[bad coffee]

I believe you should tell someone BEFORE they show up. I don't have a car, so I take the subway/bus. If I take an hour long trip to your house to get a frag, and you tell me it has pests when I show up, I'm gonna be rightfully pissed off. I just spent an hour to get there, and I have another hour ride home. You've just wasted a bunch of my time. Sure, there are some things I won't care about. If you tell me "I've got bryopsis on everything," before I start out, chances are I'll still take the frag, because I have bryopsis in my tank already. If it's got flatworms, I might think twice, though.

This brings up a good question:

What do you guys do when you bring a coral home?

I mean EVERY time. What are the steps you go through before adding the new coral to the tank? (Except the 'new coral dance' we all do...)

I used to not do anything. Bring it home, dump acclimate, then toss it in.

I recently had to completely remove all my rockwork because of flatworms. I lost the battle, and wasn't about to Flat Worm Exit (FWE) a tank with that many visable flatworms. So out the rock came.

Since then, EVERY coral I get gets 1 drop of FWE, and a 30 second freshwater dip.

I believe every reefer should have FWE. I put it on the list with things like a turkey baster, and an extra waterchange bucket. It's just one of the many tools we all use to maintain our tank.

B

[boozeman]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad coffee ...Since then, EVERY coral I get gets 1 drop of FWE, and a 30 second freshwater dip. I believe every reefer should have FWE. I put it on the list with things like a turkey baster, and an extra waterchange bucket. It's just one of the many tools we all use to maintain our tank. B

sound advice.
It is always best to have an ounce of prevention and dip all corals before placing them into your system.

[Chiefmcfuz]

Treat every coral as if it has pests, inspect and treat them and be done with it.

[mray]

Do the same with live rocks. I picked up some nice pieces that had more than the ricordia yuma I saw. It was loaded with flatworms, one asterina star, and a bristleworm I just tweezed out now.

[masterswimmer]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad coffee I recently had to completely remove all my rockwork because of flatworms. I lost the battle, and wasn't about to Flat Worm Exit (FWE) a tank with that many visable flatworms. So out the rock came. Since then, EVERY coral I get gets 1 drop of FWE, and a 30 second freshwater dip. I believe every reefer should have FWE. I put it on the list with things like a turkey baster, and an extra waterchange bucket. It's just one of the many tools we all use to maintain our tank. B

I had the dreaded flatworm three years ago. I treated my entire system. When I tell you I had a plague of them, I kid you not. My ENTIRE sandbed, corals, everything was covered with them.

I siphoned out every visible flatworm for three consecutive days.

I removed my carbon. Replaced it with fresh carbon to prepare for the post FW treatment.

Then I dumped three full bottles of FWE into the tank. The flatworms began dying and blowing all over the tank within 15 seconds. I continued to siphon them out. I used a powerhead to get to those hard to reach places. I siphoned them out for at least a half hour. I used a new pantyhose on the end of the siphon tube to catch the dead FW's, and not have to replace 40-50 gallons of water from a 100 g system.

I then siphoned out about 25g of water. Replaced it with freshly mixed (the day before) saltwater, turned on my carbon and prayed. Every single coral closed up like a clams a$$. I thought for sure I killed everything.

Within the next 24-36 hrs, every coral opened. I lost no coral, no fish. I did lose one feather duster.

On the third day I repeated the same process. I dumped three full bottles of FWE into the tank. I once again had my carbon off line and refreshed. Not one single FW could be seen blowing around.
I put the carbon back on, nothing even closed up.

One week later, I repeated the exact same procedure and treated with three full bottles of FWE and my powerhead blowing into all crevices. Again, not a single FW was to be found. Did another 25% water change. New carbon. I've been FW free for three years.

I went through this detail to explain why now I treat EVERY SINGLE ADDITION to my tank with FWE. I temperature acclimate every coral with a minimum of three drops of FWE into every single bag with coral. I slosh it around in the bag and let it sit for the temperature acclimation period of about 20 minutes. Then into the tank.

I've never seen another FW in any system I run.

FWE should be in EVERY REEFERS possession.

swimmer