Flat Worm Exit Disaster

[TahoeMtn]

I am posting this not to say Salifert FWE is a bad product but to warn anyone else that may be considering it's use to be extremely cautious

I HAD a very beautiful 200 gal softie and LPS tank last friday. I have suspicions as to where I got the flatworms but they are now out of biz so I won't go there.

Anyhow, I read and read and read before I used the product because I have a Sea Apple and I didn't want to piss him off.

I blew off the rocks and vac'd up FW's and blew and vac'd several times and then I thought I was safe.

I put in the FWE as directed and within 5 min the tank had turned very yellow. I started the carbon and a 25% water change. All of my corals closed up immeadiatly, the fish all went into hiding and the skimmer went crazy.

Things were not looking good. I ran to Walmart and bought another 50 gal of water and mixed up another batch real quick and as soon as the readings were OK I changed some more water. I drained 75 gal but replaced 50 so I would have a better concentration of clean water.

I spent ALL day Sunday moving rocks and corals and cleaning. changed out another 50 gal and this morning I am left with One Sea Apple, a small blue with yellow tail damsal and I saw my mandarin goby at some point while cleaning. All the other fish are history Purple Tang, Light Blue Tang, Pajama's, Lawnmower Blenny, Scooter Blenny, Cleaner shrimp, 10 Peppermint shrimp, I even saw bristle worms writhing and die. Not one of my corals has come out of it yet, frogspawns, cup coral, candy canes, Zoos all gone.

I am certainly happy that my favorite animal the Sea Apple seems to have come through this but I am so saddened by this I am considering calling it quits. This is my first real loss in the 8 years I have been tending to my ocean and it hurts real bad.

The moral of the story is if you have FW's and are thinking of FWE. put all of your fish and inverts in a hospital tank. Maybe do a separate dip of your corals. and PRAY.

I hope that in some way my loss will help someone else in this situation. FWE is NOT as safe as the box would have you believe.

[hng]

Sorry to hear about the loss. I have heard that FWE is tough on a tank.

[ScruffyRubicon]

Sorry to hear it went so badly. I know I have used the product once with no ill effects. I really hate putting any chemical in the tank. Always makes me worry if this type of thing might happen.

[luvmylo]

wow sorry for your loss

[partobe]

I'm really sorry about your experience unfortunately its not the first time Ive heard a story like this. I also have flat worms in my tank I went out and bought a wrasse and he is slowly but surly doing a great job. I wouldn't call it quits yet dont make any decisions while your upset. Were here if you need us.

[reginanmc]

OOHH NO!!! i'm sorry.


I was actually going to buy some flatworm exit today......I'm not so sure now.

[Loverotties]

Oh no! So sorry for your loss!

[fish.freak]

I am very sorry for the tank crash. Do you think the FWE did something to piss off the Apple, and in turn it crashed the tank?

[jennmac415]

REALLY REALLY sorry for your losses.... I wonder what went wrong. I have, and I know others have used this product with no ill effects...is it possible that the sea apple released something toxic in defense that caused it instead of the fwe? My tank never turned yellow when I used it. Again, sorry for your losses...

[crvz]

Man, that's the pits. I wonder if the FWE was expired or otherwise not good for some reason. Sorry to hear about it!

[TimmyG]

That sucks, I hate to hear these stories

I did the FWE thing and know the distruction dieing flatworms are capable of.
I was lucky enough to be changing from my 75 to my 180 at the time so I nuked the 75, diped everything twice then put them into the 180.

My suggestion obviously to QT but if you see the first sign of FWs in the display. Do the FWE before the infestation gets bad and have lots of extra water on hand.

Again, I'm sorry to hear about your losses.

[TimmyG]

Originally Posted by crvz

Man, that's the pits. I wonder if the FWE was expired or otherwise not good for some reason. Sorry to hear about it!

It sounds like it worked like it should, He just had more FWs than what would have been safe to kill at one time. The problem is if you try to kill them a little at a time they will build a resistance to it. I've seen this too.

[Wiskey]

Wow,.. I'm really sorry to hear about your tank

Whiskey

[Twitterbait]

Bummer man, your not the first or last that is for sure. FWE is an awesome product but they need to warn people better. When FW die they become toxic almost instantly. If you ever use this product i recommend that you only use it as a dip and then thoroughly rinse all dead FW off your rocks and coral before placing them back in the tank.

[Casey]

sorry man that sucks