MAJOR INFESTATION!!!!

[twilliard]

Ok ...so just checked on tinterweb and I can get 12%, 9% or 3% "food grade" H2o2. By the looks of things this is for human consumption (don't suppose that matters)

I'm going to have a slight change in tactic before I strip down the tank.

I will go through the first stages that I had planned to do....

syphon off as many as I can over a number of days until I noticed a significant drop in numbers.

Then run the H2o2 treatment for a few days and get as much as I can out with the implementation of various steps...those being....
syphon out what can be seen.....
use filter socks to catch as many as i can flowing down to sump....
using an external canister filter loaded with floss to catch some of what will be in the water column....
wrapping the intake side of my powerheads with floss to do the same as above.
blast the rocks with high flow to blow the critters off.

Have on stand by.......
enough fresh water mixed to do a 40% water change if needed, and enough RO to repeat if needed ( probably not )
Have two reactors filled with carbon and enough carbon to fill both my filter socks ( I have 6 socks in total and will rotate these every hour or so giving me time to wash out the used ones once the have collected the planaria)

I will be running these steps for a few days and I will just have to see where I stand when I get to that point.

if this fails...then back to the strip down plan.

This sounds like a viable plan!
I have never used anything more than 3% here

 

[DrayB]

Now just to nail down the specifics.....

If I may ask please that we deal in litres and not gallons, reasons being that US gallons are different from UK gallons and I don't count in gallons to too much of a margin of error for my liking.
I have a reefer 350l, so take out 50l for rock volume and some other bits and pieces, and ill be happy to call it 300l as a datum point.

 

[DrayB]

Oh...and thanks Todd

 

[twilliard]

Any day!
I raised flatworm for the longest time to study them.
I had to let them go due to adding another tank in the house

 

[twilliard]

You will add 10ml to your 300l tank.. sorry for the delay!

 

[Surf&turf]

Lanthanum Chloride will kill them plus lower your phosphates.

 

[DrayB]

Are you sitting down with a cuppa tea? coz here come the questions lol

Is this a one off dose?
Skimmer kept running?
Should I repeat the dose and if so when would it be safe to do so?
Will the Planaria inevitably die ...but just take longer? or is this just a short term stun?

Sorry Todd, just need to bury my brain in this so i can go in safe in the knowledge .......

 

[DrayB]

Hi Surf&Turf. Killing them is not an option at the moment due the the sheer numbers. I'm trying to reduce the population to as low a number as i can before i try that route. but thanks

 

[twilliard]

Are you sitting down with a cuppa tea? coz here come the questions lol

Is this a one off dose?
Skimmer kept running?
Should I repeat the dose and if so when would it be safe to do so?
Will the Planaria inevitably die ...but just take longer? or is this just a short term stun?

Sorry Todd, just need to bury my brain in this so i can go in safe in the knowledge .......

This can be used every 12 hours if needed.
Keep all equipment running but make sure the planaria is caught before they enter the skimmer.
You can repeat this as necessary until you are happy with the outcome.
When you apply the h2o2 they will become agitated and this is the time to catch them.
H2O2 will not kill them in the short term but prolonged exposure does.
I am happy to answer any questions you have
There are times where I get busy here on R2R but I will respond as quick as I can.

 

[DrayB]

You Sir...are a gent

 

[Maritimer]

For what it's worth...

I had a few flatworms building up in my tank while it was running fallow due to ich. Not quite to these rather spectacular numbers, but . . . On the return of fish, an orange-backed fairy wrasse may have helped, but I think that what also assisted in flatworm reduction in the display was the introduction of a target mandarinfish. She's fat and sassy, patrolling the lower rockwork all day long - and I nearly never see a flatty in the display. There are still flatworms in my 'fuges, so I know it's not a water-chemistry thing, but that they're being consumed by predators in the display.

~Bruce

 

[DrayB]

3% h2o2 arrived today so I thought i'd make a start on reducing the numbers.
I was a bit curious as to how many I would get out on the first session, so I sacrificed one of my small nets and cable tied (zip) it to the end of the hose so it formed a closed bag........OM frikken G!!!!!!!!
Admittedly I was pretty thorough for the fist go and took out shed loads.......but seeing the amount in one collection....shocking!!!!!!

Anyway, I am going to keep notes of what I'm doing and take pic's and will keep posting to this thread.

 

[NealH]

Get a blue damsel. They eat planaria like mad. You'll have a clean tank in no time. Better than a wrasse.

 

[ihavecrabs]

3% h2o2 arrived today so I thought i'd make a start on reducing the numbers.
I was a bit curious as to how many I would get out on the first session, so I sacrificed one of my small nets and cable tied (zip) it to the end of the hose so it formed a closed bag........OM frikken G!!!!!!!!
Admittedly I was pretty thorough for the fist go and took out shed loads.......but seeing the amount in one collection....shocking!!!!!!

Anyway, I am going to keep notes of what I'm doing and take pic's and will keep posting to this thread.

Would love to hear about your success or issues with h2o2.

 

[Triggreef]

when i do a water change i syphon out as many as i can see, i use a home made tool that ends at a narrow point which greatly restrict the flow but keeps the syphon pressure and that takes about 20mins to fill a 25l tub, i usually fill two of these. within an hour they are back to the point where i started. i have a yellow wrasse which was supposed to be one of the best (wrong) and have tried blue velvet nudi's (hard to get over here, and they died before i got them in the tank) i don't want to go down the 6 line route ( coz i hear they can be nasty) but i may be able to borrow a melunarus, so that is an option i suppose.

also flatworm exit is banned in UK....

sorry keep editing but i'll add...... i have been researching ways and means to get rid of these guys so it is with open eye's that i'm going into this. I have been stocking up on carbon and plan of filling both my filter socks...both my bubble magus reactors and borrowing an external filter which i will also fill with carbon. i plan on syphoning these guys out over a few days every day before i commence treatment, and will wrap my powerheads with floss and stuff floss into my sump so i can catch as many as i can before they secrete the toxins.

It's funny so many people suggest yellow coris. I've had so many yellow coris, never had one touch planaria. 1 out of 3 green wrasse I tried are them with a vengeance. I have a dusky wrasse that also destroyed them and he now keeps my quarantine, which has now become a simple reef, completely clean. I used to call it the flatworm tank. Everything was covered and the dusky cleaned house in about 2 weeks.