flatworms?! i need help...again..

beeguiles

they call me fish geek ;p
So seem to be having one problem after another. First the cyno and now flatworms?! I saw them when I got home tonight. I am currently in the middle of a blackout right now to rid the tank of red slime and I turned the light on for a couple mins to check on things and I see four little flatworms on the glass. They aren't the rust colored ones..they are whitish see through. I immediately took the ones I saw out! But please I need some help understanding where these came from and why they are bad and how to get rid of them and keep them away! I'm prlly just panicing but I don't want my tank ruined after all the hard work and lots of money spent.
 
Don't worry -- they are one of the most common pests out there. They can hitch hike in on rocks, sand, corals, etc. Sometimes fish will eat them, and keep their populations in check.

You will need to use Flatworm Exit to get rid of them. It's a reef safe medication, so you can treat your whole tank. Follow the directions on the box, and do a water change after you treat it. Remove as many flatworms as you can by hand before the treatment, and then remove their bodies as they die.
 
PS -- just think of it this way, these are all problems we end up dealing with at one point or another. You are just getting them all out of the way early! ;)
 
Biff you are right. I was just getting a little discouraged. I thought I was doing something wrong and my tank is falling apart lol. But its nice to know these rings are normal problems. I was thinking of getting a cleaner wrasse but I read they are difficult to keep fed? Bc they eat parasites? I do like the six line wrasse tho. My lfs store has lots of wrasse So I will check them out today. I haven't seen any more flatworms after the ones i manually took out last night.
 
Cleaner wrasses wont eat flatworms, and they only eat parasites off of your other fish so they will end up starving to death.

Do check out which wrasses you get before you buy them though, many will get too big for your tank or they arent reef safe.
 
Even though the wrasse may eat them, I'd still treat your tank with Flatworm Exit. I guarantee there are more that you can't see.
 
Lol thanks guys. It's a little shy right now but Im sure he will love it in there. And yes biff you are right. I should get some flatworm exit. I'm think I'm going to wait till my blackout is over and I do a water change. I don't want to do too many things at once.
 
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