coral with flat worms--should i buy or not???

[taekim78]

I saw some cool zoos at my LFS but his tank is covered with red flat worms. I would love to get the zoos but i dont want to infect my tank with flat worms. what should i do? fresh water dip the zoo rock or iodine dip or both and how long should i do it for?

thanks!!!!

[Harpo]

Personally (dealing with the things now) I would run. If you want to take a chance then I would dip the colonies in FlatwormeXit by Salifert.
Mark

[dc]

I wouldn't knowingly infect my tank!:eek:

[ryancheson]

For all the money you have invested in the tank, why take the risk. Find a different vendor and get it there instead. Your playing with a loaded gun. What if the dip doesn't get them all? Don't take the chance.

[nanocat]

Pay for flatworms? :eek2:

Not on your life. I wouldn't take his zoos for free :D

[Henna Ojisan]

I had a hard time getting rid of all my red flatworms (imported from a bag of chaeto unknowingly) I'd pass that up and wouldn't look back - that LFS needs to get that taken care of for sure.

[Racenrich]

Maybe a little barter will get you a lower price. Telling them that you must now get rid of the FW.
I've done it and paid $10 less.
Of course i used the FW Exit prior to putting in main tank.
2g salt with about 4 drops FWE and your good to go.

Really depends on how much you want the zoos.
i wanted the ones i have now and glad i did buy them.
Good luck.

[Henna Ojisan]

Racenrich - good point, but I had a hard time finding FWE and if I were in his shoes - if he doesn't have any on hand - I'd hold off on the purchase. If he does, then I'd definately try and barter if they are really worth the extra efforts...

[shawnz28]

Personally if it was me and was something I REALLY wanted I would risk buying it, but, I would setup some kind of small tank just for them for a few days or so. so you could treat it a couple of times

[wasp]

Where I am every supplier has flatworms. I went through a major to eliminate them from my tank, but I have no choice but to buy stuff that is infested.
A FE treatment of new corals is not 100% reliable, so what I do is
1. Fresh water dip 5 minutes, but not xenia which FW will kill.
2. back into salt water with FE at 5 x normal dose for 1/2 hour
3. keep in isolation tank for a couple of weeks for observation.
Sounds like a lot of hassle? not as much as I went through to clean them from my tank.
My tank is now flatworm and aptasia free, and my fanatical cleaning of all new introductions is probably the easiest way to keep it that way.
Also, an isolation tank is not very hard to set up. Just a small glass tank, heater and powerhead are all that is nessecary. I just put a bit of tank water in it when I need to get it going.

[taekim78]

man thats too much work... i guess i should stay away from them. thanks for the replys!!!