Flatworms in my QT tank.. any and all advice welcome!!

[D9ohsoar]

Sooo… I’ve had a 5 gallon reef tank for quite a while now. I use it to QT new frags and/or sick frags. Haven’t made any changes to it since I’ve had it. Going on a few months. Well recently I did my usual water change, and Bam! Tiny little red worms..? Confused as to where they could have come from and if the recent water change could have elicited such an explosion? Could a small dash of frozen food done this? I ordered Flatworm X and know I need to do massive water changes to clear the toxins of the dead worms, was going to take a chance as it’s my QT tank. I don’t want to add my corals to my main tank for fear of contamination. Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[MaxTremors]

Do you have pictures of what they look like?

 

[D9ohsoar]

Do you have pictures of what they look like?

Absolutely.. here are a couple pics and a video. Hard to get a clear zoom.. let me know if I need to try again.

 

[MaxTremors]

Definitely looks like planaria. Being that it’s such a small tank, your only real options are to starve them out (black out and stop feeding the tank), or Flatworm Exit. I’ve had great luck with wrasses all but eradicating them, but again, tank size. I’ve only used flatworm exit once, many years ago, all I can say is follow the directions EXACTLY. I would also think that the sooner you can do it the better, if their population gets larger the likelihood of poisoning the tank is larger.

 

[D9ohsoar]

Thank you!! My flatworm X is ordered and on the way. I’m concerned that I finally brought back to life several coral from brink of death only to end the tank. As it being my QT tank, I don’t have another place to house them. Also, I wonder greatly where they came from, so I do not do it to my main tank. My previous experience to planaria is with my freshwater tank and that was easy to fix. Saltwater, seems to be a different battle entirely. I agree, I’ve toyed with the idea of a wrasse but my tank is so small and I couldn’t add them to my 10 gallon (once the problem was solved) as I have o. clownfish in them already. I will try your advice, dark light and starvation.