Red planarian (flatworms)

[ghurlag]

Thought they were macro algae until I saw some on the glass.  Ordered Flatworm Exit to treat, as well as rigid and soft airline tubing to remove.  It’s quite the infestation from months of neglect on the tank.  Will keep a diary of the experience here.  Might remove rock and treat separately from tank to minimize die off toxicity .  Quite a bit in the sand, too, though... at least it’s a small tank and a ton of water can be changed very quickly.

[Heinbaughb]

Triple dosing the flatworm exit is what it took to rid my tank of them.  They have not been back since.

[ghurlag]

3 doses in succession, a week or so apart? 

[Heinbaughb]

Triple dose in one session and call it a day. It’s actually quite amazing how well it works without seeing any negatives. I tried the standard dose a few times and all that did was knock them back.

[Amstar]

What size tank?  What about a flatworm eating fish?  Like a Melanurus wrasse to eat them

Also after you dosed three times the required amount - did you hit the tank one more time a few days later to take care of any ones that may have hatched (eggs during the 1st dose)?

[Heinbaughb]

What size tank?  What about a flatworm eating fish?  Like a Melanurus wrasse to eat them

Also after you dosed three times the required amount - did you hit the tank one more time a few days later to take care of any ones that may have hatched (eggs during the 1st dose)?

My melanarus wrasse and Possum wrasses were not making a dent in the population, it was pretty bad. I got my triple dose idea from Lazy, it’s been used by a couple other members in the group but I can’t remember who. In my case, there was no need to do any follow up dosing for possible eggs.

[andys1982]

Just make sure you follow the directions and dose twice 4 days apart or whatever.  You need to break the lifecycle and that does it.  Run the carbon, do the water change, and it's a miracle drug.  The people that have trouble with it out on the net and whatnot, didn't.

[Amstar]

So how is it going?  Have you dosed the tank yet

[ghurlag]

I just dosed yesterday, used rigid airline tubing with regular airline tubing as a siphon to get as many as I could before treating.  Then 15 minutes after treatment they came out of the woodwork! 

Once I got all I could I did a 5 gallon change (on a 10 gallon tank), and added fresh carbon.  All my other inhabitants are still doing great this morning.

I’ll do another treatment in a few days to break their lifecycle.  I’m impressed!