Unfortunately I’ve caught the bug, literally. Have an aefw outbreak in my mixed reef. Lost a good size colony of tricolor valida and some small frags. My problem is for my other colonies that are impacted - they are encrusted on the LR and the LR is cemented together so I am not able to take out and treat. Not do I have a QT setup if I was able to take them out. I have a melanarus wrasse and I am trying to get a 6 line as well to help out. Is there any way to beat them even if it is a longer process keeping the corals that are impacted in the tank? Are there any other fish etc that would eat them? I saw a cluster of eggs on a colony by the base - how can I safely remove them again since I am not able to take the coral out of the tank? A few of the frags that I have that are impacted I will take out and dip with either Bayer or Lugols as I have seen that works to help stun them so you can turkey baste off. Any tips or tricks to help win the battle would be greatly appreciated.
AEFW outbreak - can’t remove SPS
- Thread starter MTsquared
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billyocean
10K Club member
I have only read about this so others with experience can help more.
I'm not positive on the treatment directions with interceptor and it's effectiveness on AEFW.
For the short term you can use kz flatworm stop in conjunction with their coral booster product. This is not a fix but from what I've read it stops the damage. Apparently it makes the acros unappealing to eat. It's pricey but people have said it works but won't get rid of the AEFW.
I'm not positive on the treatment directions with interceptor and it's effectiveness on AEFW.
For the short term you can use kz flatworm stop in conjunction with their coral booster product. This is not a fix but from what I've read it stops the damage. Apparently it makes the acros unappealing to eat. It's pricey but people have said it works but won't get rid of the AEFW.
billyocean
10K Club member
From what I've seen they don't go away with it and it's a never ending treatment with the kz flat stop. Not sure on dosing this plus a treatment of interceptor or how all of that works. From what I've read there are less flatworms and damage is kept to a minimum. Again..this is all just research I've done in case I ever came across the problem.
MTsquared
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Anyone know how to safely remove the eggs from colonies that are in the tank? I’ve seen several clusters on the corals. Not sure what happens if they pop when you remove them? I’m hoping if I am able to knock or scrape them off the fish will come by and have a snack and this may help me get it somewhat under control.
billyocean
10K Club member
Maybe a siphon tube running while you do it?
Sharkattackmack
Active Member
Not a complete fix but if you're tank is big enough for some wrasses you could try a few of them. One of the WWC YouTube videos talks about how they went to someone's house and used a turkey baster to blow the FW off the corals. As he blew them off the fish would eat away. Not sure your tank size but I thought I'd mentioned it when I saw your post. Goodluck!
MTsquared
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Thanks I have a melanarus wrasse and I am trying to track down a six line but the lfs hasn’t had any recently. Pulled out a frag that had tons of bite marks on it and flipped it over to see a cluster of eggs. Then I saw a bigger FW that I tried to scrape off which didn’t really work. I decided to dip the frag in Lugols - as I was adding drops I could start to see them moving and writhing in pain so I kept adding more Lugols and wow this thing was totally infested. Not sure if the Lugols actually killed them or just stunned them. Regardless it felt like a victory even though the frag is looking pretty rough. Here is a picture of what came off of the one frag. Hard to see but trust me there are tons and some are rather large.
Tony616
Active Member
My melanarus wrass killed the 6 line when I added him. You would have to remove all rocks with encrusted acros and go fallow for 8 weeks to get rid of the flat worm. Frag what you have and dip weekly in a qt tank is your only option. I had to go through this 8 months ago. It was not fun 
audioTom
New Member
Get yourself some Corythoichthys intestinalis
They're more helpful than wrasses.
Scrape eggs off and blast the colonys with a turkey buster.
I know it looks better to let them encrust, but if you are not QTing new corals in a separate tank for a few weeks u are likely to get some AEFW. It is better to put the corals into loose places like coral euphoria does. Doing the same thing and getting colonies out there to bath them in coral rx is just miles ahead in beating this pest.
regards
tom
They're more helpful than wrasses.
Scrape eggs off and blast the colonys with a turkey buster.
