Achilles Tang Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Yesterday was a sad day. What started out as a flatworm eradication exercise has backfired badly. 3 to 6pm - manual siphoning of all visible flatworms. Rocks are cleaned of flatworms. Standby 20% new saltwater for water change and activated carbon. 6pm - administered Salifert Flatworm Exit (had to double-dosed with 8 bottles to wipe out very resistent flatworms as an earlier test showed that they required triple dosage to work). 6.02pm - flatworm by the hundreds started floating up. (hmm... expected) 6.03 - flatworms by the thousands started floating out from under the rocks. (hmmm.... they really hide well). 6.05 - flatworms by the hundreds of thousands started floating out (OMG... were they really that many?) 6.10 - flatworms by the thousands of thousands started floating. Water started turning orange as flatworms started dying. (OH SHIT!) 6.13 - placed 1 litre of carbon to absorb flatworm toxins. 6.15 - 80% of the flatworms are dead, 20% still moving around. (why are some still alive??) 6.18 - tank water very orange... skimmer has churned out 1 litres of orange juice already. Fishes are hiding. Fishes are all hiding. Noted that a lot of brittlestars and bristleworms are all immobilized & dead/dying. Suspect a lot of microlife are also dying as I see amphipods jerking about in the sandbed. (10% flatworms still moving around!!!) 6.20 - fishes are seen coming out, jerking in spasms. Immediate ###### out of dead flatworms flying on sandbed. 20% water change. Skimmer has churned out 2 litres of orange juice. (5% flatworms still moving around!!). 6.30 - water change complete... fishes started dying one by one. Another 20% water change done immediately. Skimmer has churned out 3 litres of orange juice. 6.40 - more fishes started dying. Suspected cucumber nuke. Fished out stunned tigertail seacuke. Couldn't find black sea cuke. Panic. Corals started to look bad as colours are disappearing... bleaching in progress (expected as per last flatworm killing exercise). Skimmer has churned out 4 litres of orange juice. (At least 20 very shrunken flatworms are still moving around) 7.00 to 9pm - water turning clearer from orange. (no more flatworms seen moving). Corals look bad. No more fish seen. Fished out at least 5 dead fishes which died with the mouths wide open. Can't find more dead bodies. Break for delayed dinner at in-laws at 9pm. 10pm - returned home. water turning murky white. Strange. Skimmer has churned out 5 litres of orange juice. 11pm - water turning even murkier. Looked closely. Saw millions of tiny dots in water. Checked for microbubbles from skimmer and return pump. Not the cause. Looked again. ALL MY CLAMS ARE SPAWNING!!! 11pm to 3am - CLAM SPAWNING non-stop, spewing clouds of eggs and sperm at regular intervals. Water is almost 70% opaque white. Another 20%water change. No effect. Gave up. Switched skimmer skimmate collection container to Coralife bucket as water bioload has now shot through the roof. Amazed at spawning episode. Half-amused at thought of harvesting loads of ultra-grade clams later on. Dead tired. Today morning - Tank water just as murky white as previous night. Skimmer has churned out a lot of dark organic sludge instead of orange stuff. Turned on my lights. Some corals have RTNed.... estimated 30% loss of corals. Acroporas mainly affected. Pocci, monti digi, stylo, some LPS all ok. Lobos are shrunken. Clams are fine too. A few chromises and two wrasses are the sole fish survivors. The rest are all dead. Water quality continues to drop as corals started losing more tissue as RTN spreads. 20% water change again today. Polyfilter added to aid in removal of toxins. More Seachem Prime added to cope with suspected ammonia surge. Tonight - lost another 50% of my acropora corals. Monitoring water quality as water is still murky... suspect tomorrow will be another bleak day as I discover my SPS corals are still RTNing. What happened: I killed the flatworms. Flatworm medication + flatworm toxins killed my fishes, and affected my corals. Water change affected my clams. Clam spawning made water condition worse. Flatworm toxins + dying livestock + clam spawning killed my corals. FACT: Good things take years to happen. Bad things happen very very quickly in reef tanks. Conclusion: I REALLY REALLY HATE FLATWORMS (100x more than marine velvet and 50x more than the monti-eating nudibranchs in my tank) Regrets: I should have removed my sea cukes prior to Salifert Flatworm Exit treatment but how was I to know they would have been affected that badly? Or was it just the flatworm toxins? Regrets: I should have killed the flatworms when they were first spotted some time ago instead of letting them breed into plague proportions. Regrets: I should have followed up a week later after the first flatworm killing episode with more medication instead of letting the survivors build enough immunity to resist this 2nd treatment exercise. Who knows if their toxins have gotten even more deadly? Conclusion: Beckett skimmers show their worth in situations like this. I have never seen so much skimmate being churned out so quickly before with other skimmers. Upside: probably all the monti-eating nudibranch parasites perished as well. Lesson to all: KILL FLATWORMS EARLY!!! FACT: AT's Reef will rise again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member typrobin Posted August 2, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 2, 2004 OMG... so sad to here this...wonder if it will happen to me also...HOPEFULLY NOT.... time to rebuild your tank...good luck boss... Quote MY OLD 3ft!! My Latest Plan!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member typrobin Posted August 2, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 2, 2004 btw, how are flatworms introduced into our tank? hitch hiking?? Quote MY OLD 3ft!! My Latest Plan!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member flubberina13 Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 Oh dear...my condolences... