Dong --- You have flat worms.

[ScottM]

Without FE, you can't just "change things" and have a plague size population just "disappear".
I was saying you can't just add a wrasse and a mandarin and expect to clean a tank... if you have just a few, maybe, but why risk it when you can Exit them

It is possible to modify your system and clear out a very large population. I was also successful in doing so. I woud venture to say that its also the right way to do it. no chemicals, no added stress, no stability issues with 75-100% water changes...it can be done by managing flow, lighting and strict water quality maint....etc. It just takes time, commitment and patience.
it can be done.
a 20.00 box of FWE is much less stressful and by far the easier way out.

 

[Matt L.]

It is possible to modify your system and clear out a very large population. I was also successful in doing so. I woud venture to say that its also the right way to do it. no chemicals, no added stress, no stability issues with 75-100% water changes...it can be done by managing flow, lighting and strict water quality maint....etc. It just takes time, commitment and patience.

Scott,

For those of us who have been infected, we'd love to hear your ideas. I know they need light and don't care for high flow, but if you could share your thoughts with us, that'd be great.

Ryan,

Now aren't you glad I came to your party? Thanks for inviting me. It was a lot of fun to get to meet your relatives and see your systems. Sorry I couldn't stay longer, but I had a TKD obligation to go to and I was running late on the day,

Matt

 

[BigCrowd42]

wher can i find a picture of them so i know what to look for

 

[Piscevore]

Ask Dong to take take few

hehe, no seriously, here is a link to wet web media:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pestflatwrmanthony.htm

On the very top is a pretty good picture of a corallimorph with red flatworms all over it.

 

[dz6t]

well, I never see a flat worm so far with my own eyes. You are the first one to see it. I still have no idea what "my" flat worm looks like let alone taking pictures. By the way, I am just wondering one thing by look back at the beginning of the post. I did not give you tri-color zoas, I gave you neon green. Is there a chance mixing up?

 

[dz6t]

Well, also, there is another possiblity, if you got the correct zoo frag, it was in a frag tank and I got it from another member not long ago. I don't want to dose the whole display tank untill I actually sure I have a situation needs to be controlled. But I will dose the frag tank for sure. May be someone can drop by and take a look. Does flatworm photosynthetic and require strong lighting?

 

[~Flighty~]

I think if you have a serious problem you will see them on the glass, or if you look at the rock you will see them moving around.

 

[dz6t]

I don't see any of those. But you and your husband are invited to drop by and I have wine and beer

 

[NateHanson]

When I've seen the bad red ones in tanks, they haven't looked like any of those WWM pictures in that link. They collected around the bottoms of rocks and corals where they met the sand, and at the corner of the sand and glass. They were in huge crawling mats, many worms deep. They're a red to red-brown color. That's when they reach plauge proportions. Short of that they might be harder to spot.

 

[Piscevore]

They are next to invisible on the rock work, because they look like a little algae or something else....

On the sand or glass it is very easy. The WWM photo is good because you can see the shape of a single worm.

When I posted , I hadn't seen the zoos yet, but I was told by mr. litman they were tri's. They are in fact bright green, and they were the only frag I added to my tank.

 

[nunofs]

My mandarin is eatting those flat worms but the piece of LR those zoos attached to was not acceble to the Mandarin.

well, I never see a flat worm so far with my own eyes. You are the first one to see it.

How did you know your mandarin was eating them if you had never seen them before?

Nuno

 

[~Flighty~]

He got the mandarin from my tank and he ate flatworms here to the point that I can't find any if I look for them, that might be what he meens.

The flatworms I had were definately not clear, but they wern't redish either. I would call them grey-brown with a grey pattern on their backs. they never got very big either like some of the red kinds I've seen.

Keep in mind there are zillions of different kinds of flatworms. It is a little like saying you have a crab or a fish.

 

[Aquadiva]

OK...so how does one decide if they have good flatworms or bad? Are the red ones the only bad ones? Isn't there an acropora eating flatworm? I thought they were kinda clear?

 

[nunofs]

He got the mandarin from my tank and he ate flatworms here to the point that I can't find any if I look for them, that might be what he meens.

OK, that makes sense now... thanks for the clarification, Cindy.

Nuno

 

[~Flighty~]

The acropora ones are tiny, orangish, super hard to see and will be eating your acros. If you see one that isn't eating acros, it probably isn't the acro kind. Otherwise I think the only good way to tell is how you got them and how many you see. I think trying to generalize them by color is hard because the same flatworms will look different and become different colors under different conditions. The ones that are clear are safer because they are nonphotosynthetic and don't overpopulate as easilly.

 

[NateHanson]

The one's I've seen in plauge proportions (the non-acro eating, but very fast-reproducing type) were red and very small, maybe a couple mm head to tail. You probably wouldn't notice them easily until they piled up in mass disgusting heaps in the low flow areas of the tank.