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DIY Flatworm Exit Mishap - Tank Crash


TheClark

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Hey All,

Thought I would share this terrible story in the hopes that it may help someone out there.

I grow allot of zoas for trading


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One thing I have learned. If they start closing up, and params are spot on, and dips don't seem to help, a Salifert Flatworm Exit treatment helps.

This recent round I had dipped them in everything from freshwater, bayer, coral revive, iodine, you name it. I am a serious dipper, take the job so seriously that the frag tank is optimized for dipping. Check out these racks, they are built to the size of the dipping container, I can dip all 8 of these zoa racks in one evening.


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This recent round no dip was helping, and I read that SFE can be used in tank commonly as a treatment and many use it on zoas in tank.

Tried it out, and the zoas definitely looked better the next day. Tried again a few days later, same results. But obviously I was not killing all of whatever was bothering them as the treatment had to be repeated every few days. SFE gets pretty expensive on a 450 gallon system at 20 bucks a treatment.

Turns out, Levamisole HCL is the active ingredient in SFE according to the MSDS and there are a ton of reef articles on using it in place of SFE.

Here is one of dozens of examples:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/mc/index.php

So I have been using it with Prohibit powder and mixing in RODI water in a certain dosage.

I started things slow, slowly increasing the dosage every time with no issues whatsoever.

Unfortunately looking back the log book, this last treatment happened right at the time alk was crashing and I had no idea. So alk crashed, unbeknownst and I was hitting the tank with a heavy dose of this stuff.

After a couple weeks of fighthing massive, and I mean massive die off it clicked.

Elegance before


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Elegance after

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Other lps and some of the sps
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A quick google search of 'Levamisole Tank Crash' yielded some terrible results and quite a few of them.

So, in my opinion, use levamisole and SFE at higher doses out of tank. It is a lesson I will be sticking to for a long, long time.

 


 

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Yeah man, this definitely all sucks, so sorry. If I can be of assistance in your recovery let me know.

On another note I think I have been using the exact same container and rack style for dipping for a looong time. It also helps when you are using a dip that makes the water opaque, this way you do not have to fumble for the frags.

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Yeah man, this definitely all sucks, so sorry. If I can be of assistance in your recovery let me know.

On another note I think I have been using the exact same container and rack style for dipping for a looong time. It also helps when you are using a dip that makes the water opaque, this way you do not have to fumble for the frags.

 

No way, seriously!  Great minds think alike ;)

 

This has been a serious downer, hard to even look at the tank.  The fish are thriving, so that is good news at least...

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Thanks for sharing Jeremy. Sorry to hear this. This hobby is so frustrating and it does feel like a stab in your heart when corals your have had for a while that have grown suddenly die. If I had any frags to donate to you I would. I still have those books you won in the thumper auction.

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Watch yourself reading online. I know exactly what that stuff is but opt not to try based on others results. We used to use that stuff on birds when they were infested with bugs.

 

Agreed, hindsight is 20/20 for me in this case.  Like others I have had good luck with many online solutions (carbon dosing, kalk, you name it... lots of good stuff).  This one not so good.  I did use it several times before the crash.  Maybe it built up, maybe I overdosed, not sure why this time it was so devastating.  For the record, I sure don't recommend the stuff and am adding to the 'don't use levamisole' body of knowledge on google...

 

 

Heartbreaking. SO little margin for error in this hobby :-( Best of luck on the recovery.

 

Thanks andy, well said, so little margin.  It is a shot to the heart, had some stuff that was really special and treasured.  Far too many prized pieces have gone into the coral graveyard even tonight things are still melting.  Even a bright red and green bubble tip from jadams disentegrated.  Loved that thing, it was so much brighter than any I have had.  The awesome efflo from jack, dead.  So many cool pieces...  

 

Nothing is completely immune it seems yet other things defy logic and keep on kicking.  

 

On a positive note, once this recovers, things should grow back well.  The system was in a very good state before this, everything thriving.  Should be repeatable until my next wild idea strikes  :nutty:  :D

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I wasn't sure if you actually had a crash or just had some pissed of pieces when I first read this now it reads like youve lost or are losing nearly everything. Words can't explain what you must feel, I could type a few but I'm sure the censors wouldn't let them by.

 

I've got quite a few colonies that won't miss a few branches so hit me up and I'll "bank" some corals with ya ;)

 

My life is a little hectic right now with some things that have been tossed at me but give me some time and I'll get a fat pack of sticks if your interested.

