How do you Battle Flatworms?

[Coralsdaily]

Before we begin- Any thought on putting together a general aquarium pest, disease, parasite (beyond fish) section?

Hello Everyone, Steven here! Thanks again for joining me for another reef chat. If you prefer to enjoy today’s content via video format and skip the reading, please feel free to click the video below:


Today we will dive into one (of the many) marine aquarium pests that many of us hate to deal with: Flatworm. Flatworm comes in many shapes and sizes. And they all have the potential to harm your existing residents in one way or another. In the past I have battled against brown flatworms that covers up corals and blocks them off from proper light exposure. I’ve also found huge clam eating flatworms in the past. Fortunately I have not had to deal with acropora or montipora eating flatworms (knock on wood) yet.

This week I am once again battling the brown flatworm. I do have good news- I have already enlisted help from the Springer Damsel last week, but it is still in QT so I don’t get to see him devour on flatworms for another week.

I first noticed my flatworm issue when a friend who just picked up frags from me show me a picture of the dipped coral:

Little flatworms at bottom of the dip
Have you ever get so anxious you lose sleep over your corals? This literally made me lose sleep! I ordered Flatworm Stop immediately and couldn’t wait for the med to arrive.

Flatworms normally comes in as hitch hiker from corals and inverts you’ve purchased. Again, emphasizing the importance of coral dipping and quarantine. I admit I have completely failed myself by neglected to dip some of the recently ordered corals. Also, flatworms tend to thrive in tanks that are nutritionally rich. I will also admit that my recent content creation and reviews of coral food has lead to a much more nutritious situation in my tank. No excuse though, it is a pest and I have to deal with it.

You can see flatworm parking on tip of my montipora. Not eating the coral, just chilling there.

The Flatworm Stop is a German product that is supposedly used to help you keep flatworm population under control, while help restore the damaged corals. I have just started dosing this to my tank today so unfortunately I am unable to provide any results or review against this product. The recommended treatment cycle is 1ml/25gallon/90days minimum. So I guess I’ll be reporting back for as long as three months from now on my findings. Until then, the springer damsel will be hard at work.

Comes in 250ml, 500ml, and 1liter. My tank’s total water volume is 150G, and I’ve only purchased a 250ml bottle. This means I’ll need to invest in at least another bottle. Make sure you do your math before ordering. Don’t be like me.

I’ve used other Flatworm medications before, including Salifert’s flatworm exit. The one negative thing about that is it killed flatworms so fast that the water had no time to respond. The toxins released from the dead flatworms literally blew up my protein skimmer and it took two months for the skimmer to calm down. So while that med worked and did its job, I wanted to try something else this time.

I see that Flatworm Stop has some mixed reviews. For the most part the reviews averaged out to be about 4 stars. The one thing everyone seemed to agree is their corals gained better coloration. But the one thing that people seemed to have reservation is whether or not it was actually effective against flatworms. I am not quite familiar with the nature of this mix. But the 90 day treatment period leads me to believe instead of killing the flatworm out right, it works by either killing the eggs, or prevent flatworms from breeding in the tank. If you are an expert in this medication please feel free to jump in and share your opinion on this.

I will move forward with my regular Flatworm Stop dosing, as well as employing help from the springer damsel. I suppose it can be as long as three months before I report back my findings. But if I notice the eradication of flatworms sooner than that, I will also come back for an update. Until then, coral trading and selling will be temporarily shut down as I take pride and responsibility to provide fellow hobbyists quality and pest free corals.

Happy to hear your comments and experiences dealing with Flatworm. Please share any pro-tips and best practices to help educated us!

 

[fishguy242]

hi,you know a pair of dragon pipefish will,help knock down,little during day,mostly at night

 

[Coralsdaily]

hi,you know a pair of dragon pipefish will,help knock down,little during day,mostly at night

The last time I had an outbreak I had a spotted mandarin. I do like the pipefish but they aren't very easy to keep and I'd feel bad if I get them purely for this utilitarian purpose. I totally agree they can be of good help, I just don't have enough confident in keeping them yet. If you have them and got any pro tips please do share!

