I used flat worm exit

[LeslieS]

OK, I used flat worm exit.

The tank is 120 gallon with 25 gal sump. It contains live rock, 3 small fish, polyps, mushrooms, gorgonians, 1 brain type, and one toadstool. There are also a clam, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, a serpent star, and a variety of snails.

I noticed the first flat worm about 3 weeks ago. We overfeed our tank so they multiplied rapidly. I hardley ever saw them in the main tank, but one or two was usually visible in the sump. I know that is not very scientific, but want to give an example of how many we had.

I siphoned out an visible fw's and added the exit as directed. After 15 minutes flatworms started crawling over the glass - about 40 visible at at time. After 45 minutes they started dying and I added 2x the suggested carbon. I siphoned as many dead ones as I could, but they sank instead of floating and were hard to see. After 1 1/2 hours, I did a 15% water change. (I meant to do 20, but miscalculated how much water I had on hand.)

Somewhere between the 15 and 45 minute mark, several of the snails started climbing to the top of the tank and out of the water. Many of the snails seemed stunned as they would just fall off the glass. Several stayed in the same position for the next 6 hours until I went to bed. The next day, they were all fine and there were no dead snails, but it was very bad experience for them. I am not sure if it was the FWE or the toxins from the flat worms dying. B. did some research and several varieties of snails have dif. types of flat worms that live in their gut. He thinks that the FWE killed these worms and made the snails sick. The bristle worms were out and squirming but did not die.

Everything else in the tank was fine.

The next day, I did not see any FW's.

If I did this again, I would try to remove all of the snails from the tank first.

I am leaning toward not doing this again. Hopefully, if I ever have another outbreak, my tank will be mature enough to add a fish that would eat the flatworms and keep them under control.

It would be interested to read other people's experiences. Anyone?

 

[jackson6745]

Leslie, I dosed 4x suggested dosage of FWE a while back in an attempt to kill my Acro flatworms. Well, I almost killed all my fish + inverts but luckily I had a 50% WC ready to go and a ton of carbon. I still had the acro flatworms after too

 

[masterswimmer]

Leslie, I had great success with FWE. However, I had literally thousands of them. The only casualty I had was a feather duster.

My corals closed for a couple of days and when they reopened, they were none the worse.

Now that you've treated for them and POSSIBLY killed them all. You should do what I do. EVERY SINGLE CORAL that I add to my system now, I treat in the acclimation bag with a few (3 or 4) drops of FWE. It has absolutely zero negative effect on them and it's done as a prophylactic measure. It's been about a year and a half since I've had FW's.

BTW, after I treated my 1000's of FW's the first time, I repeated the same dosed treatment 3 days after the first, and then one week after the first. Been FW free ever since.

swimmer

 

[Reefer420]

are flatworms bad for LPS corlas, or are they really only bad for SPS? I would guess annoying too since they multiply so quickly...

 

[masterswimmer]

are flatworms bad for LPS corlas, or are they really only bad for SPS? I would guess annoying too since they multiply so quickly...

IMO FW's are unsightly when they multiply to the proportions that I had them. The whole sandbed was covered and was basically a brown mess of FW's. When there are that many, they can then start to cover your LR and corals. In and of themselves they are not detrimental to the health of your corals (LPS included). However, in massive numbers like I'm referring to, they can begin to block out the light from reaching the coral. THIS becomes the problem with FW's. When the zooxanthalae can't get the light they need to 'feed' the coral can starve to death.

So in answer to your Q, IMO they are bad for sps and lps too.

swimmer

 

[LeslieS]

Everyone talks about the coral not being impacted by FWE. Were there any tank inhabitants that WERE impacted?

 

[PalmTree]

I used FWE a number of years ago to treat a moderate outbreak. Everything seemed fine after I followed the directions and dosed accordingly. For no reason my Yellow Tang died the next day. Prior to that it was healthy eating and picking at the rocks. I don't have any definitive proof that it was the FWE that killed my tang but it just seemed all too strange. Everything else in the tank was fine and I pretty much wiped out all the FW.

 

[masterswimmer]

Everyone talks about the coral not being impacted by FWE. Were there any tank inhabitants that WERE impacted?

The only casualty I had was a feather duster.

