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Travis 
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 Topic: Flatworms
Posted: June 22 2004 at 11:54am |
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Has anyone used Flatworm Exit by Salifert?? I have small brown flat worms in my 55g and in the fuge of the 110g. I have not seen any in the 110g... I think because of my sixline but I want to take care of them before they become a problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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reptoreef
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 12:01pm |
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IMO, stay away from chemical additions... why not just add some known preditors to the tanks with the flatworms(like a six-line wrasse)?
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 12:06pm |
I agree with reptoreef.
Any chemical that can kill flatworms is not completely safe to use in your reef IMO.
You can search the message board and find some past stories about people trying to get rid of their flatworm problems.
I recommend high water-flow in the areas with flatworms, adjusted every day or two until they disappear.
Edited by Jake Pehrson
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 12:35pm |
Wow I had two suggestions, and there were what Repto and Jake said.
Adam
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jfinch
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 1:13pm |
Personally I would do what has been suggested by Jake and Jason. But if it didn't work and the flatworms got out of hand I would probably try flatworm exit... as a last resort. There are many sucess stories regarding flatworm exit on reefcentral, but ymmv. The key, it appears, is to dose really hard for a very short duration followed by water changes, carbon, ect. The stuff will probably eventually kill all the inverts in your tank, but the flatworms are the first to go so it's a timing issue. Just my $0.02
knock on wood that I don't see any flatworms in my tank...
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Travis
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 2:09pm |
That was my first thoughts and what I have been trying for the last couple moths. problem is I can't put a sixline or increase flow in the refuge... and in the 55g they are mainly on the glass in the sump. I have read countless reports of successful use of flatworm exit but still hesitate to use it. I'm also a firm believer in chemicals as a last resort but flatworms can be nasty in a reef if not attended to... maybe I'll try a few more things before using it.
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 2:28pm |
Why can't you put a sixline in the sump? He won't damage your pod population, and you can always catch him later.
Adam
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Travis
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 2:47pm |
Why wouldn't he damage the pod population??
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 2:59pm |
Well I guess he may a little, but why eat pods when the sump is filled with planaria. They can't get away and they're everywhere... right? Plus if he did deplete your pods, so what? I'd go that route.
Adam
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 2:59pm |
Oh yah, and I may (MAY) consider using a mandarin.
Adam
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Travis
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 3:26pm |
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I never said it was 'filled' with flatworms lol. I wouldn't mind a mandarin or sixline in the display but not in the sump... to many places in there to get hurt.
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Travis
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 3:49pm |
I would like to get a nudi  but there's not enough to support one...
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coreyk
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Posted: June 22 2004 at 4:34pm |
i picked-up flatworm problem from some live rock that i got... they really started to get out of hand. my tank was pretty new w/ only two fish, a few frags, and no inverts. so, i went ahead an used flatwork exit... worked like a charm. sad part of the story was that with the added cost of the flatwork exit the good deal i got on the rock ended up costing more than any other rock ... lol ... live an learn. 
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Travis
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Posted: June 25 2004 at 9:33am |
Just recieved the Flatworm Exit... interesting... "Flatworm exit is quite safe to fish and invertebrates. However, the body juice of flatworms can be toxic to some reef inhabitants when present in too high concentration. This body juice is sometimes excreted when flatworms die."
They give good instructions on how to use the product but I'm still nervious on what may happen. If I give it a go this weekend I'll post the results as I go...
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: June 25 2004 at 12:38pm |
Flatworm exit is quite safe to fish and invertebrates.
How can this be so? Flatworms are an invertebrate.
Not to disagree or discourage you from using the product here is what Anthony Calfo had to say about it.
Taken from http://www.wetwebmedia.com/flatwrmfaq3.htm
I plan on using Salifert Flatworm Exit soon.
<yikes! Please do resist using any such chemical in the reef aquarium. You must know that such products are not discriminating between desirable and undesirable micro-organisms. And beyond perhaps crippling your bio-diversity, you are in fact treating a symptom and not the problem: not enough or not the right kind of water flow... 20X turnover would be nice>
and
If it's Planaria, do you recommend the Flatworm Exit product from Salifert?
<I would never recommend it or anything like it. No such product has been demonstrated to my satisfaction to kill one nuisance invertebrate while not harming some others of like kind but desirable.>
and I agree with him.
Waterflow is the answer IMO. I have had flatworms multiple times and fixed the problem without any type of chemical or commercial product.
Edited by Jake Pehrson
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: June 25 2004 at 12:45pm |
 Jake Pehrson wrote:
Flatworm exit is quite safe to fish and invertebrates.
How can this be so? Flatworms are and invertebrate.
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Maybe that is why it doesn't work.
No just kidding it probably works. But Jake does make a good point.
Adam
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Travis
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Posted: June 25 2004 at 12:47pm |
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I don't know... it does work and works safely... just read around.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 25 2004 at 7:36pm |
Travis,
I have never heard of a chemical treatment for the aquarium that is completely safe. But if you look around, you can most always find a natural way to handle every problem. But you need to look, because it usually isn't as simple as a chemical and because it doesn't earn anyone any money, it doesn't get any press!
I used a natural method that eliminated planeria and didn't kill anything. I posted the method here last year, but didn't give the end of the story at that time, so in a nutshell, here it is:
Flatworms had been an increasing problem in a 10 gal. tank for about two months. I had the idea that since these flatworms are photosynthetic, I would reduce the lighting on the tank and see what effect that had. I also turned off all circulation for a few hours each day. This was so the fish could see the flatworms moving to find a place where there was more light. The fish can only notice them when they move.
The lights were left off for five days. The tank was near a window so it had some light all day. I also didn't feed the tank, for those five days. I kind of had this in mind since the two Yellow Tailed Blue Damsels and the Green Mandarin eat flatworms. There was no Six-Line Wrasse in this tank. (I once had a SLW that wouldn't touch flatworms!)
The lights went on for a day or two each week, to help rejuvinate the coral and macroalgae, and after about three weeks all flatworms were gone and they never came back. This tank, the July 2003 TOTM eventually went to my brothers house and I have moved on to other tanks.
The only concern with this method is the low light condition and its effect on clams and some SPS. If you have these, it will simply take longer, perhaps six weeks, with the lights off for 3-4 days per week, to do the job because those coral and clams cannot take such long periods of low light conditions.
I hope it works for you like it did for me. 
Feel free to call to discuss the details. BTW, I had tried "Flatworm Exit" a month prior. It maimed some coral, and caused the death of the Bicolor Blenny but only killed 10% of the planeria. 
Edited by Mark Peterson
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Travis
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Posted: June 25 2004 at 8:53pm |
Well I'm in the process of treating the 55g. I know and agree natural methods are the best and appreciate everyone's comments. If any ill effects are observed I will not use it in the 110g. As of now, I treated the water around 8:30pm by putting the solution in the sump/refug. Within 5min four baby snails I had in the sump/refug fell from the glass  although they are up crawling around now that was not a good start. I have started running carbon and have not noticed anything else looking bad. Corals are still fully open, snails in the display seem fine, pods are still crawling around and the fish seem fine. My main concern now is the toxins from the flatworms. I didn't realize there was so many... after about 20min they were floating everywhere. I sucked as many as I could out but there are still a lot. I plan to run carbon through the night and do a good water change in the morning. I'll post the outcome.
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Travis
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Posted: June 26 2004 at 11:53am |
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Well water change is done, lighting are on and all looks well. Pods are still heavy in the sump/refug, no snails died, peppermint shrimp and fish are all fine. Seems to be a success.
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