nanoreefer22

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Got those harmless flatworms but they seem to be multiply like crazy. They seem to be sticking around my torch, or at least i see them because the rock is white. I don't want them to get out of hand and become a problem. If anyone has some they'd be willing to sell or trade for something let me know.
-Kris
 

masterswimmer

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Kris, if you have FW's, make sure you address them appropriately.......aggressively. If you need some direction, just let me know. I had them out of hand last June. Been rid of them since last June also. Takes multiple treatments to do it right.

LMK if you want some guidance,
Russ
 

masterswimmer

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nanoreefer22 said:
Will do Russ. Thank god these guys are the harmless fellows and they're still in very small numbers. Most I've seen is about 10, addressing them early so I don't have a bigger issue later :D. I'll definately contact you if i need some help.
-Kris

No prob. I'm here for ya. LMK

master
 

ShaunW

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nanoreefer22 said:
Will do Russ. Thank god these guys are the harmless fellows and they're still in very small numbers. Most I've seen is about 10, addressing them early so I don't have a bigger issue later :D. I'll definately contact you if i need some help.
-Kris
All flatworms are bad, don't kid yourself, and if you have seen 10 you have 100 times that many present in the tank. I would also agree that it is going to take many treatments to exterminate them.
 

masterswimmer

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solbby and I are on the same page. If you see 10, then you have 100's times that. Aggressive treatment is the only way to beat them.

What size tank, sump & fuge are you running. I'll post a good routine for you to attack those little infectious monsters. They will be eradicated once and for all from your system if you follow the procedure to the 'T'.

Russ
 

nanoreefer22

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solbby said:
All flatworms are bad, don't kid yourself, and if you have seen 10 you have 100 times that many present in the tank. I would also agree that it is going to take many treatments to exterminate them.

But do all of them in fact "attack" something? Aren't some just harmless guys that roam around the tank, leaving the corals alone while feeding on something else?
 

nanoreefer22

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masterswimmer said:
solbby and I are on the same page. If you see 10, then you have 100's times that. Aggressive treatment is the only way to beat them.

What size tank, sump & fuge are you running. I'll post a good routine for you to attack those little infectious monsters. They will be eradicated once and for all from your system if you follow the procedure to the 'T'.

Russ

Tanks a 65g, sump is a 20long and no fuge. Its a BB tank and all thats in the sump is my skimmer. It's so hard to believe theres 1000:wow: in the tank, but you guys are the best of the best so I take you word for it :D.
-Kris
 

ShaunW

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nanoreefer22 said:
But do all of them in fact "attack" something? Aren't some just harmless guys that roam around the tank, leaving the corals alone while feeding on something else?
Your completely right, but they can get to such mammoth proportions that having flatworms all over your rock makes your tank look much less than it should. I define that as bad, :) . Not to mention hindering your trading ability.
 

masterswimmer

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Not to mention blocking out valuable light that needs to reach your coral. They multiply by geometric progression. First you'll see 10, then 20, then it'll be about 1000, then 10,000. It's unbelievable how fast they multiply.

And yes, tradeability is severely hindered. I treat every single coral coming into my tank with FWE.

Russ
 

ctxmonitor

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Is FWE bad for your tank in anyway?? What I'm saying is if you don't see any in your tank, would adding FWE do anything to the tank?

I'm going to treat any coral I get with FWE from now on too. I had those in the past and would not want to introduce them back into my system.

Where to get FWE the cheapest?
 

alrha

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i too have the harmless ones (like kris's) that dont harm anything, but just look annoying as they multiply. i treat all frags i trade with Flatworm eXit to avoid introducing them to other tanks. i have a 6-line and a mandarin (both are considered good choices of a natural predator) yet they are still thriving (either those fish dont care to eat them in my tank, or they are reproducing fast enough to maintian their population anyway).

The risk with dosing the entire tank (which i have to do already) is that when this little guys die, they release the toxins in their guts into the water. these toxins must be removed (by water changes, carbon, skimming) fast so that nothing else in your tank is harmed. My tank is too large to be able to siphon them out, so i will just have to hope that their mass die-off can be contained by heavy carbon usage. I always pushed off doing it because now they are only an aestetic probelm not really harming my livestock, while if i kill them all, that may result in harming the tank (from their toxins). but i decided i must do it eventually, so i have the box now sitting right by my tank. - i just want to do it on a day when i will be home all day so that i can observe the tank.
 

