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Nudibranchs for Flatworms

GDawson

GDawson

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So I’ve been battling flatworms in my wife’s nano for several months now and they continue to be out of control. I’m prolly going to have to tear the whole thing down, dip all the corals and rocks and start from scratch…..what a PITA.

According to the Delbeek/Sprung book there are some nudis that eat basic red flatworms. Has anyone any experience with this or know of a supplier?

-Gregory
 
Maybe try flatworm exit? Have no experience myself, and I know gresh would say you aren't solving the problem, just treatingthe symptom, but I've read examples of it working to get rid of the red planaria
 
I've read up Flatworm Exit and feel the tank is too out of control to use effectively without killing all the corals/fish with the released worm toxins. I know Gresh talks about addressing the stressors that are allowing the population explosion, but I've never seen anything on what those stressors are so they can be addressed. The tank is a year old and stable, parameters are good, there's only on small clown fish and minimal feedings. I have no clue what the issue is that's allowing the flatworms to proliferate.

-Gregory
 
I've had flatworms in the past and they went away on there own. Try feeding less. I believe the blue velvet slug eats flatworms. But once they're gone you're gonna need to hand it off to someone else who has a flatworm problem. FWE works good but you have to make sure to suck up all the dead flatworms because of the toxins they release.
 
One other thing to keep in mind with the blue velvet approach is that they a essentially incompatible with powerheads or significant current of any type. They will easily get blown around (or sucked into the powerhead) and thus won't be able to remain on the substrate or tank walls where they can consume the flatworms.
 
When I had some in a clients tank they seemed to always be on thus one wall, so I always siphoned them out and there still are a few, but definitely not a problem. Maybe you can manually get to that point and then flatworm exit. I think elecated nutrients are a culprit in the spreading
 
Coral reefer said:
When I had some in a clients tank they seemed to always be on thus one wall, so I always siphoned them out and there still are a few, but definitely not a problem. Maybe you can manually get to that point and then flatworm exit. I think elecated nutrients are a culprit in the spreading
Click to expand...

I've been syphoning and doing WCs. The clown is basically hand fed with arcti-pods with really no left over. I discontinued feeding the corals months ago, but I do spot feed two fan worms. Nitrates are non-detectable but not sure of phosphates. I have a hard time with the colour wheel on that one. It "seems" minimal to non-detectable. I just procured a RO/DI setup so we'll see if that helps.

The only thing that's keeping me from earing down the tank and starting over are the two beautiful fan worms. They just appeared in the sandbed about a year ago.....I really don't want to lose them.

-Gregory
 
All biological controls are hit and miss. Chelidonura can also get eating my any kind of crab. That and their other issues raised above make them not the ideal FW eater for the normal reef tank.

I have used FWE a bunch of times with no problem at all. Be ready for a big water change and actively run carbon. :D
 
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