My tank almost crashed after using Red Flatworm exit - what's wrong?

[shane draper]

I had a problem with red flatworm (planaira?) in my 170 gal Reef Tank. I syphoned out most of them 2-3 times but they keep coming back. I purchased a yellow corase wrasse to help remove them but didn't work. My last resort is to try the flatworm exit since I hate adding poison to my tank! Anyway .. followed the directions carefully .. added 2 capfuls and within 10 minutes they were dying off. Syphoned out as many as possible, big water change and added more activated carbon to my filters.
Next day my corals shrinked to almost nothing - red mushrooms, nems, cabbage, Kenya trees. Also, my 2 largest fish which I've had for many years died - Foxface and yellow tang.

I'm afraid I've done something very wrong and my tank may crash now. What's wrong here?

I also took my sample water to the LFS and had it tested. No problems except for high Phosphates which was already a known problem.

Thanks,
Shane Draper

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Hey Shane - welcome to R2R. Very sorry to hear about your tank. Lousy way to have to introduce yourself.

I've been lucky enough to not have to deal with this myself, but there are several threads on here that deal with basically the same experience you had. There are many more flatworms in the tank than you see. The product does a very good job killing them, but the tank is then overwhelmed with toxins.

I'm sure others will join in shortly, but siphoning dead flatworms, water changes and running carbon is the way to go. If you have a QT that you can transfer fish to temporarily that might not be a bad idea.

Here's an informational thread followed by one of the larger posts from a member that went through a very similar experience:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/flatworms-the-good-the-bad-and-the-pretty-terrifying-part-1.530/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/f...etty-terrifying-part-2-and-conclusion.509432/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...y-entire-300g-tank.297243/page-5#post-3640664

 

[fcmatt]

The problem was that your tank had many more flatworms that you thought. When you added the exit potion the flatworms died enmasse and released toxins inside them. Literally they expelled the juices inside themselves in enough quantity to harm tank inhabitants. This is the core problem with f.exit. people underestimating the amount of flatworms in the tank. If you can see hundreds and hundreds visually it means your tank had thousands and thousands for example.

If that is the case you need to suction out as many as possible before using f.exit. like suction out repeatedly over a week or two.

The product works. But it works too well in some cases with huge amounts of flatworms

 

[Mandelstam]

Marc did a stream recently where he talked about this and how to do a proper treatment.

 

[sfin52]

Welcome to reef2reef. The problem is that the flat worms released toxins. Large water change and add carbon and change it frequently. If you turned off the skimmer then it back on