Nervous about Flatworm Exit

Barry_Cuda · Aug 31, 2019

I've only today realized just how bad my flatworm infestation is - the little buggers are really hard to see against the coralline on my rock. A squirt with a turkey baster across most rock surfaces results in a bunch of flatworms swirling in the water column. I can now see a couple places in the sandbed where what I thought was a little cyano is actually a concentration of flatworms.

So. Tank is heavily infested. I've got some Flatworm Exit that I'm planning to use, but I'm nervous about the flatworms' toxins entering the water column. I plan to do a 20% water change before dosing and siphon out as many flatworms as I can, and do a 40% water change (the largest I can reasonably do right now) a few hours after dosing. I have activated charcoal that will go in at that time too. Does anybody have any suggestions about what else I should be doing to make sure there isn't a problem?

James77 · Aug 31, 2019

Yes, get out as many as possible through siphoning.

Are you able to remove any of the rocks somewhat easily? If so giving them a good quick sloshing around in a container of saltwater can get rid of a bunch. Have a large net ready and start scooping those buggers up as they float in the water too once you dose. It happens fast.

Take your time, you are already infested, so rushing won't do any good. Doing this in stages will be less risky. I had a larger infestation than I thought my first time around and it did cause problems. But I had not siphoned any out or swished rocks. In hindsight I would have siphoned/swished out 2 or 3 times over a week or so then dosed.

Also, once you do dose initially, do it again in a week or two and maybe even a 3rd time to catch any missing ones. I would consider do a heavier dose that final time but don't want to tell you to go against directions. Just that I have had that work in the past for me and I have seen others post that online. It is not the FWE that is toxic it is the FWs

andrewkw · Aug 31, 2019

Cancel the 20% water change prior. Use airline or if the infestation is that bad drain them into a filter sock or other material then quickly put the water back in. Keep your water for after the flatworm exit if you are nervous. More water changes and more carbon are really all you can do.

I would recommend you dose more then the suggested dosage. You want to kill as many of them as you can in one shot and then the follow up treatment is just stragglers. Once the treatment is complete I would blast everywhere you think there could be flatworms to stir up the dead ones. Yes the toxins are already released as they are dead but you will be able to get any that survive from those piles of dead ones.

Also I would allocate twice the amount of time you expect this to take. If you remove the flatworms one by one it can end up taking a while. Flatworm exit has been around a long time. There are people that misuse it but generally it's a very safe and good product to use. The biggest thing is to remove as many as you can first and do not under estimate how many you actually have. If you have to blow a powerhead into caves and nooks first to see what's really there first that's better then waiting until after you dose and realizing there were a lot more in your tank then you initially thought.

SMSREEF · Aug 31, 2019

I used flatwormexit and it worked. I did huge water changes afterward and suctioned everything out (3 treatments) But this was easy with 10 gallons.
@ James77 and @andrewkw are giving fantastic advice.

vetteguy53081 · Aug 31, 2019

I like it. Just dose 80% of recommended as a safety

Jeff Jarry reef · Aug 31, 2019

I used it not to long ago and works great. About to do another treatment. Just follow directions and you will be fine.

Reefcowboy · Sep 2, 2019

Just recently treated my tank twice.
Like you mentioned, I thought these little buggers were coralline and was shocked how they fooled me. I treated the tank according to directions, added a few extra drops.

Did a15% water change and turned carbon back up. No issues, all fish and sps corals were fine.
As soon as you dose you will see some floating around. I got myself a wrasse to help in the event these ever make it back to my tank.

Barry_Cuda · Sep 2, 2019

OMG. Sooooo many dead flatworms in the water column. I dosed the tank about 20 minutes ago. In another 10 I'm going to start carbon and then in about another 15 I'll do a 40% water change and suck out as many corpses as I can. It seems I *still* had no idea how bad the infestation was.

James77 · Sep 2, 2019

Reefcowboy said:
Like you mentioned, I thought these little buggers were coralline and was shocked how they fooled me.

Haha, when did you realize it?

I thought mine was some type of coralline algae as well. Then I was watching the tank closely....and IT MOVES!!! LOL, thats when I realized it was worms.

James77 · Sep 2, 2019

Barry_Cuda said:
OMG. Sooooo many dead flatworms in the water column. I dosed the tank about 20 minutes ago. In another 10 I'm going to start carbon and then in about another 15 I'll do a 40% water change and suck out as many corpses as I can. It seems I *still* had no idea how bad the infestation was.

Keep netting them and doing water changes. Be generous with running the carbon.

Again, do another strong dose in a week or so, you will be shocked how many more are lingering. That's why I even suggest a 3rd time. But now you also know what to watch for so it won't become such a monstrous mess.

Best of luck!!

Barry_Cuda · Sep 2, 2019

A few hours later... my corals are NOT happy. I'm preparing for another 20% water change to get some more of the toxins out of the system. Carbon is in place but so far it still looks like everything in the tank is ticked off.

Reefcowboy · Sep 3, 2019

James77 said:
Haha, when did you realize it?

I thought mine was some type of coralline algae as well. Then I was watching the tank closely....and IT MOVES!!! LOL, thats when I realized it was worms.