 

[ca1ore]

Not personally a fan of adding any meds to my main display - just seems like asking for trouble. FAR better to employ a biological control. My preferred fish is the dusky wrasse, though it can get quite large. Eats flatworms, bristle worms and pyramid snails .... also my CUC .... nobody's perfect I guess.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Awww man.
First defense always is to siphon as many as you can. Predatory treatment is safest with addition of 6 lined. Lunate or melanurus wrasse. If you can find one, velvet nudibranch is fantastic
Salifert flatworm exit also works good but siphon dead ones daily as they can release toxins

 

[sfin52]

I use leapord wrasse. I also dip all corals.

 

[andrewkw]

I thought flatworm stop is for acro eating flatworms. Flatworm exit is for Red Planaria. I've used flatworm exit I dunno 10 times or so over the years. It always works except I find I always need to double the dose then dose at least 1 maybe 2 more times to make sure all stragglers are gone. If I have some real stubborn ones I'll triple or more the dose. Never had any side effects from it as when I start getting into higher concentrated doses its just to kill off the last few not wiping out countless thousands who release toxins.

 

[Coralsdaily]

Not personally a fan of adding any meds to my main display - just seems like asking for trouble. FAR better to employ a biological control. My preferred fish is the dusky wrasse, though it can get quite large. Eats flatworms, bristle worms and pyramid snails .... also my CUC .... nobody's perfect I guess.

Yeah I currently have a sixline, but I don't think flatwrom is its expertise. I do have a springer damsel in QT so hopefully when he's ready to be deployed to the battlefield it'll be a wipe out!

 

[Coralsdaily]

I thought flatworm stop is for acro eating flatworms. Flatworm exit is for Red Planaria. I've used flatworm exit I dunno 10 times or so over the years. It always works except I find I always need to double the dose then dose at least 1 maybe 2 more times to make sure all stragglers are gone. If I have some real stubborn ones I'll triple or more the dose. Never had any side effects from it as when I start getting into higher concentrated doses its just to kill off the last few not wiping out countless thousands who release toxins.

Interesting, I didn't know that they target specific types of flatworms. Perhaps someone should suggest the manufacturer to clarify that on their label. I did Salifert Flatworm Exit in the past, it worked great, in fact, too good that it killed all flatworms overnight and make my skimmer blow out! So I was hoping to find something that still works, but with a bit gentler approach. I'll report back to see whether Flatworm stop lives up to its claim, and whether it is indeed ineffective to certain flatworms.

 

[andrewkw]

Interesting, I didn't know that they target specific types of flatworms. Perhaps someone should suggest the manufacturer to clarify that on their label. I did Salifert Flatworm Exit in the past, it worked great, in fact, too good that it killed all flatworms overnight and make my skimmer blow out! So I was hoping to find something that still works, but with a bit gentler approach. I'll report back to see whether Flatworm stop lives up to its claim, and whether it is indeed ineffective to certain flatworms.

The picture of flatworm exit you posted says it's for flatworms that bother acropora right on it. Also flatworm exit I believe does mention panaria specifically.

If you remove the majority manually then use flatworm exit you shouldn't have problems. I know it suggests a moderate sized water change after but there is no reason you can't do a massive one, unless of course the tank itself is massive.

 

[Coralsdaily]

The picture of flatworm exit you posted says it's for flatworms that bother acropora right on it. Also flatworm exit I believe does mention panaria specifically.

If you remove the majority manually then use flatworm exit you shouldn't have problems. I know it suggests a moderate sized water change after but there is no reason you can't do a massive one, unless of course the tank itself is massive.

