salifert flatworm eXit - one week later

[thebigblue]

well, i finally got up the courage to dose my tank last weekend with saliferts flatworm eXit...

heres my setup...

125 gal tank ...180 #s of LR...5" DSB...three 250w 10K MHs...aqua-c ev180 skimmer

My tank is all softies (shrooms, polyps, leathers, xenia) and a large magnifica anemone with a A. Ocellaris clown. My other fish are a purple tang, leopard wrasse, citron goby, and spotted mandarin.

I have had FWs for about a year. No idea how they were introduced, but they had slowly started to spread like wildfire. I tried limiting feeding and cut down on adding phyto-plankton all together. I also added the leopard wrasse and spotted mandarin in the hope that they would eat them, but they never did.

heres the timeline of what i did...

i siphoned out as many FWs as i could (not many)
1:21pm dosed almost the whole bottle (bottle does 300 gallons)
1:28 flatworm death...start carbon in Hot Magnum
1:35 tank water looks noticably yellow/orange and really stinks...using a net to skim out dead FW bodies...i put sponges in the overflows to help catch debris
1:43 turned skimmer back on
2:39 anemone looks bad, kinda turned inside out
2:45pm 12 gal water change (siphoned out water looks like apple juice!)
7:00pm living room stinks like hell...
8:45 took out sponges from overflows..they seem reddish color
8:50 12 gal water change (water looks pretty good comin out)...cleaned out skimmer, alot of orange/red skimmate...really stinks
9:15pm changed carbon in hot magnum

next morning...

8:00am purple tang is dead, serpant star looks like hell...skimmer cup really overflowing with bright red skimmate....alot of dead bristle worms (didnt really know i had so many)...a few dead snails too
9:45 12 gal water change
12:00pm everything is very closed up...xenia looks horrible...anemone is completely closed up
11:00pm changed carbon again...cleaned skimmer cup...

today...

its taken all week but everything is getting back to "normal"...i seem to have lost a couple shrooms, but all the other corals are looking much better...

like alot of people who have used this product have said, i dont think its the salifert eXit that causes harm but the dead FW bodies...i had what i would consider a pretty bad case and i've seemed to come thru it...i havent seen one FW all week...knock on wood...

my purple tang was my favorite fish so it really sucks to lose him...the mandarin, clown and goby didnt seem fazed at all by the treatment...the leopard wrasse went into hiding for a few days but is back to eating normally...my big concern was my anemone and it even is pretty much back to "normal"...

im not sure what the long term effects (if any) there will be...but for now, at least for me, the flatworm exit has lived up to its name...

brad

[Ninong]

Brad,

Interesting observations. Thanks for sharing.

Sorry about your losses. Did the Flatworm Exit come with a warning about the consequences of using it?

As you found out, when the planaria burst they release a red toxin into the water that is toxic to fish and must be removed immediately by large water changes and the use of large quantities of activated carbon. That product must be similar to Tetra Marin Oomed which also causes the planaria to burst and release their toxins into the water.

I think they should put warning labels on products like that because you really have to be prepared to do extensive water changes and use a large quantity of carbon if you want to avoid nasty consequences.

[thebigblue]

from the instructions...

"this product is safe to fish and inverts, however the body juices of FWs can be toxic to some fish when present in too high concentration."

they also say to siphon off as many as you can and have carbon, preferably in a canister, ready...

i learned from sites like this one to have the carbon running (actively not just sitting in the sump) and to be prepared to do water changes...

thanks

brad

[Ninong]

from the instructions...
"this product is safe to fish and inverts, however the body juices of FWs can be toxic to some fish when present in too high concentration."

Hmmm... I guess that gets them off the hook but it seems like an underhanded way to word a warning. The product is intended to kill the flatworms, killing the flatworms causes them to burst and release their toxin into the water, so if the product is used and does what it is designed to do, there will be a serious problem that has to be dealt with.

All of the previous reports I have read online were about Oomed but the results were the same. I guess the folks who had only a minor problem with planaria and used Oomed without major losses just didn't post but the ones who did all reported nasty consequences that were more than they expected.

Hopefully you are in the clear now. Maybe everything that was affected bad enough to die has already done so.

Good luck,

[fabioowin]

This Flatworm Is Terrific ... I Had Used Flatworm Control Of Blue Life But I Think This Is Weak ... I Will Try Use Flatworm Exit And Thank You For Show Your Experience.

[Ninong]

Hi fabioowin,




When using Flatworm eXit, remember that it is very important to follow the manufacturer's instructions exactly.

Good luck!

[harris51]

For my 2 cents.....

I think there might be some wisdom to prefer a partial kill with a "recommended" dosing..... yielding less initial toxic release.

Then reapplying at a later date with a higher dose to get the refractory ones.

This might allow extreme toxic exposures (when the FWs die) to be slightly mitigated..... with of course the standard water changes and carbon.

I too am sorry to hear about your loss.