Little Brown Things

[bart84]

Hey all. I have these little brown things taking over my 38gal. I can't get a good picture of them but they are every where. They are the brown spots on the glass. The best description I can give is they are lite brown to opace. And they are about the size and shape of a pellet for a pellet gun. They are very flat looking with no legs, almost like a snail how they move. Any ideas ?

 

[Kman]

Rusty flat worms but hard to tell.

 

[amps]

Looks like flatworms maybe.

If they are, they're not really harmful but they're ugly as a wet fart. Pick up some Flatworm Exit (Salifert makes it I think) and follow the directions to a T.

 

[Kman]

Be careful of dosing as most species release a toxin into your tank when they die. Carbon is a must and I myself would break the dose up into smaller ones so it kills less. You can also manually remove them. With some soft air line tube and a piece or rigid tube cut at an angle.

 

[bart84]

thanks guys, that is exactly what they are. I have some flatworm exit so I will give it a try. Before I do is there any fish or something natural that will eat them ? Maybe a six line wrasse ?

 

[unibob]

Sixeline, yellow coris wrasse


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[Neopimp]

red planaria is the name of them. A Flatworm.

 

[Neopimp]

Be careful of dosing as most species release a toxin into your tank when they die. Carbon is a must and I myself would break the dose up into smaller ones so it kills less. You can also manually remove them. With some soft air line tube and a piece or rigid tube cut at an angle.

I am on the other side of the line on this. I have treated my tank with the full dose required twice... killed them yes but never all. So I almost doubled the dose, same deal. And with a 150gallons+ it was becoming quite expensive. I believe you would need an obscene amount of worms to endanger the tank but I guess he is dealing with a much smaller volume. Definitley agree that carbon should be on hand with more than just a single reactors worth just in case.

My wrasses took care of them or they died out on their own.

 

[Neopimp]

Truly desperate then look into Levamisole if the EXIT doesn't work. Hard to find due to it being very similar in appearance to cocaine, apparently dealers were cutting their drugs with it and people were having some nasty nasty side effects

 

[TORX]

Carbon and a large water change ready to go.

 

[Kman]

I have seen people that had a really big outbreak of these in the tank and after they dosed it killed the tank. It really depends on how many you have, what species they are as they very in toxicness and what corals and other life you have in the tank. All tanks react differently to the toxins and just because one species is fine doesn't mean the next one is. My recommendation's are based on being cautious and my experience with these for I have seen them many times over my years in this hobby and I have witnessed the sometimes drastic effects they have had in peoples tanks. People can do a full dose if they want but if you have the red flatworm they are toxic and can wipe out a tank if the density is great enough. Remember if you see some there are lots you can't see.

I like the manual removal approach if at all possible as it is the cheapest and one of the safest way of controlling them. If the bio load in the tank allows it and the tank is big enough to safely add a fish some wrasse will control these like the Melanurus wrasse or green wrasse.

Check out this link for removal tips.

http://www.melevsreef.com/node/651

 

[Kman]

.

 

[sunnykita]

I have seen people that had a really big outbreak of these in the tank and after they dosed it killed the tank. It really depends on how many you have, what species they are as they very in toxicness and what corals and other life you have in the tank. All tanks react differently to the toxins and just because one species is fine doesn't mean the next one is. My recommendation's are based on being cautious and my experience with these for I have seen them many times over my years in this hobby and I have witnessed the sometimes drastic effects they have had in peoples tanks. People can do a full dose if they want but if you have the red flatworm they are toxic and can wipe out a tank if the density is great enough. Remember if you see some there are lots you can't see.

I like the manual removal approach if at all possible as it is the cheapest and one of the safest way of controlling them. If the bio load in the tank allows it and the tank is big enough to safely add a fish some wrasse will control these like the Melanurus wrasse or green wrasse.

Check out this link for removal tips.

http://www.melevsreef.com/node/651

Wow ! well written article!

 

[bart84]

Thanks guys, I am going to try the natural method first. Get a six line, a black velvet nudi and manually suck out what I can see. Thanks again

 

[Kman]

Those black velvet nudi work very well except that is all they eat and once the food source is gone so are they. I would try the wrasse first and see if it can get rid of them. If the population is dense enough and it can only control the flatworms, I would then look at other options.

 

[bart84]

ok good advice thanks I will go with that route first.