Flat and Bristle worms and Coralline

richie reef · 11/01/2017, 07:13 PM

My tank crashed earlier this year with an algae outbreak. I take blame in this disaster.

I finally got rid of all or 98% of the algae however all the coralline died off and 85% of my corals dies as well. There is some algae still in some frogspawn coral. Not sure how to get the algae from this piece of coral.

Last week my skimmer died and finally received my new skimmer yesterday. When I came home from work my anemone had died. Very sad, I’ve had the anemone for about 6 years.

Now I’m just wondering how do I get rid of the flat worms and bristle worms? I have a six line, he doesn’t seem to have anything to do with controlling my flat worms. At best I found siphoning them from the tank weekly.

The bristle worms are in the rocks and the sand substrate. I can siphon or pull them from the substrate and I tried dipping my rocks with a dip but they just seem to come back I to the rocks over time.

How do I control the flat worms? Does anyone have any ideas how to train a six line?

Does anything eat flatworms?

Also, looking at restoring my coralline. The Carib sea purple up good for this purpose? I used it about 9 years ago when I established my tank.

FoxFace Fish · 11/01/2017, 08:03 PM

Stop hating on bristle worms

richie reef · 11/01/2017, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxFace Fish

Stop hating on bristle worms

Seems like they are taking over.

eddiereefs · 11/01/2017, 08:32 PM

Bristle worms will procreate with more detritus. So how are your levels? May have too much waste in the aquarium. They are helpful cuc members and will go out of control if their is too much waste.for the flatworms look at a product called flat worm exit. For the corraline just make sure your calcium level is in the 400 range. Be sure to test!

richie reef · 11/01/2017, 08:38 PM

I am guilty of not doing water changes for a while so the substrate is filled with detritus. I’m trying to slowly get the detritus siphoned out. Not sure if there is a quicker way other than water changes.

I guess it’s time to try the flatworm exit. I will siphon our the worms as much as possible for a couple weeks before I dose the tank. I heard they have a bad toxin that can kill over the tank

eddiereefs · 11/01/2017, 08:49 PM

Water changes are the quickest way. Be careful with flatworms exit it can be harsh and kill alot of things including your worms, this crashing your tank with all the death. Be sure to get them under control first. Or wait till they die and then syphon but I don't like that option as much as the first because u may not siphon them all.

pisanoal · 11/02/2017, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richie reef

My tank crashed earlier this year with an algae outbreak. I take blame in this disaster.

I finally got rid of all or 98% of the algae however all the coralline died off and 85% of my corals dies as well. There is some algae still in some frogspawn coral. Not sure how to get the algae from this piece of coral.

Last week my skimmer died and finally received my new skimmer yesterday. When I came home from work my anemone had died. Very sad, I’ve had the anemone for about 6 years.

Now I’m just wondering how do I get rid of the flat worms and bristle worms? I have a six line, he doesn’t seem to have anything to do with controlling my flat worms. At best I found siphoning them from the tank weekly.

The bristle worms are in the rocks and the sand substrate. I can siphon or pull them from the substrate and I tried dipping my rocks with a dip but they just seem to come back I to the rocks over time.

How do I control the flat worms? Does anyone have any ideas how to train a six line?

Does anything eat flatworms?
Also, looking at restoring my coralline. The Carib sea purple up good for this purpose? I used it about 9 years ago when I established my tank.

How large of a tank? I eliminated flatworms from a 40 breeder using flatworm exit. As long as you follow directions (blow rocks off to dislodge worms, stir sand to expose them all, siphon out dead worms, run carbon, etc), its pretty safe stuff. I dosed it at up to 2x the suggested dose with no ill effects(sps in the tank). First dose was at normal/recommended levels. I did 2 follow-up treatments at twice recommended. Never saw another one. Just to be clear, I am referring to Red Planaria. Not sure what kind of flatworms you are dealing with?

Prior to this, I added a melanarus wrasse who loved them. That and the Yellow Coris wrasse are probably the best bet for eating flatworms. Wouldn't add one with the six line in there though. Maybe trade him out at the LFS.

If you go the wrasse method and forego elimination with the FWE, then make it clear to anyone you trade frags or give anything from your tank to that you have them. They will most likely never be completely gone with natural control.

sde1500 · 11/02/2017, 08:20 AM

A wrasse should be good at keeping the flat worm population in check. I've heard FE was hit or miss.

Bristleworms are great detrivores. If you have too many, you have too much detritus, as you admit to. Try taking a power head and manually move it all around the tank. Blast the rocks, in crevices of the rocks, and under them as much as possible without causing too much of a sand storm, this will kick up a ton of it and allow you to siphon it out, or it to get caught in your sump if you use one. If you need a ton out quickly, run the siphon into a filter sock in your sump with the tank running. This will help clean up a lot of if without wasting tons of water.

As for coraline, most of those products seem to just be calcium supplements. Give the tank time to recover and it will come back.

ReeferNoob4ever · 11/02/2017, 08:46 AM

I second flat worm exit. I have used it a couple times and it worked great. My feather dusters retreated for a while but came back out.

