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Flatworms ! Mojamos ! Aptasia ! i had enough !
- Thread starter steve68
- Start date
Edwardw771
NJRC Member
here go steve ribs has one http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1180180
steve68 said:
I recently "fixed" an aquarium similar to yours about a month ago. It was in pretty bad shape. It does take a while to do but is doable in a day. Here is what I did. I moved the corals out of the tank but left the fish & inverts. Dipped all corals in an Iodine dip/bath and FWE (dip/bath) and moved to QT.
I tied a 50 micron filter sock to the end of a hose and siphoned out the flatworms into a bucket. The sock will catch the flatworms. You can pour the bucket of water back into the tank. Siphon out every flatworms you can see.
I filled a trashcan with tap water and a triple concentrate of FWE. I removed all the rock and gave it a bath (min 20 minutes but longer is better) in the triple concentrate FWE bucket. I then baked the rock in the oven at 400 for an hour. This will kill just about everything including the Aptasia, Mojanos and any remaining flatworms but doesn't seem to mess with the coralline algae (doesn't change color and continues to keep it's color and grow). I like to use FWE first to get as many flatworms out of the rock as possible so there isn't die off in the rock. Bake all your rock and put it aside. Once you have baked all the rock empty the trashcan and refill with tapwater and put the rock back in it. Run a full canister of carbon on it to remove any residual toxins from the rock baking process. This "extra" step might not be needed but why not?
Back to the tank: After removing all rock again siphon out any flatworms you see on the subtrate in the sump/fuge/display. Now do a normal FWE treatment on the tank/sump/fuge (system). Again siphon out any dead flatworms you might find. Honestly at this point there won't/shouldn't be many in the tank. After 30-45 minutes of starting the treatment (optionally do a 20-25% water change) run a full reactor full of fresh carbon on the tank to remove any toxins from the dead flatworms. Again there shouldn't be many flatworms left so the amount of toxins is going to be very low. You should now have a flatworm free tank but you have kept the bacteria which is still in the subtrate!
Put the rock back in the tank and continue to run the carbon on the tank. Break out the test kits you forgot how to use
and test your ammonia, nitrites & nitrates over the next couple of days. You might see a little increase because of the die off of stuff on the rock but it shouldn't be to bad at all and with the bacteria still present in the tank it should take care of it. I would have a bottle of Seachem's Prime (very good stuff) on hand and dose enough to cover your system volume about 18 to 24 hours after treatment of FWE. Seachem's Prime will alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity if present. It will also detoxify any heavy metals found in the water from using the tap water with your rocks (probably not a concern anyway but added benefit to using Prime). It also promotes the production and regeneration of the natural slime coat of the fish since (parts of that taken from the Seachem website).If after a couple of days you don't see the ammonia/nitrite/nitrates going down (assuming they got higher) it wouldn't hurt to add a package of Bio-Spira Marine, Fritz Turbo 900 or Seachem's Stability to give the bacteria population a little boost. I wouldn't spend the money unless you need it. Worse case do another dose of Seachem's Prime to the tank since you already have it. It will bind up the ammonia/nitrite/nitrates for 48 hours so they are not toxic. This gives the natural bacteria (left from the sand bed) a chance to multiply and re-populate the rock, etc.. You can use Prime every 48 hours to bind up the ammonia... until the bacteria population grows (if needed). Chances are however that you system will be fine with hardly any rise in these 3 test but it's best to "be prepared".
After tank parameters are back to normal put corals back in tank. Might not be a bad idea to re-dip them again on the way back to the display.
Granted it's a pain to do, but this whole process can be done in one (long) day. I'd hold off on putting the corals back for a couple of days however.
If you happen to know any of your fish have ich or other problems you might as well pull them also while you're breaking down the tank and treat them too. Easier now then later.
If you have any questions about this style of treating the tank let me know. I'm more then happy to help any way I can.
Carlo
Thanks Edd i'll look in to that.
mladencovic thanks but i have to much rock to do that.
mynd i got the flatworms & mojamos from trading frags & not putting in quarantine tank.
Phyl ur so right.
Deb ur Right
David thanks i'll keep that in mind.
Carlo i got rid of mojamos in my 50 gallon by taking the rock out & using a wire wheel brush on a drill, but that was only 45 lbs of L/R not 900 lbs, i'm going to keep looking for a 150 gallon rubbermaid i should be able to put all my corals in there, then im going to wire wheel every piece of rock & leave the rock outside for a week then im going to take all everything out of my tank till it's empty & fill it with fresh water & let it run like that for a couple of day's so it kills everything then im going to start over.
all my fish are in great shape they don't have ick.
mladencovic thanks but i have to much rock to do that.
mynd i got the flatworms & mojamos from trading frags & not putting in quarantine tank.
Phyl ur so right.
Deb ur Right
David thanks i'll keep that in mind.
Carlo i got rid of mojamos in my 50 gallon by taking the rock out & using a wire wheel brush on a drill, but that was only 45 lbs of L/R not 900 lbs, i'm going to keep looking for a 150 gallon rubbermaid i should be able to put all my corals in there, then im going to wire wheel every piece of rock & leave the rock outside for a week then im going to take all everything out of my tank till it's empty & fill it with fresh water & let it run like that for a couple of day's so it kills everything then im going to start over.
all my fish are in great shape they don't have ick.