I know it looks better to let them encrust, but if you are not QTing new corals in a separate tank for a few weeks u are likely to get some AEFW. It is better to put the corals into loose places like coral euphoria does. Doing the same thing and getting colonies out there to bath them in coral rx is just miles ahead in beating this pest.
regards
tom
prcardinal91
Active Member
Good morning
I have dealt with AEFW in my acropora dominant 150. No way to remove the coral without completely breaking the tank down. The process I used to eradicate was by draining the tank down to about 2 inches (below all acropora) and spraying the corals with KCL (1 tablespoon per gallon of tank water) then filling the tank back up. I combined with consistent use of Flatworm stop on a daily doser and continue to use FWS. I drained the tank every Sunday for 8 weeks. I believe this method has completely got rid of the flatworms. Time will tell, but it's been a few months and I have not seen any signs of flatworms.
This process is long due to the life cycle of the flatworms. "Our findings show that warmer seawater shortened generation times; at 27°C it took, on average, 11 days for eggs to hatch, and 35 days for flatworms to reach sexual maturity, giving a minimum generation time of 38 days, whereas at 24°C the generation time was 64 days." Eggs hatch, flatworms come out and hopefully get sprayed before reaching sexual maturity. When flatworms hatch they can swim. There can be hundreds of worms on a coral and you would never know due to the size when they hatch. I avoided blowing corals off during the treatment period because I wanted all the worms to be present on the corals so I could target them. The corals will slime SIGNIFICANTLY during the treatment. I sprayed hard enough the get through the slime to the tissue of the coral without completely blasting the tissue off. It's a delicate balance and a learning process to know what the coral tissue can handle without significant damage. I used a home depot 1 gallon pump sprayer.
I have dealt with AEFW in my acropora dominant 150. No way to remove the coral without completely breaking the tank down. The process I used to eradicate was by draining the tank down to about 2 inches (below all acropora) and spraying the corals with KCL (1 tablespoon per gallon of tank water) then filling the tank back up. I combined with consistent use of Flatworm stop on a daily doser and continue to use FWS. I drained the tank every Sunday for 8 weeks. I believe this method has completely got rid of the flatworms. Time will tell, but it's been a few months and I have not seen any signs of flatworms.
This process is long due to the life cycle of the flatworms. "Our findings show that warmer seawater shortened generation times; at 27°C it took, on average, 11 days for eggs to hatch, and 35 days for flatworms to reach sexual maturity, giving a minimum generation time of 38 days, whereas at 24°C the generation time was 64 days." Eggs hatch, flatworms come out and hopefully get sprayed before reaching sexual maturity. When flatworms hatch they can swim. There can be hundreds of worms on a coral and you would never know due to the size when they hatch. I avoided blowing corals off during the treatment period because I wanted all the worms to be present on the corals so I could target them. The corals will slime SIGNIFICANTLY during the treatment. I sprayed hard enough the get through the slime to the tissue of the coral without completely blasting the tissue off. It's a delicate balance and a learning process to know what the coral tissue can handle without significant damage. I used a home depot 1 gallon pump sprayer.
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Xenia
Community Member
buy a black leopard wrasse, she keeps my hole tank clean i had a very big rock with really big flatworms, i whas in a total panic, a other reefer stopped with his tank and he found this wrasse in his sump and i bought it. Within 2 days my hole tank whas clean and she is beatifull to look at.
jackrum
New Member
hi. i never had problem with aefw. but here in germany is a producer of an product wich will help. heard this often in some german forums.
hope its ok posting the link: https://www.faunamarincorals.de/en/water-treatment/pest-removal/aefw-x_216439_34422
the us are not listed in their countries where they deliver but you can send them an email and ask if this is possible.
maybe its helping
hope its ok posting the link: https://www.faunamarincorals.de/en/water-treatment/pest-removal/aefw-x_216439_34422
the us are not listed in their countries where they deliver but you can send them an email and ask if this is possible.
maybe its helping
Zoajohn
Well-Known Member
FWS and a wrasse was enough to clear out an AEFW outbreak I had on an older setup a few years ago. I presume the FWS made the acros inedible for the worms, and the wrasse picked them off until there were no more eggs being laid.
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