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Resistant flatworms


Islandoftiki

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So, I'm trying to get rid of the last few rust brown flatworms in my tank and I'm having a difficult time.

 

I'm using a product called Flatworm Solution made by PrecisionSolutons. It appears to be the exact same chemical as Flatworm Exit. Not sure if the concentration is the same though. Recommended dosage is four drops per 10 gallons of liquid.

 

My first treatment, I added two drops to my two gallon pico tank after manually removing every one I could suck up with a turkey baster. The worms came out of the woodwork! Well, rockwork. As they floated into the water column, I kept sucking them out. After they were all gone, I did a 30% water change, added some extra activated charcoal to the filter compartment and none of the other inhabitants seemed to be any worse for wear.

 

A couple days later, I found a few more and treated the tank again, this time with four drops.

 

I continue to find a few every couple days and have treated the tank with up to five drops (way more than the recommended dosage). I'm now to the point where I have a couple dozen remaining flatworms that seem to be unaffected by the large dosage.

 

Here's my question... how much is too much of the flatworm treatment? Even at 5 drops per two gallons, none of the other inhabitants seem in the slightest bit bothered. Any more than that seems extreme to me. Is it time to enlist a velvet sea slug and then find it a new home once it's taken care of my flatworms? I won't get one just to do my tank alone. I'd want to line up at least two or three people in need of it's services.

 

Anyone have experience with resistant flatworms? What did you do?

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my vote is stop all chemical dosing and focus on manual removal. There are many creative options. attach an outflow pump to a hose and make a power siphon, remove them with a specially fitted end attached on the siphon tube end (some kind of poker or skewer to dislodge them and place them in flow)

 

regular siphon them out with a pry tool

 

Ive had them before and they werent hard to beat it just took months.

 

any time you add new frags from the lfs, even if you think they aren't importing flats they are. and others like red brush algae spores or fragments. there are ways to treat some frags to lessen this event.

 

in my tank I didnt have to siphon them out, they congregated on the glass wall and could be wiped out with a paper towel. at one time I had about 1000 in my gallon reef, they can be beat with 2 mos removal persistence.

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I had gotten those rust/red flatworms too and went straight to Flatworm exit. I must have done 3 treatments and a couple were over what they said to dose. I still have some in there that don't seem to be bothered no matter how much FE I put in. Beginning to get me mad as they stay on the coral and I have a hard time sucking them off. I hate these things and its the first time I ever had them. I thought about getting something to just eat them as well (whatever is left anyway).

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