Rare request for help!!!

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I don't often ask for help, but I'm going crazy here, lol. In my 75g seahorse tank I have literally MILLIONS of white flatworms. I can not get rid of them for anything. I have tried the flatworm exit at 3X the rec. dosage. It kills some, but never all of them. Within a week or 2 they are twice as bad as before. The do not hurt anything, just cover the glass and annoy the crap out of me. Because this is a seahorse tank a wrass is out of the question. I have been looking high and low for a velvet nudibranch, but nobody has them instock. $$ is not a concern at this point, that's how frustrated I am. They say the velvet nudibranches usually end up starving once they consume all of the flatworm. Not a problem here since my other tank has them as well. I'll just alternate tanks. While the nudi is in one, they will be reproducing in the other, lol. I've also heard that mandarins SOMETIMES eat them but I'm not willing to risk it's life if it doesn't. (pods are consumed by the flatworms so not enough for the mandarin)

Anyone have one they want to get rid of or know an online retailer who has them in stock? I'm more then willing to pay $50.00 shipping for a $20.00 nudibranch. I've had it!!!!

Thanks a million,
Angie

[greg97527]

the spotted mandarin will eat them and i will be looking for a blue velvet for you. if you go with a spotted, when he is done in your tanks i would buy him and pay shipping and he would be happy in my tank....lots o pods :)

[melev]

The white ones are benign. They do no harm, but can be an eyesore. Siphoning them out daily for 14 days before treating the tank should really hit them pretty hard.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Thanks Melev

I have siphoned them out for months. I even hooked up a siphon tube to my algae scraper so they would get sucked up everyday when I cleaned the glass. All that did was go thru a 200g bucket of salt quick..............But the flatworms are still there. Oooohhhh I hate flatworms.

[at]

six-line wrasse ate the red ones I had

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I don't want to put a six line wrass into my seahorses tank. Otherwise that would have been a good choice.

FINALLY.... I found a blue velvet nudibranch. It is sucking them up like a vacuum. When it's done with the main tank I will move it to the sump. I also took a large bunch of macros from the main tank and added it to a 10g tank. I "hope" the flatworms overtake the 10g tank so I can move the nudi to the 10g once it completes it's job in my main tank and sump. I don't want it to starve. I can't believe I'm "culturing" flatworms in their own special tank......geesh, It's helping me out so I kinda feel I owe it a constant food supply, lol. If it lives that long anyways. They are not know to live long lives. not sure if it's due to their food supply in the aquarium running out or what, we'll have to wait and see.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

oh...and I did get a spotted mandarine. She does NOT eat the flatworms at all. She does however eat the normal diet of amphipods and copepods. There are plenty in there for her. I also culture copepods for my seahorse fry, so she will never run out.

[Reef_Angel]

One thing about the Seahorse is.... they are dirty little buggers! They make lots of mess, and the flatworms can be a horrible disadvantage in a pony tank because they love all the leftovers! Siphon, siphon, siphon!! In their defense...(and not in huge amounts...don't get me wrong here) they do make a great clean up crew if you happen to over feed your ponies! They will multiply profusely if you overfeed. I have trained my "only and original pony's" to eat from a dish which has reduced the number of flatworms greatly. They eventually starve out if they don't have a lot of detritus to keep them happy. Those dead ones will be laying on the surface of your sand bed, and will need to be sucked out of the tank as well to prevent pollution of the tank. You can best gauge your ponies well being by healthy looking bodies, so use caution in spoiling & overfeeding these guys! ....Angel