Flatworm infested live rock and sand

[Navyblue]

It's one hour now and FW are still actively crawling around in double dose of FWE.

I have added 8 more times of recommended dosage that puts it at a total of 10 times the recommended dosage. Will update you guys in an hour time.

 

[Navyblue]

I treated my snails, serpent star, and brittle star. As I seem to see a FW attached on the brittle star.

The serpent star is lethargic now.

The brittle star curls up like it is begging to die.

I can't tell of the snails and corals are happy or not.

There is also a bristle worm stinking its head out.

I feel really bad now for causing this.

I have moved the snails and the stars and slowly dilute the medication, and acclimate them to the new tank. I can only hope that they were able to make it, and the FW doesn't make it there.

The FW are still crawling after 1 hour in 2x dose and another hour in 10x dose.

 

[Navyblue]

The brittle star loses a good amount of legs.

The serpent star and cerith snails hadn't move for quite a while.

Nassarius snail seems happy enough.

What should I do with the corals?

The flatworms are still crawling, but somewhat less actively.

 

[melev]

Why don't you blow them off the critters and move them to a healthy container of water?

 

[Navyblue]

The snails made it to the new tank and they seemed happy.

The serpent start still hadn't moved.

The brittle star moved a little, but it doesn't look good.

For corals that is attached to liverock I've take them out, submerged the liverocks in freshwater with the coral staying above the water line, for about 10 minutes or so. I don't know what it would do to the corals, but it seems like the best could thought of at that moment.

I have some mushrooms that I can't do the same trick on them. But they do seem to look alright. Right now they are more than 13 hours in the soup and I don't seem to be seeing a moving flat worm. The hitchhiker stars and the brittle stars in the liverocks seem to be all dead. Some worms are dead too. I guess I'll start to acclimate them to my new tank, hopefully none of the flatworms made it.

Just hope that my brittle star and serpent star will recover.

 

[MrPike]

I have used flatworm exit at many many times greater dosage then recommended. It, by itself, doesnt appear to have any affect on anything other then flatworms. It is most likely the toxic compounds found inside the flatworms that are causing the livestock unhappiness that you are observing. It is amazing how potent it is. When you siphon them out of your aquarium, take a quick smell of the bucket and it will nearly knock you over.

What you need to do is dose your entire system with FWE, then get a natural predator to keep those that survive in check. The wrasses that were mentioned above, or green mandarins if you also have decent copopod populations.

The freshwater dip is in my opinion, a really bad idea.

 

[Navyblue]

I'll be keeping quite a few shrimps, I wonder how will the shrimps like the wrasses? Also what about a longnose hawkfish?

 

[Navyblue]

The snails and the brittle star already behaving normal now in my new tank, where as the serpent star seems to be recovering, looks like all of them are going to make it.

 

[Navyblue]

Just an update guys. I have then treat the remaining liverocks with straight with a 10x dose. After a 15 minutes or so, the water turned visibly yellow, I guess it has to be the flatworms melting. Whereas the flat worms are still crawling around for hours in my previous treatment. I wonder if the earlier low dose served as an "acclimation" and made the flatworms more resistant to the FWE.

 

[chevegan]

My 6-line loves them wish I still had some in the tank

 

[amike5]

I am sure it did make them more resistant, that was my problem in using FWE. I think their recommended dosage is way too low to knock them all out from the start.