Bristle worms need food (detritus) to procreate. Just keep getting the ones out you can easily access and doing water changes. I clean my sand bed so that helps, but if there is a lot of decay built up in your substrate stirring it up may release some heavy toxins that kill the remaining inhabitants that lived through your crash.

pisanoal · 11/02/2017, 12:11 PM

I think a picture might be in order... are we talking about bristle worms or flatworms? Flat worms at least the red planaria variety that I assume we are talking about do not need detritus, and in my opinion should be taken care of. Bristle worms... the only way I can see having too many is if they are literally crawling all over coral. Now a lot of them might indicate a husbandry issue... but I wouldn't say they are directly bad to have too many.

And the mixed results from flatworm exit I think usually come from people not doing repeat treatments either at all or in time. You really should do follow up treatments and I recommend a stronger dose for the follow-ups to get any stragglers/resistant ones.

11/01/2017, 07:13 PM	#1
richie reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 35	Flat and Bristle worms and Coralline My tank crashed earlier this year with an algae outbreak. I take blame in this disaster. I finally got rid of all or 98% of the algae however all the coralline died off and 85% of my corals dies as well. There is some algae still in some frogspawn coral. Not sure how to get the algae from this piece of coral. Last week my skimmer died and finally received my new skimmer yesterday. When I came home from work my anemone had died. Very sad, I’ve had the anemone for about 6 years. Now I’m just wondering how do I get rid of the flat worms and bristle worms? I have a six line, he doesn’t seem to have anything to do with controlling my flat worms. At best I found siphoning them from the tank weekly. The bristle worms are in the rocks and the sand substrate. I can siphon or pull them from the substrate and I tried dipping my rocks with a dip but they just seem to come back I to the rocks over time. How do I control the flat worms? Does anyone have any ideas how to train a six line? Does anything eat flatworms? Also, looking at restoring my coralline. The Carib sea purple up good for this purpose? I used it about 9 years ago when I established my tank.

11/01/2017, 08:03 PM	#2
FoxFace Fish Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2017 Posts: 435	Stop hating on bristle worms __________________ FoxFace RabbitFish For Life Everyone in this hobby has made a mistake at least once. Be smart and learn from others mistakes Current Tank Info: Reason I am broke as a joke

11/02/2017, 08:20 AM	#8
sde1500 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Glocester, RI Posts: 3,336	A wrasse should be good at keeping the flat worm population in check. I've heard FE was hit or miss. Bristleworms are great detrivores. If you have too many, you have too much detritus, as you admit to. Try taking a power head and manually move it all around the tank. Blast the rocks, in crevices of the rocks, and under them as much as possible without causing too much of a sand storm, this will kick up a ton of it and allow you to siphon it out, or it to get caught in your sump if you use one. If you need a ton out quickly, run the siphon into a filter sock in your sump with the tank running. This will help clean up a lot of if without wasting tons of water. As for coraline, most of those products seem to just be calcium supplements. Give the tank time to recover and it will come back. __________________ My build thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2548422 Current Tank Info: 65 gallon mixed reef, Eshopps sump and HOB overflow, RO-110int skimmer, Reefbreeder 32" photons V1.

11/02/2017, 08:46 AM	#9
ReeferNoob4ever Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: NM Posts: 523	I second flat worm exit. I have used it a couple times and it worked great. My feather dusters retreated for a while but came back out. Bristle worms need food (detritus) to procreate. Just keep getting the ones out you can easily access and doing water changes. I clean my sand bed so that helps, but if there is a lot of decay built up in your substrate stirring it up may release some heavy toxins that kill the remaining inhabitants that lived through your crash. __________________ Get a life! Current Tank Info: 20gL mixed reef, 10g mixed reef w/nem & clown, 5g NPS & harlequin

11/01/2017, 08:32 PM	#4
eddiereefs Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 575	Bristle worms will procreate with more detritus. So how are your levels? May have too much waste in the aquarium. They are helpful cuc members and will go out of control if their is too much waste.for the flatworms look at a product called flat worm exit. For the corraline just make sure your calcium level is in the 400 range. Be sure to test!

11/01/2017, 08:38 PM	#5
richie reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 35	I am guilty of not doing water changes for a while so the substrate is filled with detritus. I’m trying to slowly get the detritus siphoned out. Not sure if there is a quicker way other than water changes. I guess it’s time to try the flatworm exit. I will siphon our the worms as much as possible for a couple weeks before I dose the tank. I heard they have a bad toxin that can kill over the tank

11/01/2017, 08:49 PM	#6
eddiereefs Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 575	Water changes are the quickest way. Be careful with flatworms exit it can be harsh and kill alot of things including your worms, this crashing your tank with all the death. Be sure to get them under control first. Or wait till they die and then syphon but I don't like that option as much as the first because u may not siphon them all.

11/02/2017, 12:11 PM	#10
pisanoal Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 705	I think a picture might be in order... are we talking about bristle worms or flatworms? Flat worms at least the red planaria variety that I assume we are talking about do not need detritus, and in my opinion should be taken care of. Bristle worms... the only way I can see having too many is if they are literally crawling all over coral. Now a lot of them might indicate a husbandry issue... but I wouldn't say they are directly bad to have too many. And the mixed results from flatworm exit I think usually come from people not doing repeat treatments either at all or in time. You really should do follow up treatments and I recommend a stronger dose for the follow-ups to get any stragglers/resistant ones.