I am currently cycling my new Red Sea Max nano and have discovered many hitchhikers along the way. I am in my 16 day and have gone through my first diatom bloom. I have a CUC in place and glad to know they are doing their job. Last night though, the lastest hitchhikers I've noticed are what i believe to be small flatworms. They are about an 1/8 of an inch or smaller and are on my substrate and front glass. They have the typical identifying characteristic of three lobes at the tail end. The color is a deep yellowish to brown. After doing some research, I am leaning towards Red Planaria, but still unsure. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture to share, but I could post one up later tonight.
I was planning of adding my first fish sometime soon. I hear that some wrasses could eat these critters. I didn't plan on having any wrasses, but if they could naturally help out controlling these, I don't mind getting them. I have read about FLATWORM EXIT, and could go that route if indeed these are bad worms to have in my system. Should I wait on introducing any fish at this point?
So far, I have only seen no more than 4-5 of these flatworms, but I have a feeling there are more.
__________________ Red Sea Max 34gal
3 gal Tom Deco pico tank New to SW
a six line wrasse will probably make short work of them. i took mine about 2 weeks to destroy the population, but then he took a ride down the overflow and into the sump ... where he resides today. i have a mandarin in the DT now and he is also keeping them in check. i would not suggest a mandarin for a new tank though, so go with the six line wrasse.
__________________ Bobby
"I FORMERLY glued animals to rocks" NO TANK RIGHT NOW, but you never know when I might throw one together !! I have everything I need but the time!!
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About how big will a six line get? I only have a 34 gal at the time although I have a feeling I will outgrow this in a year or two and upgrade to a much bigger one as my family gets exciting about this awesome hobby.
__________________ Red Sea Max 34gal
3 gal Tom Deco pico tank New to SW
Do you feel comfortable adding a chemical to your tank? Many people have use FWE sucessfully, but others have had issues (probably because they didn't follow the directions). I have never used it, but it seems to work well based on feedback I've seen.
The thing with Sixlines is that there are no guarantees it will eat the flatworms. I've had a Sixline for almost three years and I have never seen any flatworms. My Six is one of my favorite fish, but he has also been a bully from time to time.
I know it is a hit or miss in going with a natural predator. I have introduced a peppermint shrimp to battle early stages of aiptasia and it has done a fantastic job. He took care of it all as of now.
I would prefer going the natural way and actually don't mind getting a sixline, although it wasn't on my list of fish to get. I have seen more and more of these flatworms on my LR and substrate. Some of them actually have not even moved for like a day in the front of my display, just above the sand, and on the glass.
__________________ Red Sea Max 34gal
3 gal Tom Deco pico tank New to SW
If the sixline isn't on your want list for fish I would not add it. They can be very difficult to remove unless you can trap them. I would try the FWE and see if does what you want. Then at least you wont have to remove all the rock and drain some water to catch a fish.
I agree with John, you will never catch a sixline in a tank full of LR. My sixline is also one of my favorite fish but it bullied my C. argi (first new fish in at least 18 months) for about 3 weeks after I put it in the tank. I occasionally see a flatworm in my fuge but I have never seen them in my DT.
Well, after visiting my LFS, I took a close look at some sixline wrasses. The outcome - I walked out of there with one. They convinced me to try the wrasse rather than applying chemicals to my tank. If it becomes a major problem later, then deal with it then.
Seems like my sixline is picking away some from rocks, but won't come near the front of my display. I guess i will just have to manually remove them buggers on my next water change.
I'm glad I got the sixline, indeed it is a cool fish. Naturally, he spends most of the time going in and out of all the caves and holes in my aquascape as I have read these fish spend lots of time hiding, but yet very active.
I do want to introduce some more fish, probably my first pair of clowns (how original huh...lol). How long should I wait before I do this? A day, a week, 2 weeks?
__________________ Red Sea Max 34gal
3 gal Tom Deco pico tank New to SW
I would recommend buying a cheap 10 gallon setup and using this for a QT tank. This is the single most important thing you can do for the health of your reef. If you don't sooner or later you will introduce parasites or disease into your tank and you will have a far more difficult battle on your hands. Here is an article Reefreaders - Quarantine Now! that tells how to set up a QT tank. I QT everything.
Most definitely. I have already bought myself a 10gal AGA, lighting system and HOB filter. I plan on moving some rock from my main display over to the 10gal. Initially, I wanted to convert my small 10gal FW to SW, but my 7yr old daughter wants that little setup as her display. Thanks for your input.
__________________ Red Sea Max 34gal
3 gal Tom Deco pico tank New to SW
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They convinced me to try the wrasse rather than applying chemicals to my tank. If it becomes a major problem later, then deal with it then.