 

Way to stay positive Jeremy-you know the saying, That which does not kill us, makes us stronger

Well Thats this hobby IMO, Im sure you'll be back better and stronger

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It sounds like we're in the same boat with our concurrent tank crashes. I think that I figured out the cause of mine and you think that you have a culprit for yours, but I'd recommend that you do the same thing I am doing and send your water to Triton for an analysis. Who knows....maybe it was something else. $49 for the test seems pretty cheap when you think about the $ in corals that have perished.

 

I probably shouldn't admit this, but it makes me feel better about my own tank crisis to see that another experienced reefer is having a similar setback. They say that "misery makes the best camaraderie"......I'm not so sure about that, but I know that we'll both get through this!

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It sounds like we're in the same boat with our concurrent tank crashes. I think that I figured out the cause of mine and you think that you have a culprit for yours, but I'd recommend that you do the same thing I am doing and send your water to Triton for an analysis. Who knows....maybe it was something else. $49 for the test seems pretty cheap when you think about the $ in corals that have perished.

 

I probably shouldn't admit this, but it makes me feel better about my own tank crisis to see that another experienced reefer is having a similar setback. They say that "misery makes the best camaraderie"......I'm not so sure about that, but I know that we'll both get through this!

 

Very sorry to hear you are fighting it too, but yeah in a strange way it does feel good to not be completely alone in this camp.  Be sure to share your experience so that we can add to the google knowledge base of reefkeeping :)

 

Good advice!  Despite the controversy I am a big triton test fan.  The more data, the more informed decisions can be made.

 

Even have a baseline to compare against from October 2014.

 

http://www.pnwmas.org/topic/32659-triton-results-for-my-tank-are-in/

 

During that test I learned about high tin levels and followed steps to reduce them.  I never did go back for the repeat test when things were thriving, and definitely regret that.

 

I did see some great results after going after the tin, in theory it was reduced.  Heck maybe it came back with a vengeance?

 

Jeff at Cnc, I could use a couple of triton tests!  Your price is the best, will pm to see if you can mail a couple my way.

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So sorry for your lost.I would be happy to share a frag or two with you when things recover.Years ago when I treated a tank with flatwormRX I observed the brittle stars crawling out of the rock work.Similar to how they react when I accidentally dip them.For that reason I would not readily recommend any of it's ingredients for a off label use.Again,thank you for sharing your experience!

Regarding the Triton test,may I ask what steps were used to reduce the tin in your aquarium?

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So sorry for your lost.I would be happy to share a frag or two with you when things recover.Years ago when I treated a tank with flatwormRX I observed the brittle stars crawling out of the rock work.Similar to how they react when I accidentally dip them.For that reason I would not readily recommend any of it's ingredients for a off label use.Again,thank you for sharing your experience!

Regarding the Triton test,may I ask what steps were used to reduce the tin in your aquarium?

 

That's kind of you, thanks!  I am kind of overwhelmed with all the offers but really don't expect anything at all.  It is exciting to think of the rebuild in a month or so when the tank is in better shape.  It will be exciting to check out other's tanks when doing the frag trading, I always learn something new it seems.

 

For all of you who are offering frags, I think most of the zoas will pull through, we will do some trading when the time is right if you are interested!  Oddly the wild and Grandis palys did not fare so well...

 

For Triton, I ended up doing massive water changes slowly over weeks (dual head peristaltic pump), and removing most of my existing sand.

 

The theory I was working against was that some solder from DIY LEDs fell off into the tank and was buried in the sand somewhere.

 

In theory it worked, but I do need to retest, the tank really did benefit from those actions though.

 

Triton has a new product called 'Detox' worth checking out if you ever test out high on any of the heavy metals.  

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  • 1 month later...

Couple of updates

 

Two extremely prominent and successful reef keepers have approached me since this post.

 

Both use levamisole but shared this caution.

 

It builds up in the system. So you might use it once, twice even three times without issue. Eventually though you have to stop for months and or do big water changes before using again.

 

I am sharing this because it would have helped me to know this.

 

Don't forget, in theory the same advice would apply to flatworm extract as it is the same stuff.

 

 

Tank seems to be recovering, looking forward to restocking the corals, miss these days....

 

 

http://youtu.be/1Sm4Y2sY73k

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update

 

At the end of this, the zoas recovered spectacularly. Almost every other coral took it pretty rough. For what it is worth, that is where I ended up.

 

Good friends (Roy/Stylaster JR/Saltwater newbie) saved quite a bit of the coral that I had the sense to pull before it was too late.

 

In hindsight, I should have done it a few days earlier but kept thinking things would turn around.

 

The good news is that I will probably stop posting updates to this thread as the tank is really recovering. SPS have excellent PE and color, LPS is fat and happy, zoas are the happiest I can remember.

 

So as Mr Ingles would say "All's well that ends well!" (books on tape, road trip, don't ask :)

 

Things are looking up!

 

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