Treated with flatworm exit last night...

Snakebyt

Snakebyt

New member
Treated my tank with flatworm exit last night, nuked TONS of them little buggers. This morning i still see a few of them on the glass. How long should i wait to treat again, i want to make sure i get them ALL. should i wait a week? 2 weeks?
 
I believe the instructions say 7 days. You can always siphon out any stragglers immediately.
 
thanks for the response Marc, I know if there are some that i can see, there are other survivors that i cant see
 
well yesterday everything was looking pretty good, some zoas were not opening like they should, but i wasnt too worried, but this morning i get up and everything looks like crap, no zoas are opening, my monti caps are starting to turn white, my acans and blasto look like crap, none of the sps look good...
2 Fish are missing...
preparing another water change as we speak, but the outcome dosent look good
 
Did you run carbon, your skimmer and do a water change of any kind?

That is a very atypical result. You should post in the Salifert forum immediately for advice.
 
i ran carbon for about 12 hours, and then changed it out with fresh carbon, and am still running it. Ran the skimmer a little wet, pulled out a gallon of stuff in less than 24 hours. Did a 30 gallon water change (total system volume is about 150)

I did another 30 gallon WC today, I also took most all corals that i could over to a friends tank hoping to save all that i can. I know it is stressful to move them like that, but i had to try somthing.
 
That really doesn't make a lot of sense to me, unless you killed millions in the system. Were you siphoning out the ones that died as they died? That's how I've always done it, and explained as much on my site.
 
i syphoned out ALOT of them as they were dying. I am sure that there were some in the rocks and in places that i couldnt get to.
Just suprised me that in the morning stuff looked pretty good, and within 24 hours it went downhill.

Could the ones that i didnt get to syphon out still be releasing toxins? Decaying and fouling the water? I know that 2 fish dying fouled it a bit, but not that bad..

Ill know more in the morning when the lights come on ..Also anxious to see how the corals that i moved are doing
 
well i am hoping that i dont lose alot, but i will have to wait and see.. ill wait till the morning and see how stuff looks, if i have to ill do another water change
 
it is looking a little better today, some of the corals that i still have in there are looking better. Still nowhere near 100% but some zoas are opening, a few mushrooms are starting to look better, but others arent.I may give it today and see what happens, and do another WC tommorow

Just noticed that my green bubble tip anemone moved down in the tank about 6 inches. I guess if it hasent croaked the water cant be too awefully bad.
 
I went to change carbon in my canister filter today, Its a Fluval canister filter, i noticed today the the white sponges had been turned solid ORANGE from the flatworm toxins. I went ahead and took them out, Also added a bag of chemi-pure.
I had LFS check a water sample, and they said that they water was fine, no detectable readings so maybe i am over the worst of it.. just need to give it more time i guess.
 
I bet that was the cause. The sponges were loaded up with flatworm toxin, and you didn't pull those out soon enough when you were running the carbon. I don't use any sponges at all. Carbon in a phosban reactor is what absorbs that toxin, and it can be removed and disposed quickly.

I'm really sorry your tank suffered losses. And I do think it is important to figure out what went wrong to help others avoid a similar outcome.
 
I think that the sponges had ALOT to do with it. When i was setting up the canister filter, it didnt even cross my mind to take them out. I was thinking of using a phosban reactor for carbon, but was afraid that it wouldnt hold enough carbon.
The tank is looking better, out of the zoas that i left in here, at least 80% of them are open, several mushrooms are looking almost 100%

I will defenatly know better now. Mistakes in this hobby can be costly, but I will defenatly learn from it.
Now to get ahold of my friend and see how my other corals are doing.

Thanks all for your support..
 
No problem. I hate reading bad reports when they occur, and try to help people avoid making mistakes when I can.

I'd do another water change in the next day or so, and replace the carbon one last time. Also, clean up your skimmer & pump extra well so that you are back in business, and you should be able to get back to the fun part of the hobby again.

If you do treat again in a few days, you won't have the same issue because the population has been depleted substantially. If you have time, try to siphon out all the ones you see daily to drop the numbers even more. Just make a Flatworm Vacuum like the one on my site.
 
FWIW the Kent Marine carbon says 1 cup is good for 100 gallons for 3 days

the 2 fishies reactor holds probably 10-12 cups I'd guess....
 
yeah, i was thinking that when i treat again, i shouldnt have any problems because there is only like 1/10 the population that was there the first time.
I have been syphoning out the ones i can get to, and will continue to do so..

One question for you though. The ones that die that i do not see or cannot get to. Do they continue to release toxins, or decay and foul the water?
 
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