Please Help! Flatworms

[tankstudy]

What how much Flatworm Exit did you use?

 

[beachsidereefer]

What how much Flatworm Exit did you use?

per the directions for 220 gallons. considering the small container only treats 300 g. I've spent a lot of money on a treatment that didn't work!
!

 

[tankstudy]

Were you doing the recommended per bottle or per a lot of the reefing community has used?

I find that per bottle directions will not effectively kill them. Depending on your concentration of flatworms, they will still survive even at 1.5-2 times as recommended by other reefers.

 

[beachsidereefer]

Were you doing the recommended per bottle or per a lot of the reefing community has used?

I find that per bottle directions will not effectively kill them. Depending on your concentration of flatworms, they will still survive even at 1.5-2 times as recommended by other reefers.

good to know, yes i was following the directions and did not over dose.

 

[twilliard]

This is where I have stated that despite the directions these common brown flatworm are hard to beat with that treatment. (Or any other planaria)
I raise flatworm just to study them.
Don't underestimate these guys, they will adapt to their environment

 

[maroun.c]

I've had them twice once in my old tank and once in a frag tank. I've dosed at 2-3 times the indicated dose and repeated the dose a week later just to make sure all were killed and it worked fine. Weeks before treating I siphoned many of them to decrease their numbers and the toxins released when they die.
I now religiously quarantine and dip all my corals and make sure to avoid them in my system as the worst part is that they don't cause any damage to notice the so you only realize you have them when their population explodes.

 

[beachsidereefer]

I've had them twice once in my old tank and once in a frag tank. I've dosed at 2-3 times the indicated dose and repeated the dose a week later just to make sure all were killed and it worked fine. Weeks before treating I siphoned many of them to decrease their numbers and the toxins released when they die.
I now religiously quarantine and dip all my corals and make sure to avoid them in my system as the worst part is that they don't cause any damage to notice the so you only realize you have them when their population explodes.

yeah I've gone almost two years without ever having this issue. Then I let my guard down, got lazy and didn't properly dip some corals I recently added to the tank. Frustrating but I can't blame anyone but myself.

 

[beachsidereefer]

You can do a follow up dose if desired.
Watch the tank closely and observe the sump

looks like after the first dose it's not knocking them out cause this morning I could still see some stuck on the glass and they appear to be moving around in a normal fashion. should I increase the dose tonight? how much?

 

[twilliard]

looks like after the first dose it's not knocking them out cause this morning I could still see some stuck on the glass and they appear to be moving around in a normal fashion. should I increase the dose tonight? how much?

This is common
I doubt increasing the dose will help.
Take a look here for a good method against flatworm

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/peroxide-and-the-use-against-flatworm.228032/

 

[Greenstreet.1]

?Big t how about a Formosa wrasse or coris will they also help the op out

 

[twilliard]

I don't believe in adding more bioload to solve a single issue

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Ok I can understand that

 

[maroun.c]

Would be good to siphon a few and run a test in a one gallon bucket measuring how much you need to dose to see them dying in 10 min and then follow the same dose in the tank. Just make sure to siphon as many as you can before treating, have around 50 percent water mixed and ready to change just in case. With salt to prepare more on a rush. And a couple of large reactors filled with Carbon and ready in tank to be started quick.
Most of the time things go as indicated but with larger population and added dosing strengths makes sense to be on the safe side

 

[beachsidereefer]

This is common
I doubt increasing the dose will help.
Take a look here for a good method against flatworm

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/peroxide-and-the-use-against-flatworm.228032/

ok, so what you're saying is continue daily dosing until all of the worms are gone? Is there any negative effects to dosing week after week?

 

[twilliard]

Don't know which one we are talking about so here is for both methods
You can continue to dose FWE but I don't know what the effect of long term use is.
Long term dosing of h2o2 has been well documented to not interrupt the tank

 

[beachsidereefer]

Don't know which one we are talking about so here is for both methods
You can continue to dose FWE but I don't know what the effect of long term use is.
Long term dosing of h2o2 has been well documented to not interrupt the tank

correct, I was referring to your method; H2o2

I was under the wrong assumption you should only dose h2O2 for a certain amount of time(days). So the concept is over a couple of weeks you're slowly whittling down the population of flatworms via mechanical filtration until they are all gone. based on your experience how many weeks does it typically take? are we talking weeks or a month or two?

 

[twilliard]

correct, I was referring to your method; H2o2

I was under the wrong assumption you should only dose h2O2 for a certain amount of time(days). So the concept is over a couple of weeks you're slowly whittling down the population of flatworms via mechanical filtration until they are all gone. based on your experience how many weeks does it typically take? are we talking weeks or a month or two?

From my own tests it took about 3 days on the average although my populations were not as large as I had to grow them to test.

 

[beachsidereefer]

hi All,

I thought I would follow up with everyone that it appears I've finally won the battle. so what was the final cure? I bought a leopard wrasse and he went to town on the flatworms!