AEFW questions for new tank setup

[nater]

AEFW questions

i now know that my tank is defiantly a bit infested with AEFW. not only does it suck , but it raises a bunch of questions in my case. any and all insight would be helpful. here we go

some background info.currently have a 90 gallon mixed reef, i am going to be setting up a new 220 tank. i am going to start with all new dry rock and new sand.

my questions are

1. should i not even think about putting any of my sps in my tank even if i don't see signs of AEFW?
2. even with dipping and possible quarantine , are my sps not worth the risk?
3. are all my polyp corals possibly hosting AEFW?
4. is there any way to at least be sure that there are no AEFW in any of my LPS or Softies?
5. i have heard if you keep the tank free of sps for 6+ months , the AEFW will starve off?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks , Nate

 

[secretreefer]

i've battled aefw, red bugs, montipora eating nudis.... for AEFW i pulled every single sps out of my tank and dipped everything in mixture of coral revive/coral rx every 2 weeks for almost 2 months(overkill??). including the rock they were on (SPS were fragged onto medium sized rocks that i could pull out). just used a old 20 gallon long tank for treatment. i actually treated everything together since there was enough room in the 20L. it was a PIA but worth it. now i'm free of AEFW but i did lose a couple of really nice colonies of tricolor valida and a bonsai. i also invested in a target mandarin goby, small flame wrasses and true yellow coris wrasse. One day tho when I dropped hundred+ saltwater feeder shrimp i saw a bunch on a valida colony (i had it on the bottom near the front acrylic panel) and i swear I saw them what looked like picking off and eating aefw! i never had the time to isolate a frag to test in a small clear holding container tho. Maybe in your case you could put all your sps in a big enough tank and FLATWORM EXIT the whole isolation tank. OR remove everything except your SPS and live rock and dose that tank.

 

[nater]

good to hear you battled them back. i know i can defiantly kick them down a notch with dipping , but i am not sure if i will ever be able to bring myself to putting them in the new tank. maybe i'll make small frags out of my mini colonies and dip the hell out off them to have a better chance to not introduce them into the new system. IDK. i'm defiantly going to have to look into the saltwater feeder shrimps. that may be a helpful hand. i now for sure on my new system i am going to be as careful and straight up picky as hell as to what goes in. probably going to setup a quarantine system for when new frags come in for observation. my real dilemma i'm feeling is my polyps and chalices. i don't know how to gauge if they are carrying any. guess i'll have to dip some of those as well and see what comes off. if nothing , i guess they really just harbor themselves on SPS and really don't go for softies at all? i'm just putting this out to there. want to get as much insight and thoughts as possible as my new tank build is near. i am definitely not putting any off the live rock i have in my new system. i won't risk it at this point, unless people feel otherwise and have an opinion on it. i feel that was one of my first mistakes when i started was buying live rock from an LFS.

 

[ronnie]

Flatworm exit does nothing - trust me. If it does work, it would be cheaper to throw all your SPS away and buy new ones in three months.

For your LPS, if you are worried about it, put them in your new tank and leave it SPS-less for three months. IF (and it's a big if) they are on there, they will die of starvation as long as there are zero acropora in the new tank.

Your live rock will be fine, too - just no acros.

 

[gar732]

I have them and am battling them now. I have removed every sps from my display and have them in my frag tank and dip them once a week and blow them off with a turkey baster while in the dip. They only eat acros so if you keep sps out of the main tank for a few months they will all starve to death (better than they deserve lol). I've heard to keep the display sps free for up to three months to be sure that they are all gone. No need to chuck your live rock. Flat worm exit won't touch them and from what I understand the weekly dips and isolation are the best way to beat them. The best way to keep them out is a quarantine tank. I dip every frag that goes into my tank and and I still got them.

 

[nater]

awesome info all around. getting my head wrapped around all this is what i need. going to start a weekly dipping process to start off. my build will be underway soon and figure it won't be ready for a least two months. so i'll have to come up with a plan of attack. probably setup a separate system for the sps as to get my tank to a three month point with no sps so that i can justify putting the lps and softies in the new tank. then let the rock sit in the old tank probably without sand for another couple months if i even decide i want to use it , or dry it out in that case. i want to be on the super safe side. maybe setup another system to house the sps and just dip the hell out of them and see what happens there. i figure i could really just say bye to the sps i have now if it means i have a shot at keeping them out of the new system from the get go. figure if they die , then i wasn't meant to be. as far as them not surviving three months without any sps , this makes me feel a little better about not loosing any polyps.

