maury
Member
OK, I took the plunge after watching a few posts here and dosed flatworm Exit in my 210 reef. The tank has many clams, LPS, and SPS, as well as a rose anemone and many fish, crabs, snails and shrimp.
The tank had recently (less than 3 weeks) been contaminated with planaria. They came in on a clam I had added then. They had not really taken hold yet, and I'm guessing at the number of flatworms in the 500 range, not a lot compared to the tank size. They were confined to about a one-foot square area near/on the sandbed where the clam had been placed.
I added slightly higher than the recommended dosing, as I was estimating my circulating volume, including sump at 250 gallons, and a bottle treated 300, so I dosed the whole thing.
I noticed the worms getting significantly agitated within 30 seconds, and dying in droves within 5 minutes. I held off a bit on running the carbon, as I theorized that with such a small population of worms, and a large water volume, that I'd let 'em cook a little longer. I added the carbon at about 20 minutes after dosing. By 30 minutes, all of the flatworms had shriveled up, or had shrunken down and stopped moving. Now, 3 hours after dosing, I can only see a few shriveled up remains of flatworm. I 'think' it got them all. I also did a 50-gallon water change at one hour after dosing, and started running ozone as well as the carbon. The carbon is a complete wall in the sump that all the water is forced through. There is no 'flow-around' the bags.
As far as the livestock goes, there were a few minimal issues. The cerith snails all shrunk back into their shells, and I only see a few moving around right now. I think it might have killed most of them. I also noticed my big (7 inch) deresa clam close up a bit about 45 min into the treatment, but is now, at 3 hours, back open as large as it was before.
And that's it.
The fish didn't even blink. All the corals (about 30 SPS, 15 LPS) a rose anemone, didn't even flinch. I had no closure of any polyps on any corals. I mean NOTHING changed.
We'll see how things are in the next 24-72 hours, but it looks very good so far. From the other folks that have had bad outcomes, I think this relates to a few factors:
1. The load of flatworms. I had a fairly small flatworm to water volume ratio. This led to a lot smaller amount of toxin being released. I do feel that it is the toxin, and NOT the Flatworm Exit itself that leads to problems, as I overdosed with the chemical, and showed no ill effects (so far!).
2. Carbon filtration effectiveness. I did not allow any water to circulate without being filtered by carbon. I think this would help regardless, but I held off on the carbon for a while, as still didn't see any serious side effects in the tank. I'm sure this will play a larger role in those tanks with large flatworm populations with a lot of toxin released at one time.
Again, this is only 3 hours post dosing, but I feel good. I'd read a few posts where folks had stressed fish, and corals closing right after dosing. None of that for me, and I think for the reasons I stated above. I'll keep you all posted, and will gladly answer any questions.
The tank had recently (less than 3 weeks) been contaminated with planaria. They came in on a clam I had added then. They had not really taken hold yet, and I'm guessing at the number of flatworms in the 500 range, not a lot compared to the tank size. They were confined to about a one-foot square area near/on the sandbed where the clam had been placed.
I added slightly higher than the recommended dosing, as I was estimating my circulating volume, including sump at 250 gallons, and a bottle treated 300, so I dosed the whole thing.
I noticed the worms getting significantly agitated within 30 seconds, and dying in droves within 5 minutes. I held off a bit on running the carbon, as I theorized that with such a small population of worms, and a large water volume, that I'd let 'em cook a little longer. I added the carbon at about 20 minutes after dosing. By 30 minutes, all of the flatworms had shriveled up, or had shrunken down and stopped moving. Now, 3 hours after dosing, I can only see a few shriveled up remains of flatworm. I 'think' it got them all. I also did a 50-gallon water change at one hour after dosing, and started running ozone as well as the carbon. The carbon is a complete wall in the sump that all the water is forced through. There is no 'flow-around' the bags.
As far as the livestock goes, there were a few minimal issues. The cerith snails all shrunk back into their shells, and I only see a few moving around right now. I think it might have killed most of them. I also noticed my big (7 inch) deresa clam close up a bit about 45 min into the treatment, but is now, at 3 hours, back open as large as it was before.
And that's it.
The fish didn't even blink. All the corals (about 30 SPS, 15 LPS) a rose anemone, didn't even flinch. I had no closure of any polyps on any corals. I mean NOTHING changed.
We'll see how things are in the next 24-72 hours, but it looks very good so far. From the other folks that have had bad outcomes, I think this relates to a few factors:
1. The load of flatworms. I had a fairly small flatworm to water volume ratio. This led to a lot smaller amount of toxin being released. I do feel that it is the toxin, and NOT the Flatworm Exit itself that leads to problems, as I overdosed with the chemical, and showed no ill effects (so far!).
2. Carbon filtration effectiveness. I did not allow any water to circulate without being filtered by carbon. I think this would help regardless, but I held off on the carbon for a while, as still didn't see any serious side effects in the tank. I'm sure this will play a larger role in those tanks with large flatworm populations with a lot of toxin released at one time.
Again, this is only 3 hours post dosing, but I feel good. I'd read a few posts where folks had stressed fish, and corals closing right after dosing. None of that for me, and I think for the reasons I stated above. I'll keep you all posted, and will gladly answer any questions.
