ID Please!!! Flatworm???

[bustayanky]

Can someone tell me if this is a flatworm or not and how i would go about killing it. It's all over my duncans. I don't see it anywhere else though, but who knows they are pretty small. Pictures are kind of blurry but hopefully someone can identify. Thanks for all the input.

 

[ReefCollection]

Yep, pretty sure that's a flatworm. Easier to tell for me if you show me a pic of it on your rock/glass/coral.

Frank

 

[bustayanky]

Is there anything that eats it? Or should i just use Flatworm Exit? Does Flatworm Exit kill anything else but flatworms, i.e. shrimps, fish or corals? Is it reef and fish safe?

 

[ReefCollection]

The 6-line wrasse and the Orange Spotted Mandarin will eat those guys. If you don't have 1000's yet, you can go that route. Flatworm exit will not harm anything else as long as you follow the directions accurately. Also, my favorite to watch is the velvet nudibranch - they are black with neon blue stripes - and they 'sense' where the flatworms are and eat them at a fast pace.

 

[bustayanky]

does the velvet nudibranch eat anything else? zoanthids or anything?

 

[RyanLab]

i would try all other methods before treating the tank with flatworm exit. if you can remove the infected coral, try and remove the flatworms manually or treat just the coral in a QT tank. Dead flatworms give off a poison that is real bad!! i used a 1/4 inch piece of tubing and manually siphoned them out. It takes longer, but it is not as damaging. six-line wrasses are good to have, but they are a bit aggressive toward other wrasses.

 

[barometer]

I agree caution must be used with FWE because of the toxins released by the flatworms when they die. If you carefully syphon first as many as possible, then follow the instructions carefully, and syphon again when you run the carbon you should be OK. Just be careful. As advised, if you don't have an infestation I'd try to get rid of them manually as best you can.

A velvet nudi will die when there are no more flatworms to eat.....that's if you can find one to get in the first place.

I've had both a sixline and mandarin goby and both decimated the flatworm populations. HTH

 

[bustayanky]

Thanks a lot guys! I'll try the mandarin. Six line is quite aggressive and not that nice looking.

 

[pookstreet]

The spotted mandarin is hit and miss though, just keep that in mind.

Where can we find the velvet nudi, anyone know?

 

[barometer]

Be careful getting a mandarin. Do your research and know what you are getting beforehand. If you can get one proven to already eat frozen I highly recommend it. They're tough to train to eat frozen if they aren't already and that's usually the cause of people's failures with them.....starvation. If it starts to eat your flatworms and pods it will decimate the population quite quickly. So you either need a fuge with a healthy pod culture or need to be able to feed it.

kenny: I searched high and low for a velvet nudi for a couple months with no luck. A couple online vendors claim to sell them but they're never in stock. Just gotta get lucky I guess.

 

[bustayanky]

cool i have a refugium and plenty of rocks for the pods to grow. My cousin has one maybe ill borrow it from him and give it back when it seems to be gone.