Flatworm Exit Question

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#1
So yesterday I added a full bottle of Flatworm Exit per the dosage instructions on the box. Those little buggers were floating around everywhere! In preparation for this I have been siphoning them out about every other day for the last two weeks or so. After adding the FE and waiting for them to become suspended in the water I ran activated carbon and did a 50 gallon water change. I also began to scoop them out with a net to decrease the impact of the toxins. I added clean filter socks and changed them before I went home last night. I will be changing them again today and have another 50 gallons ready for changing. Now to my question how soon should I run another dose of FE? In one area where I have had a large concentration of them I see some that appear to be alive climbing the glass.
Thanks,
Mike
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#2
Not sure on the FWE but do you have any wrasses? They can help you keep them in check. Turkey baster the corals every day and they'll gobble.
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#3
I have 3 a Melanarus, Checkerboard or Marbled, and a Yellow Coris. They don't seem to touch them even when I reduce feedings.
 

Munch

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
You'll need 2 or 3 more treatments, and still will probably have them. Wrasse is your best defense.
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#8
That's good it gives me enough time to get more. Downside to a big tank is how much it takes for one dose! At least I know it takes a whole bottle and then some now.
 

Munch

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
The issue is it doesn't deal with the eggs. Hence the multiple treatments over 3 weeks.

I've found you need 2-3 x the recommended dosage per treatment, so it gets pricey quick.

"Supposedly" there's a FWE like chemical available at farm/feed stores, I cannot recall the name though.
 

Munch

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
Found the post:

"Levamisole HCL. It is a sheep dewormer that you can usually find at tractor supply. This stuff is crazy strong, and when i say crazy strong i mean CRAZY strong.

RESEARCH it first and use it at your discretion. But one treatment should kill them all, and after 2 treatments there is pretty much no chance they will live.
The flatworm toxins will hurt or kill your fish and corals so please use caution."

NOTE, I have not tried this, so I cannot confirm it's results.
 

Munch

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
More info on the Leva:

I then read about the Levamisole on RC, tracked it down, asked a few questions to be sure of the dosage and dosed the tank using the same precautions as with the FWE. The next day there were no signs of the Red Planeria anywhere. I redosed again after 1 week, there was not a sign of a FW anywhere.

As I now had a Manderin and DFP's, i was extremely worried about my pod population, but the amount in my fuge had actually seemed larger without the FW's. I don't know if there is any relation between the absence of the FW and the boom in pods, but I was relieved to see them all over the place.

Having taken some rock from my reef and adding it to my SH tank, I decided to dose that tank also, again no deaths of anything but the Planeria.

As i said, in both the FWE and LH treatments, some snails and micro stars were stressed, but no deaths that I could see.

I will say, that in the past year, I've had to redose the tank twice, not because of any in the DT, but because I had some pop up in the fuge, a few, but not many. I'm assuming this is because I have no predators whatsoever in the fuge. Each time, I just shut off the carbon, dosed and turned the carbon back on after about an hour with no WC. I don't know how FW's reproduce, but I'm guessing there are eggs somewhere that are not being effected. Possibly a once a week dosage for 4-5 weeks might take care of them permanently, I'm not sure.

The mix of LH I used was 1/2 TSP LH to 240 ML of water, then dose at 1-1.5 mL per gallon.

I went with 1.6 ML per gallon.

I have read that OD'ing with LH can be a problem, maybe that was what happened in your case with your dip. I tried to use it as a dip once and killed a few Yuma's. I attribute this to an OD as it is very hard to dose such a small volume of water accurately. I had the same Yuma's in the tank when I dosed it and they showed no signs of stress when dosed in the proper amount in the tank.

In the end, I honestly don't feel this is a harsh method to eliminating FW's.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
Don't be shocked if you have to treat 4 to 6 times. Once you knock them down to where they is just a few, you can leave the dewormer in the tank without carbon or a water change. This really does a good job of killing the rest of them off. You cannot do this early since there are so many to explode and dissolve.

Typically, the first treatment is in the tank for less than an hour before carbon, siphoning, etc - the things are coming out of everywhere. The next treatment is much the same, only less of them coming from everywhere. By treatment 3, there should be just a few hangers on and the mass of toxins should be so small that you don't need to run the carbon for the fish to be OK for several hours. By treatment 4, you should be able to just leave it in there without any carbon or water changes for a day - this really gets the last bit of them. Then, you might need a one or two more after that for eggs or whatever, but these treatments should be really harmless with so few worms.

Levasole works exactly the same. You can get it at Murdochs, nearly any feed/cattle/pig store, or on eBay for about $22-30. It makes a lot more for the money than FWE.
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#13
Thanks a lot for all of the advice. I was all prepped to order more now I'll see what I can find locally and dose again next week.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
Few more things... if your tank is part of a "system" or large sump, then take it offline - this will make the FWE more potent. Get some good flow going behind the rocks - my wavebox gets it back there pretty good, so do the same. Wrasses will readily eat them... once the food it gone and once the pods are gone... they are like brussell sprouts, I guess. Sometimes they will eat them in the water column if you spray them off. Leopard wrasses are the only fish that I have just seen eat them in passing with an otherwise full belly, and even they are hit or miss.

I might have a pouch of Levasole if you cannot find any - hollar if you need it and we can get it to you and I can order another one to have on the shelf.
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#15
I'm going to call Murdoch's and see if they have it down here. If I can't find it I'll reach out to you Doug. Thanks for all the help.
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#16
Did the 2nd treatment and had some students help me with the tank for the first time. I had one of them netting out the dead floaters. He really beat the crap out of my Gorg but it opened up a little later. Significantly fewer floaters this time.
 

MuralReef

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#18
Did another treatment yesterday. Thanks Dr Tutu for hooking me up with another bottle of flatworm exit. Only a few floaters continuing to run carbon. Looking good.
 
Top