FWE not working?

[KathyC]

All of the new frags from the swap are currently housed in a spare tank waiting for me to eradicate the flatworms from my main tank...problem is - they won't die!
I siphoned out the FW's that I could see into a bucket and ended up with 2 gallons of water & the FW's. I thought I'd see how long it would take for them to expire following the directions. I am now up to 8 drops (directions call for 1 drop per gallon) and 2 hours later and they are still crawling around in the bucket.
Has anyone else run into this problem?
I don't want to have to use so much FWE that I chance wiping out my pod population.
Expiration date on the box is 06/08
Any suggestions?

 

[bad coffee]

I just bought a bottle, and it says it's for planaria flatworms. If yours are a different species you might have to try something else.

B

 

[KathyC]

That's interesting. The front of the box says FWE, the side of the box says Flatworm (Planaria) Exit.
One would think that info would be on the FRONT of the package.
I guess I'll try and figure out what kind of flatworms I have and how much of a difference it makes...judging from the activity in the bucket...quite a bit!

 

[ming]

Flatworms and Planaria are the same thing

 

[KathyC]

After sitting here & reading for the past half hour I am in complete agreement with you Ming!
BTW - mine don't seem to have the red spot I see in the pics, mine have more of a white spot in them. The body is tan.

So why aren't they dead?
Did anyone ever purchase FWE that didn't work after using it according to the directions?

 

[Psycho graphic]

Many of the posts I've read about FWE, the people overdose it.

 

[ScottK]

Red flatworms are Planaria, but there are other types of flatworms you may find in your tank - white flatworms, acro eating flatworms, etc. Red flatworms are very very red, so if your's aren't, you may have another type. If they are planaria, FWE should have killed all the fws in the bucket given the dose you added, so you may have to find another way to get rid of them.

 

[KathyC]

Hopefully I'll get more feedback here.
I'm up to 10 drops in 2 gallons of water and the little guys are still motoring around in there more than 4 hours later.

Thoughts?

 

[House of Laughter]

I think you got a bum bottle or someone is filling the bottles with water.

I would say get a bottle from someone who documented that it worked and try thiers.

House

 

[ScottK]

Can you post a picture of them? Flatworm Exit does not kill all types of flatworms, so if they are not Red Flatworms, FWE may not work.

 

[KathyC]

Unfortunately I can't get a pic of something that small with my camera.

They are tiny, shaped like an elongated oval with 2 points on the far end. There is a 'spot' inside of them more toward the front of them. I don't see it as being red, more opague. Then again, I'm looking at them through glass that needs to be cleaned (but I don't want to go squashing them with the magnet). Add to that my MH's are throwing so much yellow color, it's tough to tell what color anything is in this tank (my 14K's are on their way!) They look like all pics I've seen in the past of 'standard' flatworms.

I don't have a bazillion of them - yet. So, I'm going to go ahead with my water change and purchase another bottle of FWE at a different location than the first one and address the issue on another day later this week.

I appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

 

[masterswimmer]

Kathy, the pic below is the red planaria that FWE will work on. I can vouch for it :sad2: . It might work on other FW's, however, I can't say from experience.

When I had FW's (1.5 yrs. ago ) I was treating my 100 gallon system. I spent one week prior to treating with FWE just siphoning out every visible FW I could find. When the time came to finally use the FWE, I used 3 FULL bottles. I had fresh carbon ready and 24 hr old premixed saltwater (50 gallons) at hand.

About 15 seconds after squirting in the first bottle of FWE, FW's began dying and blowing all over the tank. I continued to pour 2 more bottles into the tank and took a powerhead and directed it at all the areas I could not siphon.

I began siphoning out every FW I could see and wound up removing about 25 gallons of water with them. After about 20 minutes I finished siphoning and turned on my fluidized media chamber with the fresh carbon. Replaced all the water I removed and crossed my fingers.

I did the EXACT 3 bottle treatment 2 days later. Then one week after the first treatment I did it again with 3 bottles.

I used a total of 9 bottles of FWE and have been FW free ever since.

The only livestock I lost from this treatment was a Hawaiian Featherduster. I had my mandarin in the tank for almost one year at the time of treatment and he's still with me today (1.5 yrs after the treatment). So I'd say the pod population wasn't effected to the point of eradicating all food source for the mandarin (since he ONLY eats pods, no frozen at all).

Here's the pic:

 

[aaron23]

ooo those give me the heebeegeebees :d

 

[KathyC]

They're not doing much for me either Aaron!

Thanks Russ, but that isn't what they look like, definitely not red, mine are tan color in and they only have 2 pointy 'tails' not 3.
I'm going to have to find a picture of them and post it on here. I'll do it on Tuesday night.
At least now I know why the FWE didn't work!
Thanks guys!!

 

[Deanos]

mine are tan color in and they only have 2 pointy 'tails' not 3.

These?

If so, read Melev's Flatworms