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Flatworms, friend, foe, or just a p.i.t.a.?
- Thread starter MarkO1
- Start date
MarkO - I had an epidemic of flatworms a while back. It started out with just a few and before long they were everywhere. What I did was take a small diameter piece of rigid plastic tubing attached to a length of airline tubing and syphoned them out. The small diameter tubing makes it easy to get in small places.
They are not a problem - unless the population crashes (something that I can't remember actually happening to anyone not trying to kill the flatworms).
I siphoned for months, got real good at it, and it became part of the routine. When enough people had figured out how not to kill the tank with Flatworm Exit, I dosed with it. Fantastic, and I didn't realize how much time I was actually siphoning FW's when I could have been enjoying the tank.
It took me 3 dosed of flatworm exit to kill them all off. The key to treatment is siphoning the numbers down (the body juice is toxic) and running carbon in a canister filter after treatment.
Let me know if you want more details. I would get rid of them soon, while their numbers are small.
I siphoned for months, got real good at it, and it became part of the routine. When enough people had figured out how not to kill the tank with Flatworm Exit, I dosed with it. Fantastic, and I didn't realize how much time I was actually siphoning FW's when I could have been enjoying the tank.
It took me 3 dosed of flatworm exit to kill them all off. The key to treatment is siphoning the numbers down (the body juice is toxic) and running carbon in a canister filter after treatment.
Let me know if you want more details. I would get rid of them soon, while their numbers are small.
hmmm...
i'm not sure that all flatworms are bad-i've some here, and they seem to be microalgae feeders
my rainfords goby seems to like 'em, though-though it takes awhile for it to chew 'em up-hehe
as long as they aren't the sps eatin flatworms, or you don't have sps's in the tank, or your tank isn't epidemic w/'em, i wouldn't go freakin out and puttin chemical additives in the tank
it may also be a sign of mild overfeeding
i'm not sure that all flatworms are bad-i've some here, and they seem to be microalgae feeders
my rainfords goby seems to like 'em, though-though it takes awhile for it to chew 'em up-hehe
as long as they aren't the sps eatin flatworms, or you don't have sps's in the tank, or your tank isn't epidemic w/'em, i wouldn't go freakin out and puttin chemical additives in the tank
it may also be a sign of mild overfeeding
The flatworm exit is totally safe. I dosed my 150 fully stocked with everything, and didn't even get a ripple of reaction from anything besides the flatworms. The problem people have is a mass die off of flatworms and their toxins in the water.
IME, once you have a few flatworms, you always have them, though you may want to wait a month or two to see if they go by themselves.
IME, once you have a few flatworms, you always have them, though you may want to wait a month or two to see if they go by themselves.
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