Red Planaria FW and Ostreopsis at the same time

[Leyth]

Hey all, I am curious how you all would deal with these 2 toxic invaders at the same time. It feels like a fix for one, ends up feeding the other and I am not sure how to deal with it.

The tank is 300 gallons

Nitrates: 20ppm
Phosphate: .1
Calc: 410
Alk: 9.0
Mag: 1315
57W UV sterilizer running in the display 24/7
Carbon running 24/7
GFO hooked up but not running
Skimmer running dry 24/7
Light period is 6 hours, actinic only right now
ALOT of rockwork
1" sand bed

Inhabitants:
5 Springeri Damsels
5 Chromis
1 Royal Gramma
2 Clown fish
1 Blue hippo tang
1 Gem tang
1 Cleaner shrimp
8 Anemone's and a bunch of coral

I have flatworm exit, but I'm afraid to use it because the infestation of red planaria is massive. I am afraid of killing in the inhabitants. I managed to knock the dinos back by doing a 2 day blackout. I ended up with massive amounts of GHA, which was expected. However, now the dinos is coming back. If I dose good bacteria or add pods, it fuels the red planaria flatworms so I feel like I can't fully attack the dinos.

I setup a 100 gallon holding tank and I was planning on removing a lot of the rock and treating it with flatworm exit in the holding tank. Or, just removing a lot of the rock work and go for a minimal look(getting flow everywhere has been tough with this much rock). I can't decide what to do and have no idea what the best approach would be here. In the 10+ years of reef keeping, this is the closest I've been to wanting to restart or just quit, but I'm stubborn so here I am hoping you'd help me.

 

[Troylee]

If you use the exit I’d advise a good water change and be ready to siphon out as much dead worms as possible.. run some carbon so that’s eliminated and it’s time to deal with the Dino’s..

 

[Dburr1014]

Can you syphone out the RP as much as you can with a WC? Then knock them out. Won't be as much toxic.

 

[lapin]

I would look into getting a wrasse for long term worm management. They will hunt all day.

 

[stupidfishguy]

I use a siphon into a filter sock in my sump. Once a week before my water change I siphon as many as possible. I just use 3/8” tubing with a 1/4” shoved inside so I can get into the rock work crevices.

 

[Leyth]

I use a siphon into a filter sock in my sump. Once a week before my water change I siphon as many as possible. I just use 3/8” tubing with a 1/4” shoved inside so I can get into the rock work crevices.

So you just siphon straight into a mesh filter sock in the sump? Does that siphon create enough pull to pull them off the rocks?

Edit: I have 3/8" tubing, what is the 1/4" piece that I would need?

 

[Rjukan]

So you just siphon straight into a mesh filter sock in the sump? Does that siphon create enough pull to pull them off the rocks?

Edit: I have 3/8" tubing, what is the 1/4" piece that I would need?

Yeah, it's plenty.. they aren't really holding on that tightly. I had a massive infestation years ago, and using a rigid 1/4" tube connected to airline tubing down to a mesh bag in the sump worked great. I tried that nudi in my pfp, which was cool and he was super fat and happy, but was just too slow for a 75g on his own.

 

[Troylee]

So you just siphon straight into a mesh filter sock in the sump? Does that siphon create enough pull to pull them off the rocks?

Edit: I have 3/8" tubing, what is the 1/4" piece that I would need?

Correct… the 1/4” tubing is just to get into smaller crevices it’s not a must.. even a turkey baster would work to blow them off the rock into the water and siphon out into a sock if you wanna go that route.

 

[Leyth]

awesome, thanks for the advice. I will give it a shot before doing anything drastic then.

 

[Sump Crab]

Idk about algae but a melanarus wrasse eats red planaria 100% of the time IME.

 

[stupidfishguy]

I have a Melanarus wrasse and he eats some but not a large quantity of red planaria. So be cautious thinking this is a cure.

 

[Sump Crab]

I have a Melanarus wrasse and he eats some but not a large quantity of red planaria. So be cautious thinking this is a cure.

This has not been my experience, largest tank was only 120 though. Been using melanarus as red planaria control for around 15 years. They have always brought planaria down to unnoticeable levels in DT although I'll still have them in refugium. Your mileage may vary.

 

[stupidfishguy]

I don’t see a population explosion in my tank, but I also vacuum them up weekly in conjunction with the wrasse. I just didn’t want people to believe it’s an absolute cure all. Every fish like every person is different.

 

[Sump Crab]

I don’t see a population explosion in my tank, but I also vacuum them up weekly in conjunction with the wrasse. I just didn’t want people to believe it’s an absolute cure all. Every fish like every person is different.

It's always interesting to hear others people's experiences. I've had around 4 or 5 different melanarus wrasse over the past 15 years and each one has decimated the red planaria in my DTs to unnoticeable levels. I think the odds are pretty good a melanarus wrasse will work most of the time, some fish may be slackers though!

 

[Brian S]

+1 for the tail-spot wrasse, Halichoeres melanurus

Siphoning didn't work for me

 

[Leyth]

lol this is hilarious, this siphon trick vacuums them right up. It’s kind of therapeutic lol.

I had a melanrus wrasse but he didn’t do much, my infestation may have been too bad by the time I added him. I returned him but maybe I should’ve kept him for keeping them at bay once I get them under control.

 

[Leyth]

So I siphoned for a couple hours yesterday, then hit the tank with flatworm exit. I used the entire bottle(300-350 gallons of water volume). I then ran 6 cups of carbon in two canisters. This morning I don’t see a single flatworm and everyone’s alive. Corals are opened back up already as well.

The infestation seemed pretty bad but I guess my water volume gave me some breathing room.

Thanks everyone for your advice and help on this, I really appreciate it.