Flatworm Exit

[JxMetal]

Well, it looks like I've got some red flatworms. For about the past 2 to 3 months I've had one colony of zoos that have seemed very bothered. Rarely opening up. I took a look yesterday and noticed some little creatures on them a redish/brown color so I touched it and it moved. I poked it and got it out of the water and into some light so I could examine it. Then to the internet I went. Searching sight after sight until I found what I was looking for. Nidbranch? nope. Snail? nope. Red flatworm? About 95% sure. I went to look today and there they all are. On the rocks and on the glass. I never noticed it since all my corals are so healthy seeming and growing like crazy. Except for the single colony of zoos.

So I read about what I can do. It looks like 50/50 for a 6 line wrasse getting rid of these. Blue velvet nudibranch seem pretty sure-fire, but for $30-$40. Then it will die once the flatworms are gone. Lastly, Flatworm Exit. But still $20-30. I only have a 30 gallon tank so I'd only need a few drops.

Now I'm asking if anyone here has some Flatworm Exit that I can buy or rent out. I'm hoping some one up here in north county has some, but I guess the drive is worth it rather than paying up to $30. So if anyone has some Flatworm Exit to rent out, please let me know ASAP.

Thanks again.

 

[mpcart]

You'll need more than a few drops. Its unlikely that FWE will get all the flatworms in the first dose. You need to do several applications over a period of time to get rid of all of them.

Get rid of those flatworms early - the more you have, the more problems you can have with toxicity when they die.

Here is a great article.

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

-Mike

 

[Hobbes8017]

Call Chad at Gateway Aquatics... I was moving boxes the other day to build a shelf at the new store and saw that he had just gotten some in.

Dont know what the price is, but you might want to give him a shout.

 

[JxMetal]

Thanks hobbes.

mpcart - yea I read into that after posting. I misread the first time. Seems like I'll need about 60 drops. (2 doses)

 

[Letmegrow]

It kills them dead in one does, you just have to sipphon them out with 1/8" tubing before you dose to egt the obvios ones.

 

[dela]

Depending on how resistant they are (varies) you may need to whole thing. If you do it in a couple of doses (separated by a few days after running charcoal - this removes the FE, so you have to start over), then you can catch any stragglers as you DO NOT want any to survive and breed into are resistant strain.

I had to use Oomed as a 3rd dose to finish mine off.

 

[JxMetal]

I bought the FWE and was told to double ceck the critters before I do any meds on the tank. I got some good looks and it is definitly red planaria. i was told to look at the back end and it matches the exact description. So come Wednesday I will be treating the tank. I'll keep everyone posted on the journey.

 

[mpcart]

Do they look like this?

-Mike

 

[capncapo]

The color is about right BUT not enough detail in the photo to definitely say. Can you get a closeup picture of a single specimen?

 

[JxMetal]

yes they did look like that, but not nearly as many

 

[dphins]

This was my tank. Don't let anyone tell you that they are no big deal!

 

[dphins]

I had millions of them everywhere! And that's not coralline on the walls.

 

[JxMetal]

eww, makes me think that I'm being overly-worried. I have maybe 10 or so on each side of glass.

 

[mpcart]

Treat them now. They can multiply very fast and the sooner you get them the better.

-Mike

 

[gath2]

I had them for months and did not realize what they were. Follow the instructions with FWE and everything will be fine. Make sure you have plenty of flow and powerheads to get inside and around all the rocks. If you have low flow somewhere you may not kill them all. It took two treatments a week apart and I have not seen them since.

 

[rottielover]

OMG dphinsx2!!!

Talk about infestation!

How did you end up getting rid of all those? I would think FWE killing them all would have resulted in your water changing into toxic sludge in short order!

 

[tbrill]

FWE instructions say to skim heavily, which is appropriate, but do watch your skimmer for severe overflow after treatment. I overran about 20 gals of water from a 100 gal tank treating fw's. That compounded the problem to 1} a large mess, and
2} a huge drop in salinity

Fortunately all is well now, but do be careful, the name of this game is help others avoid the same mistakes we have made .

Good luck

 

[dphins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6839824#post6839824 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rottielover
OMG dphinsx2!!!

Talk about infestation!

How did you end up getting rid of all those? I would think FWE killing them all would have resulted in your water changing into toxic sludge in short order!

I quit for a year and started over when FWE first came out.

 

[JxMetal]

Alright, the FWE has been added. Before hand I siphoned about 50-75 out of the tank. At 4:50. After a couple minutes the little boogers came crawling out and shaking, then floated away (dead probably). I then put in a bunch of activated carbon.

This is really stressful, after reading so many horror stories about this.

 

[JxMetal]

Ok, I've changed out almost 20% of the water now, and everything is looking fine still.

Keep your fingers crossed.