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepBlue Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 I am sure you'll be able to produce and build an even greater reef than what you have now. look at the bright side...you can join in the acro buying frenzy with the rest with that space avaliable. Joe and Dan's tank should be jam packed and full by now with the amount of acros they are buying recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member yazid Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 I was thinking of the Salifert Flatworm exit myself. AT for letting us know. Guess I start ###### those worms for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Rocks Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 gosh ... yesterday when watching my fishes, i saw a little (1.5cm) worm like, flat and white color clawing on the glass wall.. just one ... and i thought probably no harm and i just leave it alone. is that a flat worm ? ... then i need to spot it again and terminate it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Golden Tooth Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 FACT: AT's Reef will rise again! Goodluck sir. Quote Bevor Sie das Licht sehen, müssen Sie sterben! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member AlfaRomeo Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 AT, dunt worry. You will come out with an even greater version of a reef tank. Its in you to overcome and excel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member neokn Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 LS dead, SPS RTN but the spirit is still high to write this report. Cheers bro, look forward to episode 2 of your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepBlue Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 is that a flat worm ? ... then i need to spot it again and terminate it.. want more info? Check this out: http://www.sacsplash.org/critters/flatworms.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member ryan Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 oh dear... sorry to hear that... guess its a season for reef accidents now. my 8 month old tank kinda crashed last week. due to brown jelly disease in my hammer which polluted the water quite terribly. lost almost all my fishes and NO3 went up to 40... at least corals not badly affected. the surviving corals blooming larger than usual tho. can't figure out why tho... hope your tank recovers soon man! any pics of the damage? flatworms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member yazid Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 I am going to try using the tea tree oil method to remove flatworms. Wish me luck http://www.seahorse-nw.com/Flatworms.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member tineng Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 i think AT did not have problem killing off the flat worms.....its just killing it off too fast setting of a chain of event.... yazid, you might want to have a backup plan....just in case.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member strat Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 O no! So sorry to hear this happening to you. Hope your tank can regain it's glory soon.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hondace Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 IMHO : look out. The clams may be dying too. My 6-7" clam died on me a few days after spawning. I'll post the pics tonight when i reach home. What I thought was an achievement crashed on me when i discover my clam is dying. Think this is a natural instinct - it know it is dying (old age?? as my 2 other smaller clams r fine) & therefore released all its eggs & sperm?? Any comments?? AT : so sad to hear yr story, thought mine is bad enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Siput Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 Sorry to hear about your tragic loss ...u definitely "will return"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Creetin Posted August 3, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 3, 2004 Feel your loss.....its really sad when ur intentions are good but things just go wrong. at least we all can learn from this experience.... Quote Get Paid To Read Emails. Free To Join Now! http://www.emailcashpro.com/?r=okdk11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuEl Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Oh man....sounds traumatic.. Quote Always something more important than fish. http://reefbuilders.com/2012/03/08/sps-pico-reef/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted August 3, 2004 Author Share Posted August 3, 2004 Clams are known to spawn when there's a drastic change in water conditions. In my case, its was what pushed things out of control. It was traumatic enough for my reef tank as it is. Oh well.... time to be VIP big spender customer again at LFS again! Oh... to get over this episode... I went out and bought myself a nice new Samsung 193P 19" LCD monitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member strat Posted August 4, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 4, 2004 Clams are known to spawn when there's a drastic change in water conditions. In my case, its was what pushed things out of control. It was traumatic enough for my reef tank as it is. Oh well.... time to be VIP big spender customer again at LFS again! Oh... to get over this episode... I went out and bought myself a nice new Samsung 193P 19" LCD monitor. Wow..a 19" LCD ...nice .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member victorp Posted August 4, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted August 4, 2004 Oh... to get over this episode... I went out and bought myself a nice new Samsung 193P 19" LCD monitor. AT, you're terrible!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dispar_Anthias Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Clams are known to spawn when there's a drastic change in water conditions. In my case, its was what pushed things out of control. It was traumatic enough for my reef tank as it is. Oh well.... time to be VIP big spender customer again at LFS again! Oh... to get over this episode... I went out and bought myself a nice new Samsung 193P 19" LCD monitor. hey my condolence to you.. yeah thats how many places make clams spawn.... Actually my clam spawn did nearly crash my tank last time but luckily i was there to administer the problem.... nvm you will rise again ahaha.. i bet you will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryansimon Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 you bought a 19" LCD monitor to console yourself? wah. if my tank crash, will I get a 19" LCD monitor from you as well? *FOC of course* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted August 4, 2004 Author Share Posted August 4, 2004 Figured that the long anticipated official release of Doom 3 coincided with the mini-doom episode in my tank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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