- Location
- Long Island
white dots on mushrooms?
- Thread starter erock30
- Start date
- Location
- port jefferson sta, NY
flatworms.
- Location
- Long Island
are they harmful? or should i just leave them alone?
- Location
- north jersey
they multiply like crazy. get a melanurus wrasse to help control them or do the flatworm exit treatment.
- Location
- New Jersey
+1 on melanarus wrasse.
While a melaranus wrasse might eat them, they also might not eat enough of them to make much of a difference and your fight with them will be long & drawn out as they will continue to multiply (like bunnies
) while the wrasse picks them off, but doubtful he will stay ahead of their multiplication..espeecially since you seem to have a lot of them already.They don't directly harm corals themselves, but they do block out the light a coral is getting by covering their surface. In cases where the infestation gets bad enough, they can entirely cover a coral.
Do also keep in mind that the FW's are everywhere in your tank...a LOT of them are on the undersides of your rock where you cannot see them, so figure there are easily 2-3 times as many as you can easily see in there!
There is a product called Flat Worm Exit (FWE) made by Salifert and it is quite good at wiping them out of a tank..IF THE DIRECTIONS ARE FOLLOWED VERY CAREFULLY. Yes, I was shouting that part as it is extremely important!
The issue with these FW's is they are extremely toxic when they die, so you need to be well prepared for the steps you need to follow once you add the FWE to the tank as you CAN wipe out your tank if you don't follow the directions (hence all of the info you will find if you Google FWE about reefers killing their tanks...they did not follow the directions or prepare correctly beforehand...).
A few days before:
Make enough SW for a 50% water change, match temp & salinity
Make sure you have new carbon ready- prep it by rinsing it until the water runs clear ( do NOT wait to do this once you have started the treatment, this is a critical step!). Yoiu should have 1 pound of carbon for each 50G of water is the basic instruction.
***As I do not know what size tank you have, I cannot yet suggest how much you should get prepared. For this treatment, I suggest you use media bags for the carbon, you are going to put it in the highest flow area of the tank
Get an air pump and air stone - your water should be well oxygenated before you start and best to turn this on a couple of days before the treatment. A battery operate air pump will suffice, but have extra batteries on hand.
The first step is to siphon off as many FW's as possible through the use of a simple piece of airline tubing. The point of doing this is to reduce the # of FW's you will kill at once, thereby reducing the amount of toxins they will produce when they start to die off.
Some folks rig up a bag at the end of the airline that will capture the FW's and allow you to pour the water you have siphoned off back into the tank. While that can be done, i found it easier to simply keep topping the tank off - with SW as that is what you are removing.
You want to siphon off as many as possible - yes, I said that twice.
ok - so you have your carbon media bags ready to go and you have a 50% water change ready.
The day you are treating:
Be prepared to concentrate on what you are doing for the next few hours - observation is a part of this treatment!
First- remove your current carbon from the tank (if you have any in there...you don't want it to be absorbing the FWE as you add it!
Now you mix the FWE according to the package directions (they suggest 4 drops per 5G of water...I usually add 5 drops per 5G) and add it to the tank in a high flow area - like right in front of a powerhead so it mixes right in.
The FW's will start to die immediately and you will see them blowing all over the tank...you want to begin right away to siphon out as many as possible. (The directions state it should begin to work in 30 minutes, and if the FW's don't start to die then add 50% more) In my experience, if you use the correct dosage, they will start to die immediately)
You may notice your inverts getting uncomfortable and moving around. If you have micro stars they may start to come out of the rocks as well.
Add the new carbon at the point where it looks like the FW's are all actively dying - this is done to keep your fish and inverts from dying too.
Keep siphoning out as many dead ones as you can see.
Use a turkey baster and blow around between and behind your aquascaping to see if more dead FW's appear, siphon those out too.
Remember they do not release their toxins until they die, so the dead ones need to be removed.
Don't forget to look in your fuge/sump area too for dead FW's - if you have one.
Do at least a 25% water change.
Change the carbon again.
Keep your eye on the tank to make sure you don't see any stress in your animals, if you do, do another water change.
Some folks with a really bad infestation may do another FWE treatment a couple of weeks later to be sure they are gone.
It is a stressful thing to add a powerful chemical like this to your tank, but done right, you will be rid of FW's and your fish & inverts will be just fine
- Location
- Mt Sinai, NY
Kathy, u should sticky those instructions.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
After the time it took to write that - I plan on it
I even saved a copy half way through in case I lost it...lol
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