 

[ronnie]

I'm planning to use Bayer Insecticide to dip with. I'm still working out the dosages - here is my thread:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-sps-discussion/53471-aefw-my-long-journey.html

 

[freshfish]

Cut 1 inch tips off your colonys dip the tips in tropic marin/ revive. Make sure the tips you cut off are healthy and have no death or bare spots on them. Glue your pieces into small colonys. Place them in your new tank and you will be AEFW free. If your using all new rock you'll be golden. Throw the rest of the colonys away. AEFW lay there eggs at the food source on the dead part of the coral. They do not lay them on the flesh but right next to it. Thats why it's critical to make sure theres no death or dead spots on your 1 inch tips. The tropic marin/revive will stun or kill the worms off of the 1 inch tips you cut. The worms not the tough guy it's the eggs. My method of madness is all SPS I get from anyone the piece get's cut off the plug / rock which eliminates eggs then I treat the piece in tropic marin shake it vigorously in the treatment (Which will make AEFW fall off) then I shake the piece in a separate bucket of tank water then glue any light spot thats on the remaining coral (Your coral will grow right over the glue in no time). Attach your new coral to anything you like place in tank you will be AEFW free. The trick is no ones plug or rock ever go's into your tank(Don't care if it's your best friend)from the SPS you are receiving. Sometimes you get a piece thats just encrusted on the plug and theres nothing to cut off of it. I super glue the whole plug and an 1/8 inch into the flesh to seal any eggs that might be on the plug. It's been close to 5 years flatworm free living by this set of religious rules. Your LPS and softies there might be a chance of wandering flat worms looking for there next food source. But its not there food source and the young need to feed right away so the chance of them laying eggs by any of these corals is probably pretty slim just treat the piece shake it well and place in your tank you should be fine. Hope this helps good luck.

 

[Sampo]

+1 for the above

Nice detail fresh

 

[secretreefer]

my bad. i thought flatworm exit takes em out. sorry for the misinfo.

 

[nater]

Cut 1 inch tips off your colonys dip the tips in tropic marin/ revive. Make sure the tips you cut off are healthy and have no death or bare spots on them. Glue your pieces into small colonys. Place them in your new tank and you will be AEFW free. If your using all new rock you'll be golden. Throw the rest of the colonys away. AEFW lay there eggs at the food source on the dead part of the coral. They do not lay them on the flesh but right next to it. Thats why it's critical to make sure theres no death or dead spots on your 1 inch tips. The tropic marin/revive will stun or kill the worms off of the 1 inch tips you cut. The worms not the tough guy it's the eggs. My method of madness is all SPS I get from anyone the piece get's cut off the plug / rock which eliminates eggs then I treat the piece in tropic marin shake it vigorously in the treatment (Which will make AEFW fall off) then I shake the piece in a separate bucket of tank water then glue any light spot thats on the remaining coral (Your coral will grow right over the glue in no time). Attach your new coral to anything you like place in tank you will be AEFW free. The trick is no ones plug or rock ever go's into your tank(Don't care if it's your best friend)from the SPS you are receiving. Sometimes you get a piece thats just encrusted on the plug and theres nothing to cut off of it. I super glue the whole plug and an 1/8 inch into the flesh to seal any eggs that might be on the plug. It's been close to 5 years flatworm free living by this set of religious rules. Your LPS and softies there might be a chance of wandering flat worms looking for there next food source. But its not there food source and the young need to feed right away so the chance of them laying eggs by any of these corals is probably pretty slim just treat the piece shake it well and place in your tank you should be fine. Hope this helps good luck.

I hear words of wisdom here ^ , lol. i completely here you on all this. makes so much sense. really great info here. i never took the corals of there plugs when i got them. the more i began to get into sps , the more i realized i didn't know what i was doing. knowing is more then half the battle in this hobby. i appreciate the great write ups. great info for me to soak up

 

[nater]

I'm planning to use Bayer Insecticide to dip with. I'm still working out the dosages - here is my thread:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-sps-discussion/53471-aefw-my-long-journey.html

ron , that stuff absolutely does the trick. i know there probably alot of people that will be skeptical of using it, but i used it about two weeks ago on a tri color , and a purple nana , yellow milli. all are doing just fine. thanks for sharing. i am going to try some of my own testing between coral rx , revive , and this stuff. i want to see the differences in how they affect the flatworms.