Is this a good plan to beat flatworms???

[mkengr45]

Here is my situation, I set up a 20g long reef tank at my girlfreinds apartment about 1 year ago. We have since split up and I need to get this set-up out of her place and put all the contents of the tank into a new tank I have set up at my place. The tank I am tearing down is super infested with flatworms. Here is what I am thinking might be good plan

1)Transport all LR and corals in the tanks original water in a big trash can, and take it to my place.

2) Acclimate using slow drip from my new tank into the trash can for like 2 hours.

3)treat the trash can with Salifert's Flatworm Exit using a strong dosage, let the chemical do its thing for about an hour. hopefully this will kill them all.

4)then pull out the corals and LR and place them in the new tank. This would leave all the toxins from the flatworms and chemicals in the trash can. Then just dump the trash can water down the sink.

This would keep me from having to do all the extra water changes and detox related stuff. Do you think an hour or 2 would kill off all the flatworms if I upped the dosage slightly. Let me know what ya think.

Randy

[::pete::]

When I treated with a heavier dose I saw some that made it a week later. I dosed again using the same amount and have not seen one since. You might want to dose twice before adding and its recommended to wait a week between.

[matt]

I think your idea will work fine, but you might want to do a follow up treatment in your tank a week or so after the trash can treatment. This way you'll get anything that survived the first treatment and made it into your tank. You can also post this question to Habib (owner of Salifert) on his sponsor forum on reefcentral (maybe reefs.org)

The only problem I see is that even in 1 hour, dead flatworms might really release some toxic stuff, especially into a small space like a trash can. What you can do to mitigate that is to toss the old sand, put your rock and corals in a container, then try to manually remove as many as possible before putting them into the treatment container. You can use a powerhead for this.

[mkengr45]

thanks for your help Matt and Prafferty. Actually I was very disapointed to see so few responses, especially since I know people on this board have knowledge about what it is that I am doing. Maybe I could just bump bump bump the crap out of this thread until some more people "step up to the plate" with their advice. Thanks again Matt and Prafferty for your input. If I ever see yall posting a question I garantee I will offer my thoughts whether they be right or wrong. hope to hear from more of you on this board.

Randy

[Brett Wilson]

I don't have any experience to add randy, but I have them too. I'm tagging along.
Free bump.

[mkengr45]

thanks man, hopefully we can both rid our tanks of these things. I know some will read this and think I sound ticked off, and they may not respond for that reason alone and thats fine. If I notice certan people helping out I definetely make it a point to give it back at some point. I am just wired that way, when I work I work furiously, when I play I play hard like friggin a mad man, so when I get bothered by something I will most likely not let it go without letting someone know, what I posted here is definetely the G-rated version of what is really going on @ my place. talk to everyone later.

Randy

[::pete::]

You are welcome ... here is a thought. If most people treat twice and I was told at the time of my post a fresh water dip melts them. Take your items and give them a fresh water dip in a different pail that you will change the water in as the toxins fill it. This will remove most if not all the flat worms and toxins. Now place the items in a fresh pail and dose it. After a couple hours add it to the tank. Most if not all toxins will be removed at this point then add to your tank and keep an eye out. If you have to dose at this point the toxin level will be so low it wont be a big concern. I still would run some carbon afterwards.

[::pete::]

I don't have any experience to add randy, but I have them too. I'm tagging along.
Free bump.

I dont know if you are breaking your tank down or not. I dosed the recommended amount plus on a 100 gal using half the bottle. It affected nothing except putting my cerith/astrea snails in lala land. They laid upside down till the next day. Just follow the instructions and keep your eyes opened afterwards. Good Luck