And there you have it :hug:

swimmer

 

[prattreef]

I can't remember where I just read it??? But apparently tangs are particularly sensitive to the toxins released by dying flatworms. So it is not the FWE per se, but the dead worms themselves. Randy

 

[tomzpc]

I can't remember where I just read it??? But apparently tangs are particularly sensitive to the toxins released by dying flatworms. So it is not the FWE per se, but the dead worms themselves. Randy

Yup. Randy...which is why if you have flatworms in your tank you should attack them right away and not wait until they reach plague proportions.

 

[LeslieS]

So so far snails, bristle worms, and feather dusters are hurt by the FWE.

Tangs are hurt by flat worm toxin.

Rich - 4x the dose kind of messes with the results

 

[masterswimmer]

So so far snails, bristle worms, and feather dusters are hurt by the FWE.

Tangs are hurt by flat worm toxin.

Rich - 4x the dose kind of messes with the results

Leslie, I can't confirm that the feather duster was killed by the FWE. It was most likely from the FW toxins also. Either way, if you have any large FD's, I'd recommend trying to relocate them to another tank before treatment. After you've treated for the FW's, then put the FD's back in and then do a second treatment a few days later. This will kill whatever FW's are still present and the numbers of FW's will be extremely low after the first dose and hopefully won't release enough toxins to do any harm to the FD's.

FYI, I used about 3 full bottles of FWE in my 100g system when I treated my first dose. My second dose I used another 3 bottles (about 3 or 4 days after the first dose). Then one week later I used another 3 bottles. I saw absolutely zero FW's after the first dose. The additional doses were mere precautionary so that I would never have to go through that crap again.

Like I mentioned earlier, I also treat every single coral that I add to my system with FWE right into the acclimation bag.

Hi, my name is Russ and I've been flatworm free for 1.5 yrs now :biggrin: And one happy camper to boot.

swimmer

 

[findingnemo]

Hi I just notice 2 flatworms this morning. What should I do ?
I have no live corals, I do have 70 lbs of live rock about 20 snails and 20 hermit crabs. A flame scallop, bubble tip anemone, 2 clownfish, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 arrow crab, 60 lbs of live sand, 48g bowfront.
This is the one I saw!
Amphiscolops sp., a harmless acoel that "shows up" at times in reef tanks. Photo by Mike Giangrasso

 

[masterswimmer]

Hi I just notice 2 flatworms this morning. What should I do ?
I have no live corals, I do have 70 lbs of live rock about 20 snails and 20 hermit crabs. A flame scallop, bubble tip anemone, 2 clownfish, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 arrow crab, 60 lbs of live sand, 48g bowfront.

If you can see two, then you have hundreds. Treat your tank with FWE as per the discussions above before they get to plague proportions. 100's are not considered plague proportions, yet

swimmer

 

[findingnemo]

Thanks masterswimmer.

 

[sparkysreef]

( Forgive speeling tonight as I am alkiehol induced, but that doesn't stop my mind)
I have used FW exit twice and both times had fish causualties. The first time I could understand as I had more flatworms than anyone has ever had. Go ahead and try me on that one I can prove it.
Anyway, first time I lost a 2 line spine cheek and some corals. Then again that was a time years ago when I probably had tens of thousands, literally.
This time around was last october which is in my tnak rebuild thread. I was quite confused that I had any damgae of any kind though and here is why.................I had removed almost every piece of LR. Vacuumed out all detritus/silt and EVERY visible FW. Every last drop of turtule grass and miracle mud was removed from my eco-systems sump.
so now we have a BB tank with 4 large pieces of LR with corals on them and 2 bare sumps. Also my 180 was at this time actually about 240-260 gal total volume. The only FW left were on the 4 pieces of LR. Dumped 8 full bottles of FW exit as I had it with these F%#@*& after 2 yrs.
Ended up my beloved yellow tank died. In fact he died identically as the 2 line spine cheek did.
What happens is there skin starts to peel off and you see the red tissues underneath. Before that stage it was bownish spots. So I lost him after 3yrs but as sad as it is I am thrilled to be rid of the little you know whats.
So as far as anything affected by FW toxins.........I am a little baffled over this treatment.

Warning: Spelling errors in this message are the product of a poor school system. Pay teachures more than athletes

 

[masterswimmer]

Mr. Sparky, do you think it's at all possible that eight bottles of FWE all at one time might have contributed to the demise of your YT and 2 Line Spine Cheek? I used nine bottles in total, but it was spread out over the course of one week with carbon run in between treatments.

The only time I ever hear of anyone losing fish after dosing FWE is from the excessive toxins released. Not that it can't happen another way, but it surely sounds like it could have been an overdose.

swimmer