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beerking
10/19/2009, 06:42 PM
I lost a leopard wrasse which must've been keeping my flatworm population in check. I just noticed a lot of flatworms in my tank and have decided to dose my tank. The display tank holds 225 gallons of water, but with all the rock and livestock that number has to be closer to 150g. I was wondering if the best approach to dosing would be to add 150 drops to the display and let it circulate for an hour or so. Assuming the treatment proceeds to work, open up the rest of the loop to the other 150g (from sump and fuge) and then add the carbon. Run this for a day or so and do a sizeable water change 30% or so. Does this seem to be the best way to do this?

reefbro
10/19/2009, 08:21 PM
I have used turkey baster in the past. Depends how infested. I try to stay away from the chems.

bertoni
10/19/2009, 10:32 PM
Do you have the red flatworms? Flatworm Exit is targeted at Convolutrilova retrogemma, and might not work against other species. If you decide to use it, I'd suggest following the instructions carefully. I wouldn't improve with it since the flatworms release a lot of toxin as they decay. Have plenty of water on hand for changes, and lots of fresh carbon at hand.

beerking
10/20/2009, 12:53 PM
yes I have the red flatworms. I've been siphoning them out and doing some dips (into a bucket with flatworm exit) with the colonies I can pull out. Just how toxic are the little buggers? Is 30% gonna be enough of a water change? And how long should I wait to perform the water change? I don't want to do the water change too soon and then they release their toxins after I've done it....

bertoni
10/20/2009, 03:36 PM
I think the directions say to start carbon about 15 minutes after dosing. I'd stick to that. For the water changes, I'd start after that, when I thought the flatworms were starting to decay in significant numbers. Maybe 20-30 minutes? I was very careful when I used the stuff to siphon out as many flatworms as possible before dosing.

I also found that a second dose about 4 days later was necessary to exterminate them. My theory was that the eggs survive the treatment.

This treatment is significantly dangerous, so I'd advise lots of care and attention to detail in its use.

beerking
10/20/2009, 04:49 PM
I think the directions say to start carbon about 15 minutes after dosing. I'd stick to that. For the water changes, I'd start after that, when I thought the flatworms were starting to decay in significant numbers. Maybe 20-30 minutes? I was very careful when I used the stuff to siphon out as many flatworms as possible before dosing.

I also found that a second dose about 4 days later was necessary to exterminate them. My theory was that the eggs survive the treatment.

This treatment is significantly dangerous, so I'd advise lots of care and attention to detail in its use.

How fast can they reproduce? I am using the siphon and getting as many as I can, but I can't be sure what's under the rockwork. If I dose the tank and they release too many toxins, what livestock is at risk? Is it just fish and inverts, or corals as well?

bertoni
10/20/2009, 05:13 PM
I don't know how quickly they can reproduce, but by hobbyist standards, too rapidly. :)

I would expect that fish, corals, and invertebrates all could be in danger, but I don't know for sure. I was careful in dosing and didn't have any trouble.

beerking
10/28/2009, 06:27 PM
okay, so here's the latest. After completing the dosing, I waited a few minutes and wasn't too impressed. I went upstairs for about 15-20 more minutes and came back down to see a Red Tide. Apparently I had a heck an infestation, far worse than I would've ever guessed. I did my water change getting out as many as I could. They were clumped together on that stringy stuff (don't know what that is, but it made it easier to remove them). I filled a canister with carbon, and just waited it out. Some of the corals were stressed with their polyps closing up for a day or two. I am about to give it a second dose to clear out any hatchlings that would've survived.

So one last question. I have struggled with hair algae for a little while lately. And nothing seemed to help. I used the RODI with a tds of 0, and 20% water changes weekly. I rinsed my food, and kept up on my skimmer, and even used phosban for about 6 months. For the first time I used carbon and all my algae is just about gone. I always read that carbon could leach phosphate, so how is it that the algae is now gone? The water is a whole lot clearer, could that have been the culprit?

bertoni
10/30/2009, 04:47 PM
I have no idea why the algae is gone now. I wouldn't suspect that carbon did the trick, but it's hard to say.

Sorry for the delayed response, I've been traveling and haven't had good network connectivity for a while.

I waited a few days for the second treatment with Flatworm eXit. I wasn't sure how long you waited, but I'm very tired right now. Shorter time periods might be an issue.