Flatworm Treatment

[Bifferwine]

I'll be doing a flatworm treatment for the first time ever tonight (on my 90 gal). How awful. For those of you who have done it before, do you think using a turkey baster to suck up the dead flatworms would be sufficient? If not, what would you recommend? Thanks.

 

[dcantucson]

I would use NDB ! :lol:

 

[Bifferwine]

He's going to help me. That's our "project" for tonight. But I don't think I could convince him to dunk his head in the tank and start sucking up flatworms!

 

[Ted]

Turkey baster works good thats what I did. Make sure you have a way to use carbon when they start dying. You will be shocked how many will start floating around the tank.

 

[Bifferwine]

So do their bodies float? I can get them with a net too?

I'm going to pick up a small HOB filter or two while I'm at Petsmart... That way I can run carbon for the rest of today and tomorrow until I leave for New Mexico.

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

use a turkey baster to blast them off the rocks.. but what you should do is get a siphon tube with a fine mesh back on the end of it. start a siphon and get as many as you can. place the mess bag back in the tank or sump so you dont lose water. also the velvet nudi branches eat flat worms too. the are black with some bright bright blue stripes on them.

 

[Ted]

Yes they float. They kinda turn inside out and start floating around the tank. The mesh bag and siphon is a good idea. I saw on the web a guy that did that had a whole mesh bag full of the bodies.

 

[Reefrookie]

Hold a powerhead under water and point it at the rockwork up close.. That seemed to work much better than a baster for me. Also, they came thru a bag, I used a sump sock and a paper coffee filter when I siphoned them out. I did a 25% water change and then ran carbon with the HOB power filters...Good Luck!

 

[Bifferwine]

I actually don't have any that I can see on the rocks, glass or substrate. They are only on one colony of mushrooms that I have. And there aren't very many, at that. Believe me -- I've looked very closely at everything else in the tank! It wouldn't surprise me if they were everywhere, but I sure can't see them. I just want to do this treatment now, when I can only see a few, instead of waiting til later when I know for sure that they are everywhere!

I bought a Rena XP2 canister filter just now -- it was on sale and at least I can reuse it for carbon or whatever every few weeks. I got some carbon, and some filter bags, as well as some Prime... Water still isn't finished! Hopefully we'll be all set to go tonight.

I have seen the powerhead trick on Melev's Reef. I'll use that if it comes down to it... I have a spare MaxiJet that I can rig up. I'll see how the turkey baster and net does to start with. I'm hoping there won't be a lot of them to suck up.

 

[yote]

Biff,Get some airline tubing and tie a pair of your nylons to one end.That way you can siphin out what you can see before you start treating.

 

[Bifferwine]

I'll try that. I'm afraid of hurting the shrooms -- they are stuck on there pretty well!

Here are a couple pics of them.

 

[yote]

Those are some good looking shrooms.

 

[Bifferwine]

Haha thanks! They'd look even better if they weren't covered in a parasite, right?!?!

This is the medication that I got. It was half the price of Salifert's Flatworm Exit, and the directions were exactly the same, so I figured I'd save my money and see if the Blue Life stuff worked as well. I've used other Blue Life products and so far have been happy.

Champion Lighting & Supply :: Additives :: Blue Life :: Blue Life Flatworm Control

 

[yote]

Thats the same stuff we use at Bermuda.
The only difference I've seen with it,is it seems to work faster than the FWE.Other than that,its the same stuff.

 

[daugherty]

that is a good product biff and i would do what yote said with the tubing and a pair of pantyhose or a filter sock

 

[Bifferwine]

I got the Rena all set up and working. I gotta say, it's super easy to put together and start up! I really like it. I'm kinda glad I bought it -- this will make it really easy for me to clarify the water every couple weeks.

I have a piece of tubing, but I don't have any panty hose or filter socks. I'm thinking I'll just use a regular sock instead. Seriously!

 

[Bifferwine]

We just did the treatment. Started out doing the recommended amount of drops for my tank's volume. It just made the flatworms start moving around. I had never seen them move. Pretty cool. Waited about half an hour. They were still just jetting around, not dying. So I added more Flatworm Control. No response. Wait 30 minutes. Add more. Repeat until the ENTIRE BOTTLE is gone (which is enough to treat 400 gallons, it says). My tank is only 90 gallons. And I turned off the sump and everything, so there was less than 90 gallons in the tank. Those effers still weren't dying.

Got frustrated and started sucking the live ones up that I could see with a turkey baster. After over an hour, they still weren't dying. So I grabbed the rock that they were concentrated on and did a freshwater dip. Flatworms galore in the bucket when I did that.

I guess I could have just done that from the start.

After waiting over an hour and a half, I just said "Screw this," did a 25% water change as originally planned, and started up the canister filter with carbon.

Still, no flatworms on the substrate, and none in the water. Where did they all go? Are these mutant flatworms? Resistant to modern reefing medications?

So NDB started cleaning the stand. And said "You know there's a leak in this back corner?"

OMGWTFBBQ?!?!?!

Sure enough, it appears the tank is leaking. I can't see the bottom of the tank through my stand, because the tank is resting on a solid board that spans the top of the stand. So I can't get a view if it's leaking from the bottom...

We dry up the water and spray some canned air into the area to dry it out. Repeat process, repeat process, until it appears dry and there's no more water coming out. Now I just have to watch it for the rest of the night to see if it continues leaking. I thought maybe I splashed some water over the edge of the tank and now it's seeping down the side of the stand? Hopefully that's it. This was a BRAND SPANKING NEW tank and stand that I only got about 5 months ago. And I paid A LOT for it. Like, $700 a lot.

If this tank is leaking, then I might go all nutzoid and who knows what will happen...

Oh god. Sometimes I hate this hobby.

 

[yote]

Think positive Biff.:D
You just splashed some water back there.Its not leaking.

Got my fingers crossed any how.

 

[Bifferwine]

Thanks Yote. I'm hoping it's nothing too. We were going to go out and see a movie. But I'm totally depressed and paranoid now. So we ordered some Italian food in and are just going to watch a movie at home :cry:.

 

[Ted]

sorry to hear of the wet corner. I hope to god that you just splashed it. Kinda suprised that the medication didnt work. I used flat worm exit and I had so many of them in the 10 gallon floating around. Very strange. Maybe it is a delayed reaction.