GQ22

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Blue Velvet sea slugs are the only things that will eat them and dont even bother, its a waste of money. They dont eat them fast enough and get attacked by other tank mates such as crabs and shrimps. also they only live 3 months
 

alrha

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Chiefmcfuz said:
Does anything eat them? Natural predators are a cool way to get rid of pests in the tank if you ask me.
alrha said:
i have a 6-line and a mandarin (both are considered good choices of a natural predator) yet they are still thriving (either those fish dont care to eat them in my tank, or they are reproducing fast enough to maintian their population anyway).
:)
 

masterswimmer

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I had a massive plague of FW's back in June, '05. I followed the routine I'm about to give you to the letter and I've been totally rid of them since. It is important to follow this routine completely.

I did not see any negative impact from the treatment other than my corals close up and take about two days to reopen. My brain corals took the longest to reopen, but they did and with no harmful effects to them.

GETTING RID OF FLATWORMS:
- Prepare enough RO/DI water to make enough saltwater for three 25% water changes within one week.

- Have a method for running carbon aggressively in your system. Running carbon passively in a filter bag in your sump is NOT considered aggressive. I am using an MRC Fluidized Media Chamber for carbon. A Phosban Reactor 150 will work fine also.

- The Flat Worm Exit is not toxic to your tanks inhabitants. However, like alrha mentioned above, the toxins released from the dead/dying FW's are toxic. With this in mind, it is better to add an overdose of FWE to your tank than to add too little.

- I have a 75 gallon tank, 15 fuge and about 10 gallons in my sump, for a total of ~ 100 gallons. I used five full bottles of FWE during the treatment on my system. I didn't use them all at once, but I did use them all during the one week of treatment.

Ok, time to get down to the nitty gritty of eliminating the dreaded FW.

- Three days before you are ready to treat your tank with the FWE, you must begin siphoning out as many FW's as possible manually. They do not grab hold of anything in your tank. They will release whatever slight grip they do have VERY easily. Take a siphon tube (vinyl tubing) and siphon one of two ways. Either attach a lady's nylons to the end of the tubing and put the nylons into your sump (to avoid discharging a lot of SW) or just siphon out the FW's into a drain or bucket. Just make sure you have even more than 3 days worth of 25% fresh SW to replace the siphoned out water.

The above step is extremely important. After you've siphoned out as many FW's as possible, take a powerhead and blow behind your aquascaping where you can't reach with the siphon tube. This will get the 'invisible' FW's out into the open for you to siphon them as well.

- The above step is now repeated for the next two days as well. So in total, you will have siphoned out FW's for three consecutive days.

- Day 4 is the moment of truth. You must turn OFF any carbon during the treatment. Have your 25% water change ready. Get a bottle of FWE.

- With your carbon off, squirt one full bottle of FWE into your tank, fuge and sump (most of it into your tank of course), remember, this is for a 100 gallon system.

- Within about 10-15 seconds you will begin to see a massive die off of FW's. Begin siphoning these dead/dying FW's out of the tank immediately.

- About 20 - 30 minutes after the first dose of FWE add another full bottle of FWE. Use a powerhead to blow into all the dead spots you possibly can. The FW's will be blowing all over your tank now. Keep siphoning them out.

- About 10 - 15 minutes after the second dose of FWE begin running your carbon.

- By now you will probably have siphoned out about 25% of your tanks water. Hopefully you will have siphoned out as many of the visible dead FW's as possible. You can now replace the siphoned out water with fresh SW.

- This treatment is to be repeated three days after you did the FWE the first time. The amount of FW die off on the second treatment will be almost zero if the first treatment was done following the directions explicitly.

- One week after the first treatment you should do the treatment one more time (only one dose should be necessary on the last day, not the two full bottles). Remember to turn off your carbon each time. Also remember to do 25% water changes on the third day and one week treatment even though you probably won't see any dead FW's. This is just to remove any possible dead FW's and to be totally sure all toxins are removed from the tank.

By this time your water should be FW free and crystal clear with all those water changes and carbon running.

Good luck and welcome to a FW free tank. :approve:

Russ
 
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