Thanks Bill.
this is going to take at least 3 to 4 months since i will be starting over & i know u don't want to wait that long to set up the 180
the flat worms are so bad i syphon out so many & i thought to my self maybe i'll just freshwater dip them & later on i took a look again & it looked like the second army came out they where all over again.
this is going to take at least 3 to 4 months since i will be starting over & i know u don't want to wait that long to set up the 180
the flat worms are so bad i syphon out so many & i thought to my self maybe i'll just freshwater dip them & later on i took a look again & it looked like the second army came out they where all over again.
Sorry to hear about whats happening steve.. If you need any help I have a 65 gallon tank that is just sitting on my garage I can bring it to work...
FWE and Sixline wrasse for Flatworms. I beat them once when I have my 120 covered with it ...
Aiptasia I am also battling it I found 4 of them 3 are gone and 1 is still there. I got me Pepp shrimp but just 3 im going to buy more...
Mojano- I have 1 that is almost 2 yrs old now.. never grow and its still sitting on the LR..
steve
FWE and Sixline wrasse for Flatworms. I beat them once when I have my 120 covered with it ...
Aiptasia I am also battling it I found 4 of them 3 are gone and 1 is still there. I got me Pepp shrimp but just 3 im going to buy more...
Mojano- I have 1 that is almost 2 yrs old now.. never grow and its still sitting on the LR..
steve
Hi Steve, Sorry to hear about the problems you are experiencing. Right now I am battling flatworms ( I think I'm seeing less) and aiptasia. For those who are battling aiptasia on a smaller scale, I can confirm the power of peppermint shrimp. Just as I was sitting here I looked over at my minibow to see what the peppermint shrimp were up to that I bought today. Talk about timing- I saw a peppermint viciously attacking one of the aiptasia. It didn't look as if he was eating it, more like he was giving it the beat down we all would like to give these lil' bastards. The 2 that were on that piece of rock are now gone. Best $9 I ever spent!!
Eric
Eric
Thanks steve & Eric.
the aptasia is not that bad it's the mojamos that are killing me they are everywhere.
Steve i have a sixline wrasse & he does not eat them when i got him they said
it'***** or miss with them i guess i missed.
i was able to borrow a 100 gallon rubbermaid from a friend so in a week or so the fun starts.
the aptasia is not that bad it's the mojamos that are killing me they are everywhere.
Steve i have a sixline wrasse & he does not eat them when i got him they said
it'***** or miss with them i guess i missed.
i was able to borrow a 100 gallon rubbermaid from a friend so in a week or so the fun starts.
Steve if you have hundreds fo them he will ignore them I put the sixline as the last sort of the treatment.. Siphon as many , then FWE then siphon , then add the sixline for the leftovers
Hey Steve,
THats a bummer/ sorry to hear.
My question, are these flatworms just the Red Planaria? They dont harm coral, unless there are so many like the smothering plague.
Are you sure they are not the acropora eating flat worms, AEFW? If so, wow, that stinks. I just went thru that. Got a bunch of help reading these hyperlinks. http://www.melevsreef.com/aefw.html http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html and another bug that kills corals. NEED A 5X MAGNIFIER TO SEE THESE TINY BUGS. http://www.melevsreef.com/redbugs.html
Let me know if you need anything. I have a bottle of 1000 fluke tabs if you have AEFW killing your corals. I also bought interceptor, if they are infesting your corals. These are the most difficult acropora predators to find.
Renee
THats a bummer/ sorry to hear.
My question, are these flatworms just the Red Planaria? They dont harm coral, unless there are so many like the smothering plague.
Are you sure they are not the acropora eating flat worms, AEFW? If so, wow, that stinks. I just went thru that. Got a bunch of help reading these hyperlinks. http://www.melevsreef.com/aefw.html http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html and another bug that kills corals. NEED A 5X MAGNIFIER TO SEE THESE TINY BUGS. http://www.melevsreef.com/redbugs.html
Let me know if you need anything. I have a bottle of 1000 fluke tabs if you have AEFW killing your corals. I also bought interceptor, if they are infesting your corals. These are the most difficult acropora predators to find.
Renee
Steve i siphon so many out & the next day it look like i did nothing thats how bad it is.
Phyl i have a mandarin & i think he said NO monre of this nasty food !
Renne thanks for the links, i dont have the AEFW but i have so many of the other ones that i know they are giving out toxins to the tank.
i'm going to start little by little this week.
thank you everyone.
Phyl i have a mandarin & i think he said NO monre of this nasty food !
Renne thanks for the links, i dont have the AEFW but i have so many of the other ones that i know they are giving out toxins to the tank.
i'm going to start little by little this week.
thank you everyone.
Steve,
I've got an extra 135G,45G & 30G in my garage you can have for as long as you need. I also have a box FWE you can have. You can put the rock in the 45 w/FWE and then transfer it to the 135 after it's clean. My tank came back from all the same stuff, yours can to. Just let me know.
Jeff
I've got an extra 135G,45G & 30G in my garage you can have for as long as you need. I also have a box FWE you can have. You can put the rock in the 45 w/FWE and then transfer it to the 135 after it's clean. My tank came back from all the same stuff, yours can to. Just let me know.
Jeff