FWE -- WTH izit?

[Whys]

Rock soup?

I have so many questions about this product it's hard to recollect them all.

First of all, does it actually work, or is the mind a powerful thing?

Step 1, remove as many flatworms as you can stand. Step 2, now remove all the flatworms you can actually see. Step 3, keep your fuge dark for a few days to draw them out and remove them. Step 4, dose. Step 5, flow treatment into crevasses with a powerhead. Step 6, remove dead flatworms. Step 7, remove flatworms still living. Step 8, and this is the really important one, spend the next 3 weeks dosing 3 times while inspecting your tank every couple of hours for as long as it takes to find the tiniest splinter of a flatworm and tediously remove them from even the most difficult to reach locations. Step 9, repeat step 3. Step 10, repeat steps 1 thru 9 until you manage to remove every last flatworm by hand. Step 11, pray they aren't hiding in your overflow. Step 12, tell others that Flatworm Exit rid your tank of flatworms.

Secondly, what is this stuff made of and what effect does it have on my tank inhabitants? I realize it's likely a Salifert trade secret, but I don't know, aren't the ingredients kind of important? It's not just the toxic fluids from the flatworms. My brittle and baby stars hate this stuff. No, doesn't kill them, or at least not directly. On the other hand, I have lost a few baby stars to equipment and scavengers while they were in their altered state. Plus, as a matter of compassion, it looks like a miserable experience for them.

Thirdly, does it break down naturally or does activated carbon remove FWE from the water? The directions say to use a pound of carbon, but it does not clarify if that is purely for the flatworm toxins, or to also remove the treatment from the water. Isn't this kind of an important point?

Fourth, what else does this stuff kill? They say reef safe, but that doesn't really tell me if all my ostracods will live or what less essential micro-organisms might die.

Fifth, what is it doing? From the stars reactions, it looks like nerve poison. If I knew what it was doing, I might have some idea as to why some flatworms always seem to survive.

Sixth, why do some flatworms always seem to survive?

Seventh, do increased dosages have an increased impact, or does it just make us feel better because of these frustrations?

Rock soup!

 

[Fragman2]

Buy a six line wrasse or a pair if you have a large tank. Mandarin Gobies will also eat the small ones. It will take some time but you won't have to pollute your tank and run the risk of poisoning everything with dying flatworms and the toxins that they release.

 

[Whys]

Fish aren't reliable in this regard. Plus a wrasse requires trade offs. They'll eat any crustacean they can fit their mouth around, including hermits.

One more question that I had forgot...

Are we as hobbyists helping to breed a resistant strain of flatworm? Our use of FWE does not seem unlike our use of penicillin. Eventually, only the resistant survive and populate our tanks? Is this perhaps the reason FWE doesn't work 100% effectively? Or has it always been this way?

 

[Whys]

Don't all answer at once.

Wow, it's becoming clear to me now. FWE would indeed seem to be a "product of faith", so to speak.

 

[ctenophors rule]

well, when we treat anything, their is the possibility of a mutation leading to a resistant strain, however i am under the impression that mutations woul occur more often with diseases and bacteriu m, just because ther are more of them in contact with the chemical.

also, mutations are funny things, a mutation could occur in a flat worm in the middle of the ocean, and then , apon entering your tank via coral, it is FWE resistant, even without ever being exposed to it.


good question though, hope to hear some responses from people better educated in this field than i am.

g-c a-u a-t u-a right?

 

[KarlBob]

Sure, in theory we could accidentally develop and propagate FWE-resistant flatworms.

 

[dudley moray]

as with anything you look to erradicate with chemicals there is always the risk of producing resistance there are humans resistant to cancer out there !!! there are only two ways to deal with flatworms and one is like stated above find the predator(s) of said flatworms "nature always provides the antidote" you just have to know where to look the other less problematic is and i am choking on these words live with them .... i bought a spotted mandarin he eats them but they number in the 1000 's . other fish eat them but only as the opportunity arises like the leopard wrasse 6and 4 lined wrasses also eat them but not exclusively .
i've had these same concerns months ago that chemicals will affect our reefs negatively maybe not today but it will what is your advise on red slime remover don't use it fix the problem don't medicate. well i feel the only answer here is do not medicate the ocean doesn't ... unless i can see undeniable fact the these treatments don't negatively affect any tank inhabitant nor create resistant animals or end up in the same pickle as penicilin i won't use them the only other option would be to start from scratch tear down the entire system and use better qt tactics nbut i'm sure no one wants to do that . live with them or help us find a flatworm predator the feeds exclusively on them and share that info !