Natural "Flatworm Exit" home remedy

read what it says bro, the risk is inherent with killing them all at once, plus the fact there are tons hiding, no one is saying your way won't work, were just advising you of the potential problems so you can be prepared for them Killing ALOT of flatworms at once, may hurt your tank, but you need to know what to do properly if it causes a problem.

 

I read it. That's why I like my idea, it doesn't kill them all at once like Flatworm Exit does. This way I limit the toxins in my tank.

 

true, just wanted ya to read the part about running carbon, water changes, etc, so ya were prepped for it and prevent coral/fish loss. not doubting ya, just making sure ya cross your i's and dot your t's, just like I did with corralline, vinny, and grinder before deciding how to transfer my tank over to the new 90g! Better safe than sorry

 

I appreciate it. Thank you to everyone else for the concern too.

 

some one please call me out on the butchering of the English language I just did

 

You will never eradicate them with spot treatment. They will multiply back to original population within a few hours.
Additionally, you can think of the toxin levels like this:
In a tank with no flatworms there will obviously be no toxins. In a tank with flatworms there will just be a residual level of constant toxins... Too low to make any obvious negative outcomes, however it will over time stunt coral growth and stress fish.

Best bet is to just have like 75% water change ready and treat the tank and then siphon out the dead and then do the waterchange. Then come back a week later and treat again to get any stragglers.

 

Are all flatworms bad or are they kind of like bristleworms? Mostly good but could get a bad species once in awhile.

 

No not at all, there are hundreds if not thousands of types.

You have your very bad varieties. Types that are corals eaters such as Acropora Eating Flatworms (very hard to eradicate), other types while not coral eaters become problems when their population explodes and they cover corals both preventing penetration of light and gas exchange.

Some are photosynthetic, and all it takes is a black out or reduction in lighting.

There are the larger flatworms such as Polyclad Flatworms that feed on snails and in some reported cases corals.

Lastly there are the harmless varieties, that some might find just visually unappealing.

 

Most are not bad per se but they do tend to grow to such large populations that they can literally smother corals. Some also are coral eaters.

 

Good to know, I do not think I have seen any yet but am always finding new things in the tank to ID. I found some sort of rock on liverock the other night that looked like a thin millipede of some sort, saw it once and have yet to find it again.

If the main problem is populations getting out of control then for the harmless varieties would a wrasse be enough to keep their population in control?