Chuck Spyropulos
Non-member
It seems that my flatworms are gone! Since I found out that I got them I have been blasting the Acro colonies in my tank with a small powerhead attached to a long plastic rod and letting my fish eat them in the water column. (NOTE: However, before this was done, I did remove most of the Acros that were affected and either scraped off the eggs and soaked them in SeaChem or discarded the colony.)
After weeks of blasting the Acros, less and less worms were blown off until this week where NO flatworms are being dislodged from my corals.
So I really believe that this treatment works. To sum it up:
1. If you can remove all of the corals, or if you have only a small amount of corals or you only have a small amount of infected corals, then you might want to remove the colonies and blast them with tank water into a sink or what ever to prevent infection of other colonies.
2. If you have a lot of infected colonies or a big tank with a lot of encusted corals removing all of them is really not an option without major damage to your reef . In this case remove the colonies that are affected, as many as possible and inspect them with a magnifying glass for worms and eggs.
3. If the removed corals have eggs then either scrape them all off or throw out the colony or chop off the dead areas with the eggs. Then soak the colonies in SeaChem Coral Disinfectand to loosen any worms.
4. Remove the corals from the SeaChem and soak them in a bucket of tank water. Then remove them from the bucket and blast them with a turkey baster into a sink.
5. Put corals back in tank.
6. For the remaining corals in your tank, blast them with a small powerhead attached to any type of plastic rod and watch your fish go crazy eating the worms. Do this every day or even twice a day for at least a month or until you see no more worms fall off of the infected colonies.
7. Then do step 6 every other day and then every 3 days, and then every week, etc...
8. Inspect all of your colonies each day for a change in polyp extension, abrupt color change, or new dead areas under or in between the branches. If you see any of these symptoms then suspect that the flatworms are back and go back to a daily treatment. You also may want to remove the corals with symptoms and repeat steps 3 and 4 ...the out of tank treatment.
9. Quarantine any new incoming corals and inspect all of them for worms or their eggs.
The best part about this treatment is that it is chemical free and it is highly effective. My tank is proof that this treatment really does work and I hope that it helps others with the same problem. Over the last week I haven't been able to find any worms or eggs either by inspection or by "blasting" off the worms. My corals are regaining their colors and their polyp extensions are increasing. I see no more new "dead" spots on my colonies and the corals have begun to exhibit normal growth rates.
After weeks of blasting the Acros, less and less worms were blown off until this week where NO flatworms are being dislodged from my corals.
So I really believe that this treatment works. To sum it up:
1. If you can remove all of the corals, or if you have only a small amount of corals or you only have a small amount of infected corals, then you might want to remove the colonies and blast them with tank water into a sink or what ever to prevent infection of other colonies.
2. If you have a lot of infected colonies or a big tank with a lot of encusted corals removing all of them is really not an option without major damage to your reef . In this case remove the colonies that are affected, as many as possible and inspect them with a magnifying glass for worms and eggs.
3. If the removed corals have eggs then either scrape them all off or throw out the colony or chop off the dead areas with the eggs. Then soak the colonies in SeaChem Coral Disinfectand to loosen any worms.
4. Remove the corals from the SeaChem and soak them in a bucket of tank water. Then remove them from the bucket and blast them with a turkey baster into a sink.
5. Put corals back in tank.
6. For the remaining corals in your tank, blast them with a small powerhead attached to any type of plastic rod and watch your fish go crazy eating the worms. Do this every day or even twice a day for at least a month or until you see no more worms fall off of the infected colonies.
7. Then do step 6 every other day and then every 3 days, and then every week, etc...
8. Inspect all of your colonies each day for a change in polyp extension, abrupt color change, or new dead areas under or in between the branches. If you see any of these symptoms then suspect that the flatworms are back and go back to a daily treatment. You also may want to remove the corals with symptoms and repeat steps 3 and 4 ...the out of tank treatment.
9. Quarantine any new incoming corals and inspect all of them for worms or their eggs.
The best part about this treatment is that it is chemical free and it is highly effective. My tank is proof that this treatment really does work and I hope that it helps others with the same problem. Over the last week I haven't been able to find any worms or eggs either by inspection or by "blasting" off the worms. My corals are regaining their colors and their polyp extensions are increasing. I see no more new "dead" spots on my colonies and the corals have begun to exhibit normal growth rates.
