Red Planaria...freshwater dip?

[AwildcatsZ]

So I am in the middle of a battle with Red Planaria which has been going on for several months now. I've tried manual removal (keeps the population down, but it comes back), Flatworm eXit (corals do not like this), 12 Line Wrasse, and a Blue Velvet Nudibranch. Some of these have shown promise, but the flatworms come back in a matter of days.

I know the first thought is nutrient problems...well that is not the case. My nitrates run between 0 to 5ppm. Phosphates are always at 0. I have sent my water to Triton and will be receiving results in the next week or so to confirm my test kits are accurate and to see if there is anything that I cannot test for that could be causing these issues.

Well after hours of scouring the internet for solutions to my problem, I came across this thread http://wamas.org/forums/topic/17095-elimination-of-red-planaria/

While it says it is not recommended for the home aquarium, I don't see why this could not be done with a smaller system like mine (29 Gallons). I only have 4 large pieces of live rock that serve as my base structure. Other than my zoa colonies, all corals are on plugs or on the sand bed.

My thought is to start with my rocks and set up my 12 gallon system as a saltwater holding tank after the freshwater dip. This is to help eliminate any toxins left from the flatworms in the live rock. I do not plan on soaking the sand in freshwater, as my fear is it would cause my tank to go through a cycle again.

Does anyone have any experience with a freshwater dip for their live rock? Has anyone tried this method? What are your major concerns with this method? If it is a bad idea, talk me out of it...this is why I am reaching out to the R2R community.

Thank you!

 

[SandJ]

That is the process I used for a BioCube 29 and it worked. That post is actually from my local reef club, which is how I found it lol

First I removed all the sand from the tank over the course of a few weeks.

Then I set up a small temporary frag tank (just a bucket with a magnetic frag rack on the side, small pump, light and a small rock from he tank that I dipped in fresh water).

I would put my frag into a small medicine cup, then fill it with fresh water up for the base of the frag. I used a pipette to blow any off the frag. Then put it in the new frag tank.

Then you can deal with the main tank. Either start over with new rock or do a freshwater dip on the rocks. Be sure to swish the rock and rotate it under water so it gets in all the crevices (though most all my flatworms were on the surface).

The tank can just be filled with fresh water and ran as usual for a little while to kill any left in the tank/pumps/heater/powerheads, etc...

 

[AwildcatsZ]

That is the process I used for a BioCube 29 and it worked. That post is actually from my local reef club, which is how I found it lol

First I removed all the sand from the tank over the course of a few weeks.

Then I set up a small temporary frag tank (just a bucket with a magnetic frag rack on the side, small pump, light and a small rock from he tank that I dipped in fresh water).

I would put my frag into a small medicine cup, then fill it with fresh water up for the base of the frag. I used a pipette to blow any off the frag. Then put it in the new frag tank.

Then you can deal with the main tank. Either start over with new rock or do a freshwater dip on the rocks. Be sure to swish the rock and rotate it under water so it gets in all the crevices (though most all my flatworms were on the surface).

The tank can just be filled with fresh water and ran as usual for a little while to kill any left in the tank/pumps/heater/powerheads, etc...

This is very encouraging news! I'm glad to hear you had success with this technique.

I would not like to start over with new rock, as I really like my current aquascape. If I added new sand, would this start a new cycle? I like the look of a sandbed and would like to keep that if possible. If I only soak the sand in freshwater for a short amount of time, would this prevent the tank from cycling again?

That is my main concern with this process...I don't want to lose everything because I killed all of the beneficial bacteria in the system.

 

[AwildcatsZ]

That is the process I used for a BioCube 29 and it worked. That post is actually from my local reef club, which is how I found it lol

First I removed all the sand from the tank over the course of a few weeks.

Then I set up a small temporary frag tank (just a bucket with a magnetic frag rack on the side, small pump, light and a small rock from he tank that I dipped in fresh water).

I would put my frag into a small medicine cup, then fill it with fresh water up for the base of the frag. I used a pipette to blow any off the frag. Then put it in the new frag tank.

Then you can deal with the main tank. Either start over with new rock or do a freshwater dip on the rocks. Be sure to swish the rock and rotate it under water so it gets in all the crevices (though most all my flatworms were on the surface).

The tank can just be filled with fresh water and ran as usual for a little while to kill any left in the tank/pumps/heater/powerheads, etc...

Another thought is to do the sand first. Relocate it from my 29 display to my 12 gallon. Soak in freshwater, then proceed to seed the sand with bacteria.

 

[SandJ]

For me, it is just easier to restart the tank with new sand. Removing the sand too fast is what will cause the tank to cycle (you will take out too much bacteria and the ammonia will not be processed). That is why you remove it slowly over a few weeks...it gives the bacteria a chance to multiply on other surfaces.

If your sand is full of life, the freshwater will kill everything and cause an ammonia spike/cycle. Plus it was unbelievable how much detritus was in my sand. I planned on reusing my sand, but after seeing what was trapped in the sand bed I decided on replacing. You can always seed it with some sand from a cycled tank to speed up the process.

And I understand about wanting to keep the rock. It may take a couple dips to kill all the flatworms, so you may want to dip it in fresh water, put it in a bucket of saltwater and see if many more come off, then redip if necessary before returning to the tank.