Yikes on Flatworms and Neon Green Cyano

[aquaconnect]

Well guys, I've got the worst plague of flatworms you've ever seen in my 180gal. I've also got some of the weirdest cyano you've ever seen, it's neon green and will not go away. I'm at a loss on what exactly to do in all honesty. I will not use chemical treatments in the water as I'm too afraid to lose really expensive corals. The only thing I can think of is to set up a quarantine tank for all my expensive stuff, dip them and put them in the new system and tear down my 180gal and start over once it's re-established. And would this ever suck big time. Any input?

 

[Deadeye]

yikes, sounds like no fun. Hope everything works out, let me know if you need some grunt worker help.

 

[rottielover]

Hello, I've been visiting this forum because my brother (Deadeye) is on here. I'm from St. Louis, and I thought maybe I could be of some help...

I got flatworms in my 120 from some macro algea that I got (free of course) from another reefer here in the St. Louis area. I used "Flatworm eXit" per the directions and did not have any losses on any of my corals, inverts, or fish. However, I caution that you MUST follow the directions on the package EXACTLY, as flatworms will release a toxin when killed. You have to siphon the dead worms out ASAP and run heavy on the carbon, as well as making big water changes.

As far as the cyno goes, I've used "Red Slime Remover", and well as "Chemi-Clean" and I MUCH prefere ChemiClean over most of the other products. Again, if you follow the instuctions to the letter, you have little danger of losses.

With both problems at once, I think you'll have to be the judge on which "infection" needs to be cured first, as the treatments should probly not be done at the same time. In fact if it were me, I'd probably wait about a month in between to be sure.

So it's a matter of: Is the green slime (a form of the red stuff) smothering your corals, or are the flatworms?

If your 100% against any "chemical" style treatments, I've read some posts here on Reef Central about certain wrasses that are supposed to eat flatworms, though that's probly a bit "hit and miss".

Hope that helps in some way.

 

[tbrill]

Flatworm exit works great, I have lot's of very large specimens and none were affected by this treatment, but as stated, follow directions. The secretion from dead flatworms is lethal.

The first time I used it, there were so many worms that when they immediately died, you could see the corals closing in reaction to the secretions. A quick water change, and then running carbon in a cannister filter took care of everything. I did, as many suggest, and treated a second time a week later to insure the infestation was controlled, there were a few worms left, but so few that the corals didn't seem to react at all. I didn't have to do a water change this time, just run the carbon in the cannister filter. All is well.

If I were in your situation, I think I would treat for the Flatworms immediately, then take care of the cyano later. I too have used Chemi clean and it worked great, with no adverse affect at all on the corals.

I understand trying to have the "no chemicals" approach, but these two treatments are safe and will get you quick results without all the trouble it sounds like your considering.

Good luck,

Tim

 

[DeLong20]

I also have tried the flatworm exit with excellent results. Like everyone before me has said, follow the directions to a t. Siphon out as many as possible before treatment. I treated my tank after 3 weeks of siphoning every other day. It totally sucked but well worth the effort. After treating the tank, I ran carbon just like the directions said and a water change later on that day and I haven't had any problems since. My 0.02

 

[DeLong20]

Oh and BTW, as you may know. Water changes were the only thing that got rid of my cyano.

 

[aquaconnect]

Weird thing about the cyano is I do 50gal water changes weekly and cannot get it to go away. That's the puzzling part.

 

[aquaconnect]

Well, I broke down and order a Deltec media reactor and am going to try rowa in it, 1liter verses 150ml of phosban to treat the cyano. I talked with the US Deltec owner about my problem, and he said rowa is much better and gave me some links to scientifically prove it. I also got a big dog deltec phosphate test kit and will be doing some experimenting myself and comparing results to the phosban. I plan of tearing the tank down, restack it and treat for flatworms in the process and let the deltec & rowa take care of the rest. Here's something I didn't know, but learned about rowa. The reason people bleach out sps and other corals when they switch to rowa, is because the water quality is so high and improved, the par rating changes and corals can bleach out. It's not something you see with the naked eye until after rowa has been running, but by then it's too late if you don't properly break in the rowa. So, I guess I will treat each rock w/flatworm exit, and dip my corals using Tropic Marin dip, then get the Deltec up and running. If it's as good as I've read, then everyone who has an algae problems should get one. I'll keep everyone posted since I'm taking the guinea pig approach!

 

[DeLong20]

Ah man I wished you mentioned that you needed a Phosphate kit. I bought the Deltec kit at ET's. You could of used it if you wanted.

 

[aquaconnect]

hey, i will take you up on that if you don't mind. i can call and cancel that order and save some green, and maybe hook you up on a frag. if you wouldn't mind, you could drop it off at fewells aquatics and i'll pick it up. i might keep it for a couple of weeks if you don't mind. let me know or pm me.

 

[Deadeye]

how much are they? Where did you order from?

 

[aquaconnect]

deltec.usa.us

$200 for reactor
$65 for media
$90 for test kit

 

[Deadeye]

Is that whats called the fluidized reactor?

 

[DeLong20]

No problem, I will e-mail or PM you when I get the chance to run it by.

 

[aquaconnect]

Cool, Doug over @ Deltec said it should arrive from Europe on Monday and he's shipping it out as soon as it's cleared by customs, so hopefully next Friday I'll have it. Thanks again!!!

 

[John Kelly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8313082#post8313082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aquaconnect
Here's something I didn't know, but learned about rowa. The reason people bleach out sps and other corals when they switch to rowa, is because the water quality is so high and improved, the par rating changes and corals can bleach out. It's not something you see with the naked eye until after rowa has been running, but by then it's too late if you don't properly break in the rowa.

That can happen just by running more carbon also, or ozone, or a uv filter. I use a full 250ml container of rowa on my 75; plus a sh1tload of carbon and other filter media. I used to have to clean the glass about once every three days, but now its about once every two weeks. It will be interesting to see if the deltec and rowa gets rid of the green stuff.

John at Cichlids and Salt used to run a uv filter on his tanks when they were full of red slime cyano. I don't know if that is what eventually got rid of it or maybe he dosed some red slime remover also.

 

[aquaconnect]

Well all, I tore down the reef yesterday, restacked and treated LR for flatworms, as well as the coral. I didn't replace the sandbed like I was orginally going to. I still of coarse have flatworms, but now it's undercontral enough that I will treat the entire tank in about a week or so. Also, I scrubbed the green cyano off and most came off during the power blasting during the flatworm exit treatment. I should have the deltec w/Rowa by next Friday. Once I get it hooked up, I'll put out some info on it.