I looked closely and saw one on a coral! Then I grabbed the Turkey blaster type device and sprayed water sending them floating everywhere.

To make others more comfortable using flatworm Exit, I treated my tank(mostly sps) for flatworms AND red bugs(interceptor spectrum chews) on the same day. I dosed a bit over on the flatworm exit and the interceptor chews make the water very cloudy as it has flavorings for dogs(heated tank water in a plastic cup, then mashed the pill with a fork).

I did a 20% wc about 6 hrs later, turned skimmer and carbon back on and corals were actually extending polyps like if the chews were a treat for them.

Never lost fish or coral, so no need to worry fellas. If the tank is heavily infested with flatworms, dont wait too long for the water change. I left mine longer as I didnt have that many flatworms.

Reefcowboy · Sep 3, 2019

Barry_Cuda said:
A few hours later... my corals are NOT happy. I'm preparing for another 20% water change to get some more of the toxins out of the system. Carbon is in place but so far it still looks like everything in the tank is ****** off.

What are the corals looking like? Lps?sps?

Barry_Cuda · Sep 3, 2019

Reefcowboy said:
What are the corals looking like? Lps?sps?

No SPS in the tank. LPS, GSP and zoas are all retracted with little to no extension. My watchman goby seems OK but my Banggai cardinal is looking stressed and isn't eating. I did a second 40% change last night and am planning on another this evening after I get home from work.

SMSREEF · Sep 3, 2019

@Barry_Cuda
Hoping things are better when you get home.

I made the mistake one time of being so upset when something went wrong (calcium doser overdosing) that I forgot to put chlorine remover in my new water. My Duncan was closed for 2 weeks and I lost some sps. I think things would have been just fine if I had left things alone and let the levels drop naturally.

No accusation that you did this, I just use it as a warning that when I got worried I forget to do the simple things and I am hoping you NEVER do what I did.

Test the new water and make sure you are adding water with similar PH, Alk and Calcium so you don’t stress things even more. If there is any negative consequence, it’s likely already done. Carbon should have absorbed everything by now.

Again, I hope things have gotten better when you get home. And please let us know how things are going when you get home.

DHill6 · Sep 3, 2019

Reefcowboy said:
I looked closely and saw one on a coral! Then I grabbed the Turkey blaster type device and sprayed water sending them floating everywhere.

To make others more comfortable using flatworm Exit, I treated my tank(mostly sps) for flatworms AND red bugs(interceptor spectrum chews) on the same day. I dosed a bit over on the flatworm exit and the interceptor chews make the water very cloudy as it has flavorings for dogs(heated tank water in a plastic cup, then mashed the pill with a fork).

I did a 20% wc about 6 hrs later, turned skimmer and carbon back on and corals were actually extending polyps like if the chews were a treat for them.

Never lost fish or coral, so no need to worry fellas. If the tank is heavily infested with flatworms, dont wait too long for the water change. I left mine longer as I didnt have that many flatworms.

Also used Interceptor in bucket with powerhead, let sps sit for 6 hours and they liked it. No pests, just used it when ordering SPS as a precaution.

Barry_Cuda · Sep 3, 2019

SMSREEF said:
@Barry_Cuda
Hoping things are better when you get home.

I made the mistake one time of being so upset when something went wrong (calcium doser overdosing) that I forgot to put chlorine remover in my new water. My Duncan was closed for 2 weeks and I lost some sps. I think things would have been just fine if I had left things alone and let the levels drop naturally.

No accusation that you did this, I just use it as a warning that when I got worried I forget to do the simple things and I am hoping you NEVER do what I did.

Test the new water and make sure you are adding water with similar PH, Alk and Calcium so you don’t stress things even more. If there is any negative consequence, it’s likely already done. Carbon should have absorbed everything by now.

Again, I hope things have gotten better when you get home. And please let us know how things are going when you get home.

I just got home and it's not looking good. Corals are all closed up even tighter than this morning. No sign of my watchman goby. Banggai cardinal is still alive but looking like it's not long for this world. It was stuck to a pump intake when I walked in the room. I freed it up but it's just kind of twitching around the bottom of the tank, mostly not moving. I think I've killed my whole tank

Barry_Cuda · Sep 3, 2019

Also just noticed that I'm not getting any water flow through the carbon, so this whole time now it hasn't been doing me any good. I'm starting to think I should just throw everything out.

James77 · Sep 3, 2019

Barry_Cuda said:
Also just noticed that I'm not getting any water flow through the carbon, so this whole time now it hasn't been doing me any good. I'm starting to think I should just throw everything out.

Sorry about your troubles with this. I wouldn't go to the extreme of throwing everything out, though I would euthanize any obviously doomed fish.

What happened with the carbon? That is going to be a huge factor in this, but its not to late to get it running. I would get that up and running before I would even do more water changes as it will be pulling out toxins. Use a large amount, like in a canister filter if you can.

Barry_Cuda · Sep 3, 2019

I had it in the sump section (BioCube 32) in a spot that should have been getting excellent flow right off the overflow, but it turns out that the water just backed up around it and flowed elsewhere. I'm tempted to go to the store RIGHT NOW and buy a canister.