Please post experiences and ways using Salifert Flatworm Exit

[basssnake]

Please post your experiences you using salifert flatworm exit. This is one of the only medications for this bad problem in coral reef tanks and is a very sensitive procedure. I need to do it to one of my tanks, and i would really like to see some of the ways used and peoples experiences in some detail. I am sure there are others wanting the same knowledge.

[thecichlidpleco]

Unless you only have a few small ones, this will do little good. Large ones need to be manually removed.

[Kannin]

I have not experienced it but I read a thread on here where someone used it and there were so many dead worms that there was an ammonia spike that killed the whole tank.

[amike5]

FWE kills the majority of flatworms, but it always leaves some behind. My only success in getting rid of them was to get a mandarine (who didn't eat flatworms), and let the flatworms overpopulate and crash themselves. I haven't seen a flatworm in six months now.

[crab0000]

It worked great in my tank, but you need to siphon all you can see out for a few days before you treat the tank. You can only see a small percentage of the total number in your tank. The only problem I had was one of my caps bleached a little, but made a full recovery.

[Marsfrogie]

My method has been triple the dosage, have a filter sock in place to catch as many as possible when they make it into the water column and then place a huge load of activated carbon into a high flow area about 3 hours after you dose the tank.

The only reason I tripled the dosage is because they will normally just sit there and laugh at you at the normal dosage.

[driftin]

I had great success with it too.

As mentioned, for every flatworm you see there are countless hiding in the rockwork. I siphoned every single flatworm I could see for 3 nights in a row leading up to the flatworm exit treatment, and that night as well.

I dosed about twice the normal dosage. Dead flatworms started rising from the rockwork all over the place. I wanted to remove them ASAP, before their toxicity could affect the tank, and started siphoning within 10 minutes. I kept - siphoning, top off water with fresh, siphon... I dosed the Exit maybe two more times during that process. By the end of the evening, I had no more flatworms and had done close to 25% water change.

My only fatalities (other than the flatworms) that I could see were three bristle worms. They had been in a back corner of the tank that I siphoned last; I think the flatworms toxicity got them and not the treatment itself.

Never saw a flatworm again.

[basssnake]

Well, I have flatworms that are on my xenia's and my toadstool coral(on the top surface and when the tennacles open out they are on the tenacles near the top) and some on a mushroom coral. I don't know how to get them off of them without damaging the corals..... any idea?? I never saw these little suckers til i bought the xenia's back in July. I saw them on the xenia's just about a day or two after putting them in my tank(bought them from a fish store local). I believe they were on there when i bought the xenia's(i didn't even know what flatworms were til a month ago). Any idea's?? I have a wonderful established saltwater reef and i don't want to kill any of my other corals. I even have a gonipora that the skeleton(rock part) is the size of a baseball or so, but the tennacles extend out to 5 or 6 inches and it has been doing well for a year and a half, and i do nothing to my tank(barely ever feed any food supplements, just do the normal supplesments once a week or two). Please help me figure out how to get rid of these darn things, out of my reef and off my soft corals listed above.

Suggestions????

[tmz]

Originally posted by Marsfrogie
My method has been triple the dosage, have a filter sock in place to catch as many as possible when they make it into the water column and then place a huge load of activated carbon into a high flow area about 3 hours after you dose the tank.

The only reason I tripled the dosage is because they will normally just sit there and laugh at you at the normal dosage.

I generally agree but have never gone beyond slightly less than 2x dosage. I don't believe a higher dose would necessarily have ill effect,just never had to do it I start at 125% dose and move up to about !75% on second treatment. I don't kill them all at once but two to three shots has been effective. This way they don't all die at once giving a chance to clean up the water in between treatments.


The worms give off a toxin when they die. This can do damage. There are many, many more than you see so managing the toxin from mass die off is a worry but it is manageable.
Siphon out all that you can. Hook up an extra carbon source to the tank. You will not use the carbon during treatment but wan't to be able to use it quickly.A sock works to catch dead ones .An over the side filter can also do this. When they die siphon out as many as you can as soon as you can. Do the recommended water change .Wait a day or so and treat again if necessary.Keep the tank well oxygenated during treatment. Add extra flow to move the treatment around the tank and as deep into the rock structure as you can get it to go. A powerhead pointed at the rock does this nicely.

[Alaska_Phil]

I siphoned out all of them I could find for 10 days prior to dosing, mainly because I had to wait for it to get here. But 3 days after dosing I'm starting to see 1 or 2 in the tank again. So I'll hit the tank again this weekend with a 150% dose. No other side effects were noted though.

Phil

[crab0000]

Originally posted by basssnake
Well, I have flatworms that are on my xenia's and my toadstool coral(on the top surface and when the tennacles open out they are on the tenacles near the top) and some on a mushroom coral. I don't know how to get them off of them without damaging the corals..... any idea?? I never saw these little suckers til i bought the xenia's back in July. I saw them on the xenia's just about a day or two after putting them in my tank(bought them from a fish store local). I believe they were on there when i bought the xenia's(i didn't even know what flatworms were til a month ago). Any idea's?? I have a wonderful established saltwater reef and i don't want to kill any of my other corals. I even have a gonipora that the skeleton(rock part) is the size of a baseball or so, but the tennacles extend out to 5 or 6 inches and it has been doing well for a year and a half, and i do nothing to my tank(barely ever feed any food supplements, just do the normal supplesments once a week or two). Please help me figure out how to get rid of these darn things, out of my reef and off my soft corals listed above.

Suggestions????

You could use airline tubing to siphon them out. That shouldn't hurt the coral and will remove less water.

[Alaska_Phil]

I used a section of small rigid tube with a length of airline slipped over the end to siphon them out. The rigid tube makes a nice wand to get into crevices and keeps your hand out of the water.

But I can't claim credit for the idea http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

Phil

[tmz]

A small turkey baster can be used to suck up those that are near or even on corals. You can control the force of siphon by gently or abrubtly releasing the bulb. It gives you really good control.

[lazluvtoo]

How about mixing up some flatworm exit in a separate container and dipping the corals in it?

[tmz]

Originally posted by lazluvtoo
How about mixing up some flatworm exit in a separate container and dipping the corals in it?

Excellent for those those that can be removed.

[hypermikie]

Here is a link to my recent post about the Flatworms (red planaria) which COVERED my Aleveopora. I used Flatworm eXit and documented it all complete with pictures.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1233003

Hope it is of some help

[rkcca]

I did a preventative treatment of FWE several times when moving corals into my frag tank. The corals were unaffected. It did kill the stomata(sp) snails. Kind of a shame since they do a good job cleaning the areas that turbos snails won't touch.

[basssnake]

How do you use the airline tubing thing to get suction from it? Please detail on that. thanks

[Alaska_Phil]

Just suck on the other end to get a siphon started. I don't have a sump so just let it drain into a bucket. Then replaced what I siphoned out with clean new saltwater.

Phil