- Location
- Queens, NY
I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of using EXIT.
A year ago, after living with flatworms for years, my 6-line wrasse died and the flatworm population exploded. Rather than replacing my wrasse, I decided to give EXIT a try. So following instructions, I rid my tank of 99% of the flatworms, but yesterday noticed a few were back, so I redoses. But this time, I noticed only a few worms dying and drifting into the currents. I still see some resistant worms hanging out, so then I double then triple the dosage.
With hindsight and a little research into EXIT, I note that people have reported flatworms becoming resistant to EXIT just like bacteria to antibiotiics, or insects to pesticides, and have been increasing the dosage of EXIT with some or no success.
A post also stated that he had a population of flatworms that were completely unaffected by EXIT, and went on to state that his local pet shop suppier, where we acquired all this live stock, used EXIT routinely and therefore produced a super strain of resistant flatworms.
I thought about this for a while and at first dismissed this from happening to me, until I began to wonder where did I get my population of flatworms from, and why would they be resistant to EXIT if I had never used the product before last year. Surely it would take many exposures/generations of this pesticide before my flatworms became resistant, not just 2 doses and 6 months.
I thought back and I got them from my friend 3 years ago, when he shared some coral with me. His tank crashed when the flatworms went critical on him and turned the water orange 2 years ago, however, he had it for a while from a local pet shop here in Queens, which is no longer in business. Where did they get it from? Well, it doesn't matter where the first flatworm came from, no one is to blame, but I'm now assuming that somewhere along the line, somebody was using EXIT on all their holding tanks, maybe some wholesaler in CA or FL, or some body in the south Pacific.
Knowing all this now, I've decided not to use any more EXIT (of which I would need to follow up with 2 more dosing routines 2 weeks apart, since a couple of posts stated eggs were unaffected) and simply to get another 6-line wrasse instead. There were just too many variables with EXIT. I'm unsure of how EXIT works, if it works on flatworm eggs, if its photosensitive, how long does it stay in the water, does skimming remove it, Does it kill flatworms outright, or cause resistant ones to die out slowly, use carbon immediately? an hour later? how long has EXIT been on the market and how much of it is used routinely in the industry... (Like using antibiotics without a prescription in 2nd and 3rd world countries. )
A year ago, after living with flatworms for years, my 6-line wrasse died and the flatworm population exploded. Rather than replacing my wrasse, I decided to give EXIT a try. So following instructions, I rid my tank of 99% of the flatworms, but yesterday noticed a few were back, so I redoses. But this time, I noticed only a few worms dying and drifting into the currents. I still see some resistant worms hanging out, so then I double then triple the dosage.
With hindsight and a little research into EXIT, I note that people have reported flatworms becoming resistant to EXIT just like bacteria to antibiotiics, or insects to pesticides, and have been increasing the dosage of EXIT with some or no success.
A post also stated that he had a population of flatworms that were completely unaffected by EXIT, and went on to state that his local pet shop suppier, where we acquired all this live stock, used EXIT routinely and therefore produced a super strain of resistant flatworms.
I thought about this for a while and at first dismissed this from happening to me, until I began to wonder where did I get my population of flatworms from, and why would they be resistant to EXIT if I had never used the product before last year. Surely it would take many exposures/generations of this pesticide before my flatworms became resistant, not just 2 doses and 6 months.
I thought back and I got them from my friend 3 years ago, when he shared some coral with me. His tank crashed when the flatworms went critical on him and turned the water orange 2 years ago, however, he had it for a while from a local pet shop here in Queens, which is no longer in business. Where did they get it from? Well, it doesn't matter where the first flatworm came from, no one is to blame, but I'm now assuming that somewhere along the line, somebody was using EXIT on all their holding tanks, maybe some wholesaler in CA or FL, or some body in the south Pacific.
Knowing all this now, I've decided not to use any more EXIT (of which I would need to follow up with 2 more dosing routines 2 weeks apart, since a couple of posts stated eggs were unaffected) and simply to get another 6-line wrasse instead. There were just too many variables with EXIT. I'm unsure of how EXIT works, if it works on flatworm eggs, if its photosensitive, how long does it stay in the water, does skimming remove it, Does it kill flatworms outright, or cause resistant ones to die out slowly, use carbon immediately? an hour later? how long has EXIT been on the market and how much of it is used routinely in the industry... (Like using antibiotics without a prescription in 2nd and 3rd world countries. )
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