do flatworms ever go away

[surfisjah]

These little flatworms may eventually defeat me. I've read that lowering nutrients will starve them. I don't run a sump and just use tap water. Would inside the tank macro algae like dragon's breath be my next step? Any other ideas to lower nutrient level? Very basic reef. Lots of live rock, sand and hang on the back protein skimmer. Thanks

[kengeroo]

http://www.jlaquatics.com/salifert-flatworm-exit.html

[Animal-Chin]

Are they the orange ones or white acro eating kind?

Short answer, no, they just don't go away. To get rid of my orange ones I used Flatwork exit. First, I started sucking them out when I did water changes to get as many out as humanly possible. Then when I could hardly find any I hit the tank with the flatworm exit, problem solved.

If its the white acro kind, you need to remove any acropora sps coral and dip them in coral cleaner like Revive. This will kill the worms but not the eggs, if there are eggs you have to scrape them or let them hatch and dip again. Acro flatworms are a nighmere compared to the orange ones.

[Skimmer Juice]

flatworm exit can be a risky option , siphon them out frequently add a wrasse , you can try the velvet nudibranchs but I find they die before they kill all of the flatworms. If you do try flatworm exit siphon them out for a few weeks before treating I have seen so many people loose fish and corals because they dont get enough of the flatworms out before using flatworm exit , the flatworms will release toxin when they die so depending on how many you have they can be inside live rock . Then siphon them out as they are dieing and have some water prepared for a big water change . I went the siphon them out manually route and did this for a while and eventually they disappeared , buy a 6 line wrasse or a mystery wrasse should keep them in check

[kengeroo]

yep using it throws your tank in a loop...
all my tiny brittle stars started to fall out of the rocks...,
....water changes and fresh carbon the day after cleared everything up...

It took me 3-4 does over 2 weeks to rid of them all...

[Doug]

Way back when, I found my mandarin, and wrasses, who all ate flatworms, could not keep up. I eventually did the Exit, several times as mentioned above. Losses are usually from the flatworm toxin as they die and not the exit itself. As others said if you do go this route, lots of carbon and good mechanical filtration, with media changed a lot.
I also ran my skimmer full bore to help, even though it likely removed some exit.

[Dearth]

I've used Flatworm exit to great success numerous times follow the instructions which are very simple and you will not have any issues.

The only time I have had issues is after dosing I got called into work so couldn't follow up

I now have a mandarin dragonet and a yellow wrasse and since I got them have not seen any flatworms at all

[Animal-Chin]

I bought a 6 line and it didn't eat a single one.

[Ginu]

What color are the flatworms? can you post a pic?

If they are orange and tiny they are easy to get rid of with flatworm exit. Make sure to follow the instructions and also using less is usually better and have a ton of water ready to go forwater changes along with carbon

If you have the white ones which eat acropora, you will need to dip the corals every week for 4-6 weeksand hope to kill their cyce (although they can always come back). best is to setup a QT for this task and run the tank without any acros for 6-8 months. Acro eating FW only eats acros and will die without a food source.

There is something called polyclad worms which are larger, move quite fast and they attack snails/clams

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I found yellow wrasses keep my tanks flatworm free.

[Slyguy00]

If you have AEFW good luck. I just finished dealing with that and man what a nightmare. Weeks and weeks of dipping coral. once a week everyday for at least 8 weeks. Not a fun process at all, sure hope you dont have these ones and have the red ones instead. Far easier to get rid of them. Flatworm exit works well for those.

[FishyFishy!]

Both my 8 line and my melanurus made short work of flatworms in my previous tank. Literally all gone in a week.

I recently got them on a frag in my new system. Had them all over my frag tank. Put my 8 line in there, and they were all gone in 2 days flat.

If you have AEFW, start over lol.