MichaelB
Supporting Member
If he's been at it for 275 years he definitely should be presentesd a bar life time acheivement award.
Am I going to wake up to a crashed tank
- Thread starter B the Nano Reefer
- Start date
I just broke down my fluval and I hadn't seen any brittle starts for a while. When I first started the tank I put about 10 in. I pulled at least 100 out. They are in there, you just don't see them.
BAYMAC
Supporting Member
mini brittles breed in aquaria.
jonmedina
Supporting Member
Hey @B the Nano Reefer, IDK your mixing situation, I'm up the street from you and have 40 gallons of RODI on hand that I can mix with your salt of choice if you need more water for changes.
B the Nano Reefer
Supporting Member
Thanks I really appreciate the offer but I think I’m good. I had prepared 20 gallons of RO/DI water just a few days prior, which is an unusually large amount for me to prepare at once, but I guess timing for something like this to happen was right…
So, after six hours of manual removal of thousands of dead brittle stars and 100% water change last night, hammers are pissed off and my torches are unhappy. The black widow anemone I got at the swap seems to be on the way out, sadly. It swelled up pretty quickly during the treatment, fully retracted all tentacles and showed a gaping mouth. I isolated it because I can’t afford for it to melt on me. I pulled out 11 of those 16 oz containers covered on the bottom with stars. I wish I took a picture of the tank with the dead stars, nothing like I’ve EVER seen. Just a sea of white covering the sand, rock and corals, but I was in a panic. I’m sure there are several tiny ones in the little sand bed I have left, but there’s really no way for me to get those out unless I empty the tank.
Coral’s generally aren’t as open as I’m used to seeing them, but no losses, so can’t complain. Fish also seem to be doing OK. Safe to say, I have no more brittle stars and TBD on the anemone. Hoping it recovers…
I’m monitoring the tank (visually) and plan to do another at least 50% water change later today.
Thanks all for the guidance. Looks like I averted a potential disaster by acting fast. Lucky it’s a nano.
Flat worm exit… NEVER again!
Apon
Supporting Member
Same, my mini stars never died from flat worm exit. It's the dead flat worms that are toxic
B the Nano Reefer
Supporting Member
I had very little flat worms to being with tbh. I siphoned out the majority (that I could see) prior to the treatment. And during the treatment, there were very few that I could see in the water column (which were quickly siphoned out). Considering that the stars died within minutes of the drops entering the tank, and well before I saw any visible flat worms in the water column, I don’t think the toxins caused their demise, though I do agree that the dead flatworms are toxic.
B the Nano Reefer
Supporting Member
A million was a clear exaggeration LOL, but it was enough dead stars to completely cover the sanded, rock, corals and my frag rack. More realistically in the thousands.
How I ended up with so many, I have no idea. I know I introduced several inadvertently on a few frags and that’s about all the effort I put into it
MichaelB
Supporting Member
I figured a little inflated lol, but it was a ton for 10 gallon tank to me anyway.
PjFish
Supporting Member
Sorry that sucks !! I literally had to double the flat worm exit dose in a 40 Breeder last year since the original dose did nothing! Put some flatworms in a half gallon jug then kept increasing the dose till it worked then dosed the 40b which was once a week for 4 weeks then all gone However I did remove some large snails in case.. As agreed above water changes and carbon!! But may want to change out the carbon more frequently! Honestly this is not the first time Ive heard of flatworm exit causing havoc on tanks and corals wiping them out with the recommended doses especially with expired dates or not..
Don’t think will use it again just beefed up on wrasses
Don’t think will use it again just beefed up on wrasses
