Flatworm eXit

[Mr. Microscope]

Hello All,

Yup, I got em. The thing is, the Flatworm eXit is for 300 gallons, but I only have 3 gallons. Can I borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor?

Thanks!
Mr. M

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

I have a brand new box, will sell $15

 

[aquascaper82]

haha don't think you wanna come alll the way to jersey to get a drop or two but if you make it with a tiny test tube you can have some.

 

[Mr. Microscope]

Thanks. No car though.

 

[Mr. Microscope]

I only need like half a mL if anyone can spare it.

 

[Mr. Microscope]

Bump

 

[jaa1456]

If the tank is that small I wouldn't even treat it. I would buy the coral RX and just dip everything including the rock. The Flatworm Exit is very unforgiving and I don't know one person who didn't lose a coral or zoas or something

 

[masterswimmer]

I never lost anything from FWE. It will not kill anything in your tank. The toxins from the dead flatworms might kill something, if you don't treat the tank properly. It's very easy to do it correct so you don't lose any livestock. If you need correct instructions, just LMK

Russ

 

[rookie07]

I never lost anything from FWE. It will not kill anything in your tank. The toxins from the dead flatworms might kill something, if you don't treat the tank properly. It's very easy to do it correct so you don't lose any livestock. If you need correct instructions, just LMK

Russ

+1


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[ming]

+1 what Russ said
I actually just treated my entire tank with Flatworm eXit and didn't lost a single coral. Just make sure to read the instructions and siphon them out before you treat, and then while you treat because they start to float when they die. Leave the skimmer on to skim out the orange toxins they release

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

 

[masterswimmer]

+1 what Russ said
I actually just treated my entire tank with Flatworm eXit and didn't lost a single coral. Just make sure to read the instructions and siphon them out before you treat, and then while you treat because they start to float when they die. Leave the skimmer on to skim out the orange toxins they release

+1
I would spend at least 3-4 consecutive days (1/2 hr -1 hr each day) siphoning out as many FW's as you can BEFORE treatment.

When you treat the tank make sure you have a fluidized media chamber (Phosban Reactor) filled with carbon ready to put online. While the FWE is in the tank, NO CARBON. After you add the Exit, begin siphoning out the dead FW's IMMEDIATELY and continuously for a good 15-20 minutes. Then you can put the carbon online and do a good 25%-30% water change.

There are other steps you should follow. This is absolutely the abridged version

Russ

BTW, Thanks for the support Phil and Ming

 

[Mr. Microscope]

Thanks for the advice. I understand the risks from the toxins. My flatworm problem isn't too bad yet. I just want to nip it before it is. My plan was to do a good water change right after the treatment.
So, does anyone have a little to spare?

 

[masterswimmer]

Thanks for the advice. I understand the risks from the toxins. My flatworm problem isn't too bad yet. I just want to nip it before it is. My plan was to do a good water change right after the treatment.
So, does anyone have a little to spare?

I recommend buying a brand new one......I NEVER, EVER introduce any coral to my tank without treating it with FWE. So getting just enough to treat your tank is going to leave you with none left anyway. Might as well have enough to treat prophylactically.

Russ

 

[jaa1456]

That is BS, I siphoned for about 2 weeks before I treated the tank. Everyone I have talked to including LFS's have lost a Coral,Zoas snials or whatever. I even used 2 differnet canister filters to try and remove any toxins faster. Not only that the flatworms came back. I talked to well over 100 people about this and they all lost something. That is not even an exaggeration.

 

[Mattl22]

I had a bad flatt worm problem I had them for months until I joined MR and finally relized what they where
I used FWE followed the directions ended up using the whole bottel on my 34 gal solona about 10 seperste doses with a major water change after the first dose and 2 smaller water changes
No more flat worms period
at no time did any livestock seem stressed anymore then during a normal water change
My exp fwe is amazing I tried to get rid of them by sucking them up lowering lighting water changes nothing besides
Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[Mattl22]

Fwe worked


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[masterswimmer]

Fwe worked


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

Yup, as long as you do it correct. Some of us have a better system than others.

