flatworm exit doesn't exit!?

[Corwyn]

I found some flat worms on my glass - not a lot maybe a dozen or so in a 180 so I am hoping my infestation is just at the beginning stages.
Exit says to treat with 1 drop per gallon. The cap treats 90g.

My tank is a 180. I have a 100g rubbermaid and a 30g refug.
I treated the tank with 3 cap fulls - which should equal 270g.


Glass is still covered with the little buggers! Not as many and they're not moving about as much, but they certainly did not desolve like he info sheet said. How long should I wait to try treating the tank again?


Corwyn

 

[Scuba_Dave]

Directions specifiy when to retreat
I think right away, but read the directions to be sure

 

[maurod]

I would dump a whole bottle into the 180, the bottle is good to treat 300gal, dump the whole thing in and make sure you have a ton of flow. IF you have more volume in a sump, I'd double or near double the dosage for the volume including sump. Also dont forget to pull all carbon and skimming until the 30 min dose time is up.

 

[richardong]

i treated flat worm with the exit and it work just right a way in couple minutes. The direction mention something about using more dosing if the recommended dosing not effective kill the worm.

 

[Corwyn]

I guess I wasn't clear. Yes, it says use 50% more if not effective. THis is for the same treatment though.
My question is if this doesn't seem to work can I treat the tank again today with a second bottle. Or should I wait a week or something?


Corwyn

PS it said to pull carbon and UV, but it didn't say anything about the skimmer. I kept running mine. Could that be the issue?

 

[stevenp]

Running your skimmer shouldn't make any difference.

Steve

 

[maurod]

I would wait a week and dose at 2x recommended off the bat.
make sure you get flow into the corners of the tank. If the FWorms dont get touched by the chemical, they wont die.

M.

 

[Greg Hiller]

If they don't get touched by the chemical then they are probably not the form of flatworm (Convolutra trilobata, or something like that) that this chemical is designed to kill.

 

[maurod]

Greg,
You make a very good point that I did not even realize was possible. I thought all red/brown flatworms were affected by this treatment.

I was just trying to point out that if the flatworms are in crevices that do not get sufficent exposure to water dosed with the chemical, they will not die.


M.

 

[Corwyn]

So let me guess, the flatworms that Exit doesn't touch are the worse kind to have!?

 

[maurod]

Dont panic yet. The kind that live on the glass are not acro eating. I would not worry about that if I were you.

Corwyn, can you take a photo of them or find them online somewhere? (Check out webwebmedia.com : http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pestflatwrmanthony.htm and see if you can identify them there. There are lots of good articles to read on treatment as well.)
M.

 

[JeremyR]

You absolutely have to shut the skimmer off.

 

[Corwyn]

well, they are just too small for me to take a pic with the camera I have.
They'r light brown/tan and seem to have horizontal white stripes/patches on thei backs.

The thing is, I sucked a few up into a cup with about 2 tablesoons of water.
Put 2 drops of exit into the cup and nothing! It doesn't seem to have ANY affect on them at all! The stuff is so strong that I can smell the chemicals when I stick my nose in to look at the little sh8s but they're just crawling around.

Corwyn

 

[maurod]

Do they look like this ? http://melevsreef.com/id/tbs/flatworms.jpg

(Courtesy of Melevsreef)
M.

 

[Corwyn]

NOPE, that's not them. They do not have such a clear indenet at the head and no red on them at all. They just look like a torpedo with a swallow tail.

 

[Greg Hiller]

If they do not look like the photo that Mauro posted in post #14, and they are not eating your Acropora....why are you trying to kill them?

 

[Scuba_Dave]

How many are we talking about?
I've seen light colored flatworms in my tank & never worried about them

 

[Corwyn]

no, they do not looklike the post in #14. But I thought ALL flat worms were bad! If they turn into an epidemic and die off will they not poison the tank?
Are there good flatworms?
Right now I oly see maybe a score or 2 on the glass, but I don't know how many are on/in the rocks.

 

[Scuba_Dave]

I saw maybe only a handful of the whitish clear type
They were never a problem & actually dissappeared after a while

The red ones are the one from HE 2x toothpicks

 

[maurod]

Do they look like anything on this page?
http://melevsreef.com/id/pods.html
or this one?
http://melevsreef.com/id/flatworm.html
http://melevsreef.com/id/sponge.html

Let us know if it matches any of those. We can then tell you whether to stress or not


Thanks,
Mauro