AEFW thread

[gflat65]

I know that SPS are becoming more popular with a lot of the members of the site, so I've been asked to relay some of my experiences with acro eating flat worms (AEFW's). Anyone else with experiences, feel free to chime in, too. If you get nothing else from this, I think you'll see how important it is to prevent things from getting in through diligent QT.

About two years ago, I noticed that my favorite garf coral had washed out in color. It was normally a gold color with neon green polyps (I think it was called the gold bonsai by Norm at one time?). The skin had gotten really pale and appeared to have oval shaped bite marks all over it. The polyp extension dropped to next to nothing. At that time, I was just hearing about AEFW's and all the discussion on how to get rid of them. I posted some pictures, but didn't get a definitive answer (was also having the alk issues, so maybe that was the cause of the fading).

I decided to dip the affected corals in an Iodine dip to see what came off. About 15 minutes in, I noticed a small, oval shaped clearish white thing floating around. Then I noticed ten or so more. They were every where. Stomach sank, but there seemed to be some promising results from Levamisole HCl (a pig wormer found at the local CO-OP) in a QT setting, so I started figuring out how I was going to do run the treatment.

I decided to set up a 20L. I happened to have a spare 12x30 stand, 175W MH, and a 20L, so all I had to do was ghetto up the canopy.

The skimmer is more for looks than function. It did very little for me, but it was sporadic at best when I used it on a display.

I pulled every acro in the tank, including every scrap of encrusted acro.

It all got loaded into the 20 and awaited treatment.

 

[gflat65]

The only thing that had been tried and worked to some degree at the time was the Levamisole HCl by Mitch Carl. The formula I used for calculating the amount to dose is below.
To calculate drug dose use the following formula:

For 100% active drug:

volume in liters of tank x ppm (drug dosage) / 1000mg/g=#of grams required of the drug

For drugs that have less than 100% active drug, you take the percentage of the active drug (Levamisole hydrochloride is 80% active w/ 20% inert ingredients) and multiply the percentage to the 1000mg/g. So...

volume in L x ppm / 800mg/g = grams of drug

So if your treating a 10 gal tank w/ 40ppm Levamisole its:

37.8L x 40ppm / 800mg/g= 1.89g of Levamisole

I performed weekly treatments for five weeks. The Levamisole quickly browned everything out, but everything was still alive. For each treatment, I would do a 100% water change with water from the main display. In retrospect, this could have introduced AEFW's back into the QT in theory, but I couldn't think of any other way to do a 100% WC and get away with it. The tank and all equipment was cleaned thoroughly and the tank set back up. The corals were treated in the 20L and moved to a Rubbermaid tub after the treatments so I could work on the tank and equipment. The treatment is a 5 hour treatment, but cleaning up and setting up add another hour or two. Then there is the back breaking blasting/twisting/shaking of every acro before placing it back in the fresh QT. Long nights. I didn't find anything after the second treatment, but kept the course going. No sense turning back once I'd gone that far.

Week 2. RTN starts. Week 2 was actually the first full strength dose. I didn’t treat for long enough on the first treatment (only did 1 hr...). May have given them a little booster shot. I started losing corals after the first full treatment. I lost a good number of pieces after the first treatment and continued to lose over the course of the rest of the treatment schedule. Having as much rock in the QT was most likely detrimental. I think that it likely absorbed the Levamisole from the treatments and leached it back out over the course of the week.

 

[gflat65]

Here is one of the buggers on the glass, just cruising around.

Some made it back into the tank after 6 weeks with no acro flesh for the nasties to munch on. I didn't see any signs of them returning after that, but the toll on my corals was huge. I lost close to 85% or so of my corals (if you live by the statement that 98.76849785674563% of all stats are made up on the spot).

After this incident, I began a strict QT policy for all incoming corals. I found out about TMPCC (Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure) and use it religiously, even now.

When I get new corals (mainly speaking of SPS because my others go through somewhat different processes), they go into a 5 gallon tank with a powerhead and heater with water from the QT. I break off a piece of Interceptor and crush it up and drop in. In the morning, as I start pulling corals out of the Interceptor, I place them into a TMPCC dip for 15 minutes. For acros, I typically does 3-4X min what it recommends and have had no issues with loses. They might brown out from time to time, but they color back up. Dose more than recommended at own risk. Before placing them into the QT with the bases broken off (the eggs are going to be on areas where there is no tissue-cracks and crevices are perfect for them), they get a nice blasting with a turkey baster. For smaller frags (usually LE's), I may cut some corners as they are a little easier to inspect for missing tissue, etc. Colonies always get the rough treatment. I'd rather kill a colony treating it than let it put an AEFW in my tank and kill most of my acros. There has been some recent success using Potassium permanganate to kill Monti nudi’s, so this may end up being a fix for the eggs, but not enough research has been done on it. Potassium permanganate is also being looked at for zoa nudi eggs.

Here are some befores...

 

[gflat65]

This was the first to show signs and one of my favorites. They also attacked the nana's, validas (tri colors and the one below), efflo, and tenius right off the bat. I didn't have any issues with mille's, though they are supposed to be very susceptible.

