have them too. (Sounds like a disease lol.) Seriously, the worst part about them is that they are ugly.

Everyone says a 6 line wrasse will do the trick, but it really comes down to the particular taste of the wrasse.

My best advice would be to increase, or change your water flow over the front facing rocks. The red/brown flatworms are VERY hard to get rid out without dismantling your tank and exposing your rock/corals to chemicals. Outbreaks are temporary - eventually the population will level to healthy numbers, and they do some beneficial cleanup. I had a big outbreak, but it subsided after I reduced my feeding schedule and added two powerheads. I only see specs here and there when I used to see brown flatworms blankets.

Also, I've heard that they release toxins when they die - so you don't want to kill them in your tank with the livestock in it.

 

Once you manage to get rid of them make sure you DIP EVERY CORAL before you put it in your tank. That way you won't have to battle them again and again. I dip all my corals in an iodine and coral rx solution for no less than 5 minutes before I even think about putting them in my tank.

I find the best way to get rid of pests is killing it before you put it in. I try to scrub the rubble or frag plug as well to avoid unwanted aiptasia or algae (bubble mostly) as well.

Good luck on the battle!!!

 

gorillacrab, Thanks for the info. Do you have any first hand experience that could help me? Like dosage amounts, proper way dose without any major problems?

Coastie, I could not agree more. This infestation happened when I was a rookie, still am. I now how coral RX, I guess it is all about learning!

 

On the second dose I doubled the amount of flatworm exit and let it stay overnight before doing water changes or carbon. Never saw any after that. Just make sure there are not too many of them on the second dose or they can pollute the tank with toxins.

 

Dingo,

Do you have any first hand experience? can you give any pointers on using the HCL?

 

Do you know where they came from? Frags? Im scared to buy stuff now..

 

I think i got it when i got my first group of corals from a local reefer. Was just real excited and wasn't aware of Coral RX. Just use that and you should be good.