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View Full Version : Flatworm Exit Used at 5x Dose


pitmindi
05/01/2012, 10:30 PM
Hi, I have a 34 gallon red sea tank. It had been operating over 3 years with seahorses, etc. Some of my seahorses died so I gave the remaining away and decided to treat my tank for flatworms, which I have had for at least 2 years. The visible critters in my tank were a fire shrimp, a pom pom crab, brittle stars, snails, hermits, and brittle worms. I fed lightly the weeks before I treated my tank, since there weren't any remaining seahorses. A few days before I treated my tank I syphoned the visible flatworms off the glass, using small airline tubing, which is how I controlled the flatworms for the last 2 years. I turned off my skimmer and my pumps, took out the hermit crabs and snails that I could see and started with a double dose. I put the critters in a bucket with some tank water. After an hour the brittle worms came out and looked dead so I put them in the bucket. I continued to remove all brittle worms and snails that I saw throughout the day. I added a third dose after about 2 hours, then turned on the skimmer and pump for circulation. I added another dose after about 4 hours then a 5th dose in the 5th hour. I let everything alone for about 10 hours then changed about half the water. I never did see many flatworms, less than 100 or so tiny ones dead on the sandbed. I thought there would be thousands since I have had them for so long and they become epidemic whenever I added phyto to my tank for the copepods. Anyways, I guess I didn't have too many. I stirred the rim of the sandbed around the glass,in case any were hiding there. I treated again 2 days later using a double dose and using carbon after treating. My last treatment was a week after the first treatment, and again it was a double dose, or a little more, as I finished the flatworm exit bottle. I did a 50% water change the day after the final tank treatment and I also started carbon. I did take the pom pom crab out after the 1st treatment but I never caught the shrimp and I dont know if its alive. I havent returned the removed critters to the tank yet, but I see a few snails, hermits, and brittle stars that survived all three treatments (makes me wonder if some flatworms survived too). I will post in the coming weeks about whether I see any flatworms. I plan to use phyto and add tigerpods to boast the pod population, so I there are any surviving flatworms then I should know soon, since phyto makes their population explode. I plan to get a pair of seahorses in about 3 weeks, and a goby/pistol shrimp. IT WAS A HUGE PITA! It better of worked!!!

hollister
05/01/2012, 11:09 PM
Usually a good fresh water dip will remove them and not kill coral. Dip all the rock and a wrasse would do wonders.

jake koppen
05/02/2012, 01:19 AM
I'm sure you got them all. A wrasse will take care of them at small numbers if they show up again

pitmindi
05/04/2012, 11:22 AM
I thought of a wrasse but it is a 35 gallon seahorse tank and I dont think a wrasse is ok with seahorse....i think it out competes them for food. BTW I also had flatworms in my 90 gallon reef tank and got a six line wrasse but the flatworm population did not diminish so I got a melanurus wrasse and my flatworm problem is gone in that tank.

pitmindi
06/22/2012, 08:39 PM
6/22/12 - No sign of flatworms!!!! I can't say for certain that I am in the clear but so far -- none!!!! I did remove my hermits, pom pom crabs, and the brittle stars that I could find as they came out of hiding. The brittle stars that remained in the tank did come out of their coma and survive, which was good since most of the ones in my holding bucket were eaten by the hermits or brittle worms or something.

Neptunes World
06/22/2012, 08:53 PM
Yay! Cool! Always love a good kill story with a happy ending. :bounce2: