[asmith]

We are attempting to rid our tank of flatworms and have heard that this is the best way to do it. I have heard that it is reef safe, but I want to double check. Have any of you used it? If so did it work?

Thanks in advance,
Andrew

[asmith]

^

[David]

I too am suffering from pleneria infestation and I have also heard that Oomed can be helpful. Everyone seems to agree that it is reef safe so that's not my concern. I was told that there is a technique involving Oomed and darkness, maybe someone out there knows of this? Also, what about dosages? Follow directions? Same questions as above- has anyone tried it and does it work?

[Ninong]

As long as you are aware of the consequences of using Oomed, I guess it's OK. Just be prepared to siphon out the dead planaria immediately and completely. You might also want to run carbon or a poly filter just as an extra safety measure.

The toxic fluids that dying planaria release can cause your entire tank to crash in no time at all if left unattended. That is why it is considered risky business to use Oomed, or any medication that results in a sudden die off of the entire flatworm population.

So I guess the answer is that while Oomed is reef-safe, dying planaria are not.

Ninong

[asmith]

Thanks Ninong. I knew about the problems with the dead planaria. We just moved our tank 200 miles and dipped all of our live rock in fresh water before loading it into buckets. That killed off most of them, but there are still a bunch of them. We are prepared to syphon out as many as possible, will run Carbon and a polyfilter, and we will do several good sized water changes to reduce the toxins in the water. Wish us luck.

Andrew

[GreenLincoln]

Please repeat after me: "I will not put meds in my reef tank."

I have read from many sources that planaria usually burn themselves out. The hard part is waiting, and it can look somewhat yucky while they are thriving. But in 3-4 months, they will disappear.

HTH

[asmith]

Greenlincoln.

I have always been against using any meds in my tank as well. However we have been battling these things for over a year now and they are reproducing faster than we can remove them. We don't feed the tank much at all and our six line wrasse could not even put a dent in the population. We figured that since we dipped the rock and killed a buch of them that now is the time to finish them off. I don't want to let the population grow as large as it did. Literally everything in the tank was red because of these things. It took us awhile to figure out what they were because there were so many of them that they formed a mat all over the tank. We thought they were cyano untill we were able to isolate a couple and study them up close. We need to do something about them now before the population explodes. Once we get rid of them we won't medicate the tank again. We will just make sure we dip all of our new coral additions before adding them to the tank (The planaria were introduced with a yellow leather).

Andrew

[David]

OK, I too think that no meds is good meds and believe me, Oomed is the LAST thing I will try. However, as for the "wait" approach... Several months ago I contacted Fernando Nostropar here in San Diego at Scripp's Institute. He said that they have had flatworm problems at Scripps but that they eventually go away. So I waited. Six months. Asmith has waited a year. Scripp's runs an open system, we do not. I have several tanks and noticed that my biggest probem was in my highest nutrient tank, so I removed all fish, corals and inverts (and stopped feeding) two months ago. There has been no change, the pleneria are going wild. Tomorrow I am going to do a 90% water change and siphon out every one I can get. If that doesn't work I will either try the Oomed or break down the tank. I have them in other tanks too but they are under control, ...for now.

[GreenLincoln]

I am typing this with rubber gloves on because I don't want to get the "cooties" from you guys! Just kidding. I once saw a couple of planaria on a rock of a newly introduced tonga leather...I just smashed them with my fingers and never saw another one.

I was just wondering if there might be some type of environment that planaria thrive....I use a skimmer quite heavily....do you guys with planaria problems use a skimmer? Perhaps it's some other factor that you share, which I don't have. Would be curious to try and narrow it down a little.

Anyway, I feel for you guys!!! Sorry this has happened to your tanks, and good luck in your efforts to get rid of the little buggers.

[asmith]

The more I think about it the more convinced I am that I know what was helping them thrive. Before our move last week we were using a plenum in our tank. I think it was storing nutrients and continually releasing them into the water thus providing them with an unlimited supply of food. We replaced the Plenum with a 6 inch SD sand bed so hopefully that will help reduce their food supply.

Andrew