So far, so good. I lost all of my acros in the move to Montgomery (lost all SPS except for a M. peltiformis), so that made it easy to know I didn't have and had a clean slate. Just can't express how important it is to do a little prevention. In addition to the labor involved, seeing your favorite pieces die each day is not something you want to go through. TMPCC and Interceptor dips, along with the few other preventative measures seem to have keep me clean since.

 

[Azurel]

Great info Gary......

 

[ficklefins]

Thank you for the informative post and pictures. I admit that I was unfamiliar with these pests (I'm not big on SPS), but now I will be more observant of my new additions.

 

[Weetabix7]

I'm just starting to get into sps, so this is helpful.
I've been dipping new arrivals in Kent Marine's Tech-D.

Here is a link to another interesting approach to treating AEFW.
I may actually get some of these little buggers to keep in a quarantine tank.
http://www.korallen-zucht.de/index.php?article_id=52&clang=1

 

[gflat65]

I've heard that several wrasses can be useful in taking them out, too. They won't eradicate them, but might keep them under control. Of course, anyone who knows they have them should make it known to anyone they sell too, but dipping smaller frags upon arrival can reduce the likelihood of anything making it into the display, even on pieces from known infected colonies. I'd definitely recommend an extended QT time for anything you know had AEFW's, but it isn't the end of the world (but the frag should be worth the potential risk).

For future issues (if I ever find the nasties again), I would likely do stringent TMPCC dips on large frags with no tissue loss. They would then be placed in a separate (presumably clean) system for 4-6 weeks to make sure the AEFW's starve, followed by weekly dips. All tissue would have to be removed from the display, too, but I think the TMPCC dips would likely be less stressful. Dipping en masse would require some planning, though. The process can be long and drawn out if you have a lot of acros... TMPCC is pretty safe to use for the time frames listed on the bottle (I typically overdose, but don't go over time). Try to plan to move the corals in and out in waves. Three or four large corals may be all you want to treat in one setting. They sit for 15 minutes in the dip, but by the time you get finished blasting and inspecting, the last coral may be in the dip for 30 minutes or so. Those usually suffer a bit of stress (and may die). When I've done masses of zoas from known nudi infected tanks (glutton for punishment), I would replace the dip solution after every two dips, so I'd probably follow the same procedure for TMPCC on large lots. it'll put more work on you, but by doing smaller lots of corals in each dip, you will better control the conditions that can add to stress. Given that acros are generally more affected by temp swings, replacing the dip every time might not be a bad idea... I'd be interested in testing some AEFW infected colonies with eggs with the Potassium permanganate treatment Borneman has tried on Monti nudi eggs. Not sure when I'd have time to set it up, but I think that would be a worhtwhile and interesting study to carry over...

 

[Weetabix7]

I wanted to get your input.
I may have AEFW, but I'm not sure.
They look like small, translucent tan flatworms that are round or oval in shape.
What makes me question their identity is that I found them crawling all over a Monti and it was my understanding that they only eat Acro's. My acro's have all been looking fine, but when the lights come on today I will check them for the characteristic bite-marks.
If they are AEFW, will wrasses eat these?
I've been wondering why I haven't seen them mentioned as biological control for these since they are known to eat other kinds of flatworms.

 

[gflat65]

The description sounds correct for AEFW's. There are apparently different types, so some are worse than others (and colored slightly different). They will definitely cruise around the tank. When I pulled everything to QT, they were cruising the glass. If they did any damage to the montis, can you get some pics? I've heard stories of them on other corals, but no pictures to substantiate clamis of damage (that I've seen, anyway).

Wrasses can help keep them under control, according to a number of people. Of course, they may have some of the less voracious flat worms and may be confounding the the results... When I'd blow mine off the corals before moving them to the QT, my purple tang, mandarin, and cleaner wrasse would all eat them floating in the water column. The WSM may have nibbled on a few, too. They won't eradicate them, though. The closest you can get to that is QT's and dips (and even that is no concrete guarantee-though I've not noticed any signs on anything since March 02 when I had the outbreak).

Some of the wrasses people have recommended are the banana wrasse (it's a yellow coris that stays relatively small), the Christmas wrasse (Halichoeres ornatissimus-not the Thalasoma trilobatum). The Christmas wrasse is usually reef safe, but may take out your shrimp (fish by fish). Mine was just a punk, but the tang kept him in check. He quickly gobbled up every shrimp I had in the tank, though.

 

[msman825]

I dont like the browning out with dips. Has anyone here ever tried fluke tabs. going too try fluke tabs and interceptor mixed together in a 1 shot dip on new arrivals,then put in coral revive before adding too frag tank.. with my next acro order Any ideas on this theory

 

[gflat65]

Let me check on the fluke tabs. I know one particular person ripped people apart on RC when they told him the fluke tabs wouldn't work. He swore up and down that they did. After his chastising of those speaking against fluke tabs, a number of threads popped up in the SPS fourm on RC about them not working at all. I haven't seen the reefer around in some time that was so big on them...

 

[msman825]

I saw melev's thread. Thats why i'm going too try them. I dont personally know the guy, but i dont see any reason not to believe him. He showed the proof. sorry for making another thread about this. but could not get any opinions here yesturday. I don't have the suckers and dont want them either lol