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Battle of The Flatworms

AJ1080

AJ1080

In the red corner we have the glutenous, voracious, mass producing toxoid "The Red Planaria."

In the Blue corner we have the well know, very expensive, tiny guy that packs a big punch "Flatworm Exit!"


Round 1)

  • FWE throws every last drop into the 92 total gallons of water in the tank/refugium.
  • Uh oh, it looks like FWE was out partying this week with other flatworms and didnt have enough juice to give the planaria the expected fight!
  • FWE seems to stumble a little here.
  • Management is scrambling to dig deep into their pockets and find some reinforcements.
  • FWE is hanging in there, floating like a butterfly while the Planaria continue to craw around him.
  • Looks like FWE is taking it out on the poor brittle star fish! The planaria still looking healthy, are in disaray at what they are seeing.
  • Bell Rings
Intermission
  • All dead brittle stars are removed from the ring.
  • FWE management forks out some cash and sneaks in another bottle of FWE.
Round 2)
  • FWE comes out completely rejuvenated and stars swinging.
  • Planaria are dropping like flies!
  • Few Planaria can be seen and FWE is being blasted into the rocks with a turkey baster to ensure deeper penetration.
  • It looks like Planaria is down.. 1,2,3,4,5,6...ding ding ding. Oh no it looks like Planaria was saved by the bell!
Intermission

It looks like planaria is not coming out to fight this round. Somethign about needing time to recoup.
All in attendance, Hammer, Frog Spawn, Torch, hairy mushrooms, Green Slimer, a couple zoos and an acan are all laughing at the Planaria and seem to be playing well with supercharged FWE.

An early out look is that FWE is the winner. To celebrate the 3 hour battle, FWE has decided he is going to hang around and sign some autographs! How lucky are those fans! Lets just hope that Planaria comes back bigger and badder with a few tricks up there sleeves that will make them more resistant to FWE.



 
shipwrecked

shipwrecked

Good outlook on the situation.Thanks for the laughs and gd luck on yr cont battel against the flatworms.Hoping yr going to follow up with a nice water change and some good quality carbon..
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
LOL well done. Just do a water change as planaria can release toxins when they die.
 
AJ1080

AJ1080

AJ1080 said:
Lets just hope that Planaria comes back bigger and badder with a few tricks up there sleeves that will make them more resistant to FWE.
Click to expand...

Maybe a little help from the mods to edit this?

Seriously, I really dont want them to come back. :jaded:

Anyways, Im starting to believe that I may have really brought the population under control during this past week. (siphoned twice a day every day). FWE is still in there with no yellow tint to the water, my frogspawn and hammer are still out (not fully but more out then in). MY torch did close up so I moved that in the bucket with all my snails and shrimp.

Since I couldn't get the peppermints out I aws sure I would lose them but I just saw them wandering around as well.

I have heard some say that FWE doesn't hit a baby. Ok well not a baby, but the eggs if any were layed. Do you think I should leave the tank overnight without a water change to keep the FWE at full force to kill any hatchling that may come?
 
steamman

steamman

Did you run carbon like the directions said to? I think carbon is more important then the water change. I think you should follow all instructions on your first treatment. Water change included. On follow up treatments water changes do not to be as critical.

You should retreat every week for the next couple of weeks. It is the toxin from the flatworms that do the most harm to your tank. That being true next week when you have less flatworms your water won't be as toxic from the flatworms dieing. These subsequent treatments will be less stressful on your system.
 
Nickjr000

Nickjr000

steamman said:
Did you run carbon like the directions said to? I think carbon is more important then the water change. I think you should follow all instructions on your first treatment. Water change included. On follow up treatments water changes do not to be as critical.

You should retreat every week for the next couple of weeks. It is the toxin from the flatworms that do the most harm to your tank. That being true next week when you have less flatworms your water won't be as toxic from the flatworms dieing. These subsequent treatments will be less stressful on your system.
Click to expand...

I agree with steamer. Carbon is very important. Def follow up with a treatment each week for 2 more weeks, even if no fw r present.
 
AJ1080

AJ1080

Thanks Steam,

I'm going to put in an order for two more bottles.

I held back on running the carbon as long as possible just to keep the FWE in the tank and have a better chance of killing more.

Im running carbon and polyfiber now. I also did a 25g water change. I just have to get the tanks temperature back up so I can add the cleaning crew back, Other than that everything seems happy.

Thanks again everyone for the help!
 
trivan

trivan

I had a small population of flat worms and I treated it with fwe and then introduced a Malanarous(sp) wrasse into the tank. I've never seen one again. The wrasse is alway searching for food in the rocks and are reported to eat flatworms.

Your mileage may vary. Good luck.
 
AJ1080

AJ1080

I plan on getting a wrasse in the near future as well. My only problem is I'm fighting a battle on both fronts.


I have flatworms in the DT and all my fish in the QT dealing with ich so unfortunatly I cannot put any fish in my DT for another month.
 
trivan

trivan

I get my fish from 2 places :
- Dr. Jim. He QT all fish prior to sale. I just was their and he said he might no longer for ORA fish as he has never had one come in with issues.

- In north NJ , Diamonds of the Reef, he qt's all fish as well.He is on MR. I just looked and the latest post says he has one for $30.

Both are great guys.
 
AJ1080

AJ1080

*Update*

Its been two weeks and I still have not been able to find one faltworm in the tank. All of my snails/hermit crabs, shrimp are doing well. Each day it seems as if I see more and more brittle stars popping up in the tank. So far the only downside to this is that my pods seem to be completely decimated. I was looking last night and I dont see the typical activity of the pods running from rock to rock. Hopefully that is something that will return to normal.
 
S

SHLUZER

Contgratulations on your victory over the FW.
I've done it twice with significant losses (due to me not following all instructinos - water changes + carbon).
Melanarus wrasse could not keep up with them.
What seemed to work - moved to bigger tank, did not use old sand, live rock was soaked in high concentration of "FW exit" for several weeks.
I still have melanarus wrasse, so hopefully if FW will reappear, it will take care of it.
 
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