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Flatworms ! Mojamos ! Aptasia ! i had enough !

I'm in a deli-ma here i cant seem to get rid of any of those bugs they keep coming back so I'm thinking of braking down the tank, corals keep dieing, i cant stand to see them all go, i just dont know what to do my tank looks like crap.
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Mojanos need to be scraped from the rock, as best I can tell. Aptasia try a handful of peppermints (like 12 of them). Flatworms you can either freshwater dip the rock or dip it in high concentration of FWE.

Hang in there, Steve. You can beat it. Might mean breaking it apart to do a deep clean, but you can do it!
 
I'm having the same probblem with aptasia... for 8 months i've tried to get rid of them... Next thing is shrimp.

Best of luck my friend, I know how your feeling...


Nick
 

momof6kids

NJRC Member
Steve,
You have been a source of inspiration to all of us. You can win this battle. If you can't win how can any of the rest of us peons. ::)
 
Hello there,

I don't have anything yet for mojamos, but if you could get some pictures up here that would be awesome, just so other people who don't know what they are can see what you have so maybe they can start early before it becomes uncontrollable.

Check this out. Just a suggestion.

http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

I would have to think the aptasia is really bad cause I have seen lugols work wonders if you use it.

UPDATE.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-29754.html

might be of some use for mojanos

HTH
 
Hang in there Steve!

If you need some help let me know.

You are "Super Reefer" so I know it's a temporary thing!
 
Steve:
Hang in there. Like we talked about, you can bring your tank around again. Let me know if I can help.
 

JohnS_323

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Stick it out Steve. Believe me, I know how frustating this hobby is at times. As a matter of fact, it was your tank that made me think about going into bee keeping instead! You ARE a "Super Reefer" and can get your tank back to where it was.

If there is anything we can do for you just let us know. We're here for you, my friend.
 

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
id be willing to come help try get rid of that stuff for you. Invite everyone over. I'm sure we can save your tank some how.
 
braking down the tank is going to be hard but i have try i cant keep loosing corals
i took a lot of rock out last night & wire wheel the mojamos off the rock i fresh water dipped the rocks & could not believe how many flatworms came from the rocks this is going to take a long time (why cant it be winter) i have so many other things i have to do.
does any one have 100 to 150 gallon Rubbermaid tubs that i can borrow for at least 3 months?
my plan is to brake the tank down till it's empty run fresh water through it for a couple of days then start to fill it with RO & cycle it for 3 months.

Thank you everyone.
 
I'm sure you already know this but doing that is pretty drastic and you're going to basically start all over again.

Let me ask this. Is the problem from worse to best; flatworms (are these red ones?), Aptasia then Mojanos? If not how would you describe the order?

I'm not familiar with your tank so excuse the question but what size tank, how many pounds of rock and what's your bioload fish and invert wise? I've heard you have lots of nice corals.

Do you have another tank you could use QT style to move corals to for a few days if needed? I hate to say it but if you have those 3 you might have other nasties in there also. Ever have a problem with ich on your fish?

What is your tank's pH?

How thick is your subtrate? Do you see flatworms on this to or many just the rock?

Just trying to gather a bit of info and maybe I could give you an idea you haven't thought of or tried, maybe. Doesn't hurt to try.

Carlo
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Wish I had an extra one around for ya Steve, I'd lend it to you (or house your stuff for ya) if I could! You could use a couple of brute cans instead. Sounds like you're on your way to a solution, harsh as it is.
 
Just wanted to wish you luck, I had flatworms in my 50g (a good number of them too) and did not want them moving to the new 70g... I mixed up a strong concentration of FWE in a tub and all rocks/corals went into that for an hour (small brittle stars didn't like it but once they were back in fresh sw they were fine)... after that they were swished/dipped in fresh saltwater in another tub, and then once more in another tub for good measure. Knock on wood I have not seen a single flatworm in the new tank since it was set up :D I've only ever had a couple aiptasia on purchased rock and used joes juice.

I think Ken at sealifeinc.net usually has really good prices on peppermints
 

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Good Luck Steve, that's a lot of work! I have a big rubbermaid tub here, It's probably only 30 gallons, you're welcome to borrow it. I'm happy to see that you're not throwing in the towel...You're system has been an inspiration to a lot of us in the club....

I'm having an aiptasia problem too and I've also noticed flatworms...again. I've been dosing FWE and seems to be helping. I don't know where the heck the flatworms came from because I've been dipping everything in FWE before it goes into the tank :(

Again...Good luck and if you need any help let me know...god only knows you've helped me so much in the past...I definitely owe you one.
 
thanks for the offer Brian but i need at least a 150 gallon rubbermaid, if need anything I'll give u a buz u rock!

thanks for the kind words Candi.

Yes Carlo i have the Red one's the bad ones not the brown ones.
tank is 210 900lbs of L/R 600 gallons of total water.
11 fish inverts are the usual & i used to have nice corals
the PH,ALK.Salinity.CAL & PO are with in normal range.
flatworms are everywhere sand & rocks.
& yes i am going to start all over again.
 

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
there is a place down by me called agway that sells those rubbermaids. If that helps i think the 150 is about $150.
 
steve68 said:
thanks for the offer Brian but i need at least a 150 gallon rubbermaid, if need anything
...

If I could suggest something: wouldn't it be better if you split your livestock and rocks in several smaller containers (I assume that you are pulling everything out). Divide and conquer ! Then in each container you can focus on different things, or you can do them sequentially, or whatever. Lets say you want to use Joe's juice, FWE or peppermint shrimps, then by creating one "nuke" container and then bunch of "dirty" and "clean" containers, you move stuff from dirty container, leave it there for some time and when you are sure everything is cleaned, move it to "clean" container for additional quarantine, and only then into big tank.
 
I am most interested to find out where you purchased or received the infected rock, sand or coral? Do you have any idea where these problems originated?
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
He's been in the hobby a LONG time. It just reminds us all that we need to be SUPER diligent on what we put into our systems, making sure to check for pests along the way.
 
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