Nematode infestation in 300 gallon. HELP

Jesseliu13

Jesseliu13

Polypterus
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Jun 27, 2012
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So i have this really bad planaria and nematode (ditritus worm) infestation in my stingray tank.. and i would like to get them out... so ive done water changes to halting foods. and its not working effectively... so ive decided to go to chemical nuking. I researched and many people use fenbendazole to control this issue, except fenbendazole is no longer sold due to the toxicity it has for the animals for it's intended use... does anyone have any suggestions of chemicals that will be safe for my fish? im thinking of just purchasing safeguard 8 in 1 dewormer from petco... And trying that. does anyone have any experience in this?
 
B

brich999

Jack Dempsey
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Jul 3, 2010
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Chemicals always should be a last resort. You want to risk your fish and rays to get rid of tiny harmless worms that will likely come back if you dont fix the issue. Any chance your rays and fish would leave tiny fish like tetras alone for a bit? Most small fish will avidly hunt those small worms and reduce population enough you dont notice them.

Just sounds overboard. You obviously have a similar mentality or wouldnt refer to adding chemicals as "nuking" because often times thats what happens and people end of killing more than they expected
 
Fatlungy

Fatlungy

Dovii
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Sep 1, 2011
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Reading, Pennsylvania
I had a flare up a few times with planaria. Make sure the fish eat all the food you give them and a few water changes and they disappeared. Make sure no leftover food is in you sump too.

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duanes

duanes

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Jun 7, 2007
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I have found that free floating/swimming nematodes can be removed by efficient protein skimmers.
In my experiments, I found the population of nematodes in skim waste was 10 times higher than already skimmed tank water, under microscopic examination.
As to whether protein skimming would remove more sessile planaria, that is another question.
 
Jesseliu13

Jesseliu13

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 27, 2012
1,129
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96
Holmdel, NJ
brich999 said:
Chemicals always should be a last resort. You want to risk your fish and rays to get rid of tiny harmless worms that will likely come back if you dont fix the issue. Any chance your rays and fish would leave tiny fish like tetras alone for a bit? Most small fish will avidly hunt those small worms and reduce population enough you dont notice them.

Just sounds overboard. You obviously have a similar mentality or wouldnt refer to adding chemicals as "nuking" because often times thats what happens and people end of killing more than they expected
Click to expand...
Thank you for the hostility. And small fish aren't an option. My rays will eat them. And my choice of words don't reflect who I am.


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Yoimbrian

Yoimbrian

Dovii
MFK Member
Feb 11, 2013
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Twin cities
What is the dwell time in the uv? If you are flowing through it too fast the planaria is there for like a second and no time to die. The ratings on those things are worse than the ratings on filters, divide by a lot...

Have you stirred up the substrate? Could be rotting food in there they are eating. Those things will starve before yours rays, so if there is no food anywhere they'll die off.


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