Flatworm exit killing fish and inverts

Hilltopreef90

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I used flatworm exit last night, I followed the directions and siphoned out as many as I could before treating the tank, once they began dying I siphoned and used a net to remove the dead and dying flatworms and began running carbon in a reactor in my sump.
This morning there’s no sign of flatworms but my fish and inverts aren’t acting well and I think are dying. I did another water change 25-30 percent
I also did a change last night after treating the tank.
Any advice on how to keep my fish from dying ?
Should I change out the carbon yet or let it run another day ?
 

Fish Think Pink

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I used flatworm exit last night, I followed the directions and siphoned out as many as I could before treating the tank, once they began dying I siphoned and used a net to remove the dead and dying flatworms and began running carbon in a reactor in my sump.
This morning there’s no sign of flatworms but my fish and inverts aren’t acting well and I think are dying. I did another water change 25-30 percent
I also did a change last night after treating the tank.
Any advice on how to keep my fish from dying ?
Should I change out the carbon yet or let it run another day ?

Change the carbon and keep running (and changing carbon every day). In just a couple days or sooner fish should be okay and stop charcoal a day after that IMO.

Another water change wouldn't hurt either...

If you read directions, or online, they suggest doing this treatment a second time in 2-3 weeks. Its been over a year since I did mine. My yellow tang nearly died but I put it in an undersized QT with clean saltwater I rushed to setup from PetSmart (just that little glass starter setup is what I use for my as needed QT). When I did my second treatment, way fewer flatworms and I never did a third treatment.

Charcoal is your friend as those dead flatworms are toxic.

Second treatment will not be anything as dramatic as first treatment. My sailfin ate a dead flatworm and threw up... didn't know fish could throw up until I saw that... Second treatment it knew not to eat them LOL
 
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Hilltopreef90

Hilltopreef90

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Change the carbon and keep running (and changing carbon every day). In just a couple days or sooner fish should be okay and stop charcoal a day after that IMO.

Another water change wouldn't hurt either...

If you read directions, or online, they suggest doing this treatment a second time in 2-3 weeks. Its been over a year since I did mine. My yellow tang nearly died but I put it in an undersized QT with clean saltwater I rushed to setup from PetSmart (just that little glass starter setup is what I use for my as needed QT). When I did my second treatment, way fewer flatworms and I never did a third treatment.

Charcoal is your friend as those dead flatworms are toxic.

Second treatment will not be anything as dramatic as first treatment. My sailfin ate a dead flatworm and threw up... didn't know fish could throw up until I saw that... Second treatment it knew not to eat them LOL
 
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Hilltopreef90

Hilltopreef90

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I lost my foxface rabbitfish and haven’t seen my yellow coris wrasse since I treated the tank, it might just be hiding
I changed carbon and did another water change, increased my water flow and am hoping for the best. No sign of any flatworms.
If I don’t see any in the next couple weeks I doubt I’ll do a second treatment.
I’m not risking killing anything else
 

stovenut

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The 2nd treatment is really good to do. Realize that the flatworm exit does not harm your fish and inverts. It's the dead flatworms that are poisoning your tank. Do you really want a few flatworms to breed and you end up with this problem again?

The 2nd treatment will not stress the fish as there will be few flatworms left to kill. But you really should do it.
 
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Hilltopreef90

Hilltopreef90

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The 2nd treatment is really good to do. Realize that the flatworm exit does not harm your fish and inverts. It's the dead flatworms that are poisoning your tank. Do you really want a few flatworms to breed and you end up with this problem again?

The 2nd treatment will not stress the fish as there will be few flatworms left to kill. But you really should do it.
So I should repeat in two weeks even if I don’t see any flatworms ?
I also worried that I used more of the flatworm exit then directed, next time I’ll only add the minimum amount.
The directions said that 1 capful treated 75 gallons, I added 2 capfuls for a 90 gallon with a 25 gallon sump.
so it’s hard to know if the treatment or the flatworms caused my fish to die ‍♀️
 

Rmckoy

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I’ve read so many horror stories of everything dying after use of flatworm exit .

I wouldn’t dose anymore and lean more towards natural Predators such as wrasses , springerii damsels , blue velvet nudibranch.
 

Mr. Mojo Rising

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Flatworms can release toxic fluids from their bodies when they die. Killing them in mass resulted in mass toxins being released. Sorry for that. If you haven't already, you should start running carbon to get the toxins out of your tank
 
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Hooz

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So I should repeat in two weeks even if I don’t see any flatworms ?
I also worried that I used more of the flatworm exit then directed, next time I’ll only add the minimum amount.
The directions said that 1 capful treated 75 gallons, I added 2 capfuls for a 90 gallon with a 25 gallon sump.
so it’s hard to know if the treatment or the flatworms caused my fish to die ‍♀️

Flatworm Exit is safe for fish. The flatworms' toxin is not.

You really should do the treatment once a week for 3 weeks. FWE doesn't do anything for the flatworm eggs (and if you have flatworms, you have eggs), so treating several times over several weeks kills the new worms as they hatch and stops the life cycle. If you DON'T do multiple treatments, you'll never actually be rid of flatworms in your system.
 
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Hilltopreef90

Hilltopreef90

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I’ve read so many horror stories of everything dying after use of flatworm exit .

I wouldn’t dose anymore and lean more towards natural Predators such as wrasses , springerii damsels , blue velvet nudibranch.
One fish died, my foxface rabbitfish, 2 are missing (I’m hoping they’re hiding) my yellow Coris wrasse and my springer damsel are acting odd(hyper and darting around) coris was better last night
Brittlestars legs all fell off
I began running carbon immediately but obviously it didn’t help as much as needed ‍♀️
 

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Sorry to hear about your loss. Any updates? I've seen tanks crawling with flatworms and others where you may see a couple only when you look very closely. Sounds like the former is a riskier situation with that volume of toxin suddenly released.
 

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