Just to be clear you are referring to Flatworm Stop (what's in my picture)? or Flatworm Exit (not the picture)?
I used Flatworm exit before, as I said it is very effective, but really stressed out my skimmer. Took weeks and numerous water changes for the situation to chill. Flatworm Stop (I'm currently using) so far hasn't seem to be "killing" flatworms outright, but again I am not sure whether this is a med designed to kill in a thousand cuts or one deadly blow. I guess time will tell. But it has so far been good to my skimmer, and also none of my corals/inverts seem to be affected.

 

[Tastee]

I’ve used Flatworm Rx, which I believe is the same composition as FW Exit on my LPS/Softie dominant tank with no issues. It did not however do much to kill the FWs I had. The reason I dosed it was to get rid of the small number of red FWs I believe killed one of my hammers. I was able to physically remove every one I could find and have not had an issue since (12 months later).

So my experience is that it is not harmful, but won’t necessarily work on the FWs you have.

 

[Coralsdaily]

I’ve used Flatworm Rx, which I believe is the same composition as FW Exit on my LPS/Softie dominant tank with no issues. It did not however do much to kill the FWs I had. The reason I dosed it was to get rid of the small number of red FWs I believe killed one of my hammers. I was able to physically remove every one I could find and have not had an issue since (12 months later).

So my experience is that it is not harmful, but won’t necessarily work on the FWs you have.

Just curious, what was your method in physically removing flatworm, without harming corals?

 

[homer1475]

Siphon with a RO/DI line is how I got most of them out before using flatworm stop.

I now employ many wrasses and have not seen a single one since adding my yellow coris wrasse.

 

[andrewkw]

Just to be clear you are referring to Flatworm Stop (what's in my picture)? or Flatworm Exit (not the picture)?
I used Flatworm exit before, as I said it is very effective, but really stressed out my skimmer. Took weeks and numerous water changes for the situation to chill. Flatworm Stop (I'm currently using) so far hasn't seem to be "killing" flatworms outright, but again I am not sure whether this is a med designed to kill in a thousand cuts or one deadly blow. I guess time will tell. But it has so far been good to my skimmer, and also none of my corals/inverts seem to be affected.

Flatworm stop = for acro eating flatworms as a longer term treatment option

Flatworm exit = wipe out red panaria in one shot (really 2 or 3 shots but it's designed to wipe out in one shot).

You must have had a serious infestation. Just siphon out what you can see first. Use airline tubing and drain the water into a filter sock then pour it back in the tank. Look behind rocks, macro algae ect. Again you must have had a really bad infestation to have so many issues after.

Killing them slowly just gives them a chance to regroup. Wipe out 99% and then dose a few more times to get any stragglers then it's done.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

The number one way to fight these are to identify them, I have yet to find anything that eats monti other than nudibranchs. I see these muppets at the local fish stores selling people flatworm exit for AEFW and I die inside every time. People are terrible at figuring this out.

comparing flatworm stop with flatworm exit invalidates reviews into the spam folder for me.

 

[reefbro]

Turkey baster.

 

[bsr2430]

Awww man.
First defense always is to siphon as many as you can. Predatory treatment is safest with addition of 6 lined. Lunate or melanurus wrasse. If you can find one, velvet nudibranch is fantastic
Salifert flatworm exit also works good but siphon dead ones daily as they can release toxins

He’s right, Melanurus Wrasse handled mine!

Then she really needed to go on a diet.... she looked pregnant, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings and ask her when she was due.... but come on, save a flatworm for a rainy day rather than eat every single one in a matter of days.....

 

[Rjramos]

Chiming along. I’ve always heard flatworm stop for Acro eating flat worms and Salifert flatworm exit For red planaria, which I’ve used effectively.

 

[Tastee]

Just curious, what was your method in physically removing flatworm, without harming corals?

My problem was with flatworms in a Euphyllia, so I was able to dip the coral to get rid of some. Others I found crawling on the glass and was able to take them out by hand. I found if I positioned the coral near the glass they were more likely to crawl onto it. I was also able to dislodge a couple I found crawling on rock. I didn’t have a lot of them and they were of the larger sort so it wasn’t too difficult.