Russ

 

[masterswimmer]

FWE Treatment Procedure

I had the dreaded flatworm over five years ago. I treated my entire system. When I tell you I had a plague of them, I kid you not. My ENTIRE sandbed, corals, rock, everything was covered with them.

I siphoned out every visible flatworm for three consecutive days.

The day I was planning to actively treat with FWE I removed my carbon. I replaced it with fresh carbon to prepare for the post FWE treatment.

Then I dumped three full bottles of FWE into my 75g tank. The flatworms began dying and blowing all over the tank within 15 seconds. I continued to siphon them out. I used a powerhead to direct the water flow with the FWE in it into those hard to reach places. I siphoned them out for at least a half hour. I used new cheap pantyhose ($.99 from WalMart) on the end of the siphon tube to catch the dead FW's, and not have to replace 40-50 gallons of water from my 100 g system (75g tank + sump & fuge).

After diligently siphoning out as many dead FW's as I possibly could. I then siphoned out about 25g of water (25% of the system volume). I replaced it with freshly mixed (the day before) saltwater, turned on my carbon and prayed. Every single coral closed up like a clams a$$. I thought for sure I killed everything.

Within the next 24-36 hrs, every coral opened. I lost no coral, no fish. I did lose one feather duster.

On the third day after the initial treatment I repeated the same process. I dumped three full bottles of FWE into the tank again. I once again had my carbon off line and refreshed. Not one single FW could be seen blowing around.

I put the carbon back online, nothing even closed up. Let me repeat this, NOTHING EVEN CLOSED UP after treating with three (3) FULL bottles of FWE. This single 'non-occurrence' was proof positive to me that the FWE has no ill effect on the systems inhabitants. The fact that not even one single coral closed up or appeared stressed indicated to me that during the first round of treatment it was the dead FW's toxins that caused the corals to stress and close.

One week later, I repeated the exact same procedure and treated with three more full bottles of FWE and my powerhead blowing into all crevices. Again, not a single FW was to be found. Again, the coral did not show any signs of stress whatsoever. I did another 25% water change. New carbon. I've been FW free for about 5-6 years.

I went through this detail to explain why I now treat EVERY SINGLE ADDITION to my tank with FWE. I temperature acclimate every coral with a minimum of three drops of FWE into every single bag with coral. I slosh it around in the bag and let it sit for the temperature acclimation period of about 20 minutes. Then into the tank.

I've never seen another FW in any system I run.

FWE should be in EVERY REEFERS possession.

swimmer

 

[ming]

While treating, you should siphon them into a pantyhose or brine shrimp net. I use the brine shrimp net because its easier to clean quickly and reuse. I would rather actively siphoning them out holding the hose rather then passively with a canister filter because the canister filter catches the flatworms, but the flatworms still die and release the toxins. With the brine shrimp net, I can quickly rinse it out in the sink in 10 seconds and continue to use it. Also, as the flatworms die, they all string together in a film so its actually quite easy to siphon the bulk of them out quick. If you wait until they're floating all over in the water column, the canister filters are actually quite slow to get them all out and I'm sure they start releasing toxins pretty fast because my skimmer was skimming orange colors pretty fast (i only checked it 2 hours later and its all orange so its before 2 hours). If you run the canister filter, you can't tell how much is in there, and you'll probably be too lazy to empty it until later way later because you want to get them all out of the water column first which the toxins are already releasing. Even though the bulk was removed quickly within 10 minutes for me, I continued to siphon them out for about 2 hours until very little was left. Absolutely no coral losses. Although some micro brittle stars became stiff and my tangs started eating them but that's another story.

For the record, I used 1 entire bottle for about 125g water volume.

 

[Mr. Microscope]

Wow! Thanks for all the advice everyone. What an amazing resource thread this turned out to be. Either that, or you all work for Salfert. Lol. I think I'll be picking up a box.