Does Carbon remove flatworm exit?

[Dylan]

I just treated my tank for flatworms last wednesday... I did around 30% more than the recommended dosage. Everything went well but, yesterday and today I found about 1/4 the old population ALIVE. :cry:

I'm going to double the dose. I'm just wondering though.... The instructions say to throw in carbon as soon as you see flatworms dying. But will it take out the medication as well? I need to kill them ALL this next dosage, and if I have any left they'll just be stronger.

Other comments and concerns are well appreciated too.

 

[JR's Reef]

It takes a couple times to get rid of them all. I just treated my sons nano yestreday and all seems well but will treat again in a week just to be safe. I would think carbon would remove meds but not really sure. I didnt run any carbon this time but only have 1 fish in the tank.

 

[soccerbag]

Yes, the carbon does help to take the medication out of the water. It also helps to absorb any of the toxins that the fw's release as they die (it cleans the water for lack of a better term). I would use the medication as instructed (doesn't hurt to bump up the dosage though) and start the carbon when they say to. I would hate to see you lost some livestock due to too much toxin in the water. Another treatment or two just as you did should help you fix the problem. Please keep us posted.


Gary gives a much more thorough explanation below....:bigsmile:

 

[gparr]

For effective FE application, you first need to siphon out as many flatworms as you can, usually doing so over a week's time. There are a lot more in the rock than you can see. I use a piece of rigid airline tubing, attached to a length of flexible tubing that drains into a brine shrimp net or filter floss. That way you collect the worms on a substrate and can put the water back in the tank.

After you have the population reduced by siphoning, you're ready for FE. I've used double dose most often. BUT, you must have fresh carbon, and lots of it, ready when you put the FE in the tank. When the little things die, they release a toxin that will build up if carbon isn't being used to remove it. If you have a sump, a filter sock to collect dead worms is also a good thing. I use carbon in a Magnum H.O.T filter. Active filtration is preferred. Once you've made a killing, you need to do a large water change (30% or so) and replace the carbon with fresh carbon. Plan to do another large water change two or three days later.

If your infestation is large, you may find you'll have to go through the process again in a week or so.

Siphoning out worms on a daily basis will make a big difference. Long term, good husbandry, good flow, and dipping new corals will go a long way toward preventing the population from blooming again.

Gary

 

[aerius007]

+1 with gparr

The one time I had to use it I used a double dose of FE and removed as many fw as I could. I then used a magnum 350 with carbon to remove the toxin the fw leave behind. A week later I did the same treatment and havent seen one in over a year (with the exception of frags I get, many from sellers and swaps do have flatworms and because of that I use flatworm exit liberally when I dip).

 

[Dylan]

Okay, sounds good. I'll double dose it, and put carbon in once I see them starting to die... There aren't too many left, I got most of them last treatment.

Thanks for the detailed insight guys!

 

[lazyreefer]

I've heard that Exit doesn't get rid of the eggs which hatch within days of being laid. If so, it makes no sense to double dose if you have to dose a second time within 5 days of the first, and then a third dose 5 days later just to be sure. I've wasted 3 boxes double dosing only to have flatworms come back even though no new additions to tank in months. My LFS suggested the "non killing" egg syndrome so I'm gonna try their suggestion this weekend --- basically you have to kill the babies before they can lay more eggs. Now if anyone has other info contrary to that.....like flatworms are live bearing little buggars or split like an anemone or something....well please chime in.

 

[dtpollard]

Be sure to siphon if you have alot of em. I did not realize how many were in there. I did the siphon. Then the treatment. It looked like a FW blizzard in there. The whole tank looked like it was going to die the next day. Luckily I had lots of carbon and did the almost immediate water change after the treatment. 3 days later it was like it never happened. It did scare the crap out of me at first though.

 

[Reefman71]

Definitely double dose and wait about 2 hours before adding carbon. Second dose for me today. The key is obviously getting the worms out but don’t put the carbon in to fast.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I just treated my tank for flatworms last wednesday... I did around 30% more than the recommended dosage. Everything went well but, yesterday and today I found about 1/4 the old population ALIVE. :cry:

I'm going to double the dose. I'm just wondering though.... The instructions say to throw in carbon as soon as you see flatworms dying. But will it take out the medication as well? I need to kill them ALL this next dosage, and if I have any left they'll just be stronger.

Other comments and concerns are well appreciated too.

I do not know what the actual ingredient is so cannot say for sure, but the fact that Salifert wants carbon added later and not initially suggests that it does bind to carbon.