Am I Sentenced To A Life Without Parole With These Flatworms?

[MJB]

slugs and flatworms

slugs and flatworms

Couple of other observations concerning these slugs and their prey. They do not seem to be particularly efficient and by this I mean their search seems to be somewhat random. I am guessing that thay are only marginally chemotactic at best (compared to say serpent stars or nassarius snails etc. that react instantly when food hits the water) and rely on shear numbers of prey to keep them well fed. Interestingly enough, the planaria really boogie out of the way when the slugs start plowing through them . Don't know if this is a mechano, chemo, or possiblly phototactic response (to the big shadow bearing down on them). In any case this suggests to me that as the number of flatworms is reduced, encounter rates will be reduced as well and then it boils down to how long can the slug go on searching before it starves to death. It only takes a couple of worms hiding in some crevice in the rock work to start the population explosion again. Nothing scientific here but its an interesting sideline that seems more annoying because the flatworms are so damned ugly.------Mark

 

[Breef]

This last post brings me back to thinking that there may be a use in the reaction that I had and them{F.W.}disappearing when I had the preticipation in my tank from the addition of a bit too much lime.It has been at least two months and I have noticed no additional flatworms in my tank.They were at the verge on overpopulation when it happened.Although they hadn't gotten to the point where I would have syphoned any.I do have a goodly variety of invertebrae and fish in my tank and they were entirely uneffected by the event.My water parameters are also in line.I do know that if I ever acquire the flatworms again,I will attempt the same erradicationt to confirm the event.Any technique that is helpful in our hobby is an advantage.

 

[smiller]

Dr. Ron,

Let's back up for a minute to the Oomed option. Whem you use this on a tank and it causes death of some of the other tank life, is it the Oomed itself or the poisoning of the water from the dead planaria? My thought was to use it when the planaria population was as close to zero as possible. Just a thought.

Thought #2:

As the slugs are reluctant to climb the rock would the flatworms simply multiply fast enough there to be periodically blown off to the sand and keep one of them alive?

[Edited by smiller on 05-23-2001 at 11:58 AM]

 

[rshimek]

Hi,

I can't help here. I don't know the mode of mortality from the Oomed treatment. The incidental mortality of other things may well be due to toxins released from the dying flatworms. If a tank is treated, which is then followed by a massive water change, followed by heavy skimming and carbon treatment, would there be any non-worm mortality?

I don't know.

 

[MJB]

water parameters

water parameters

Breef, I'll direct this to you since you refered to my post but it is a general comment. I haven't been on the boards all that long but when I found the flatworms in my systems I did a search. It turns out that at least anecdotally your observation about the precip. is interesting. I think you'll find that several people have reported the disappearence of flatworms when water params. got out of whack. Tank temp. soars to 95 degrees ....no more flatworms, raised my dKh to 5.5.......no more flatworms. Overdosed with lime..... no more flatworms. How is this helpful? Someone will no doubt find out, maybe you. Enjoy----------Mark

 

[Agu]

"...is it the Oomed itself or the poisoning of the water from the dead planaria."

I've been trying to figure that out myself. Since I can't here's the scenario as best as I recall.

The tank (180)was treated with the prescribed dosage at 6pm. Oomed was added by pouring it into the pump intake area of the sump and returned to the tank through two returns. I never did observe the floating dying flatworms that some people reported. It was more like they disappeared. The next morning everything appeared to be fine so I left for work. At lunch time when I checked the tank the fish, esp the yellow tang, were very agitated. Closer inspection revealed that a large trumpet with about 25 polyps had melted down. Also, about four small sps in various areas of the tank were completely bleached. The corals were removed and water tested. Measurable ammonia was detected, I don't recall how much, but enough to be a problem. I immediatelly aborted the treatment, added carbon and polyfilter to the system, and did a 30 gal water change. (did all this in an hour lunch break, obviously I didn't get to eat).

After work when I checked the tank the yellow tang was dead as were a couple of more sps, and the fish were obviously in distress. Ammonia had doubled in the past four hours. Since I had no more ro/di water I went to the LFS and picked up "ammolock" and dechlorinator. After two more 30 gal water changes I went to bed fearing the worst. The next morning things looked ok, and by noon everything was out and about, including some flatworm .

Originally I assumed the flatworms poisoned the tank. After further reflection, the dying trumpet which was in the direct flow from one of the returns, could have been killed by the poorly diluted Oomed. That in conjunction with the dying flatworms probably pushed the whole system over the edge.

The aftermath was almost as bad, my previously healthy powder blue developed ick, infected all his stressed out tankmates, and in a month all but one firefish died or disappeared.

I've come to appreciate flatworms as "diversity" .

Agu

 

[moses]

Hey Smiller,

I have no idea where Cedar Creek Lake, TX is, but if it is anywhere near Houston, TX I would be more than happy to borrow / purchase your flatworm eating slugs.

My 72 gallon has begun to look like it is being invaded by an army of little orange boxes. Also there are several others in the Houston area that have flatworm problems as well. Maybe we could keep those slugs of yours alive after all. Please let me know.

Based on Agu's horror story above, I will never dose Oomed...it just ain't worth that kind of pain.

As for a FW dip, it might be OK, one LFS does that here in Houston for all incoming corals... However he does NOT use HOT tap water. To me that is insane! Instead he uses tank temperature RO/DI water. I think the osmotic pressure from freshwater alone causes the flatworm to pop to death. However that critical flaw with this method is that it cannot used on a sand bed, as it will destroy all of the sandbed's fauna in addition to the flat worm, thereby rendering the important filter in the tank useless.

Darren

 

[smiller]

moses,

I'm about an hour east of Dallas, not exactly close to Houston. If anyone in the Dallas area would like to work a deal on passing these around please get in touch with me. My flatworm population is running low. I do not want to ship them.