Aefw ?

medi · Dec 27, 2010

HELP!! I am in need of some advice. I purchased a large acro colony and placed it in my tank late night Tues the 21st. I dipped the colony in CoralRx prior to placing in my tank and we didn't notice anything in the dip water when we moved it over. I don't QT only because I don't have one setup nor have I had a place to set one up. Probably will find a way now. Anywho...I left town yesterday and a friend of mine who got a piece of the same coral calls me and tells me that the piece he has is infested with AEFW. He immediately removed his piece and then headed over to my place to remove the coral from my tank. My tank has a ton of acros, but the vast majority are still very small colonies.

I guess my question is....Any advice on how I should handle this situation? I am happy that we caught them so fast, but how concerned should I be about the chances of them taking off. We already plan on removing all my SPS and dipping with CoralRx this afternoon, but what other precautions should I be taking?

As far as a QT I don't need to be lectured on how I should be running a QT tank and all of the benefits because trust me I've known for awhile. I just haven't had a place to set one up, but after this I have already begun the process of attempting to get on set up.

Thanks very much for any advice/help you can give.

2Sunny · Dec 27, 2010

Its only an annoyance.

Like most of the other dreaded pests, AEFW are not as big a problem as some would have you believe. The proof lies in this months Tank of the Month. Keith's tank had and/or has AEFW and he didn't take any corals out or dose any chemicals. What he did do was diligent maintenance with a turkey baster. He found some of his fish learned to eat the buggers as a result of his blowing them off the acros and ultimately they disappeared.

So . . .

Keep doing all the right things like maintaining good water chemistry, variable flow, and water changes and I would expect you can take care of the pesky worms with no trouble if they do actually appear.

and for what it's worth, I do not quarantine but I do place my corals in a 4 hour dip of Interceptor followed by a 4 minute bath in Coral Revive.

Joe

Breakin Newz · Dec 27, 2010

2Sunny said:
Like most of the other dreaded pests, AEFW are not as big a problem as some would have you believe. The proof lies in this months Tank of the Month. Keith's tank had and/or has AEFW and he didn't take any corals out or dose any chemicals. What he did do was diligent maintenance with a turkey baster. He found some of his fish learned to eat the buggers as a result of his blowing them off the acros and ultimately they disappeared.

So . . .

Keep doing all the right things like maintaining good water chemistry, variable flow, and water changes and I would expect you can take care of the pesky worms with no trouble if they do actually appear.

and for what it's worth, I do not quarantine but I do place my corals in a 4 hour dip of Interceptor followed by a 4 minute bath in Coral Revive.

Joe

This is some good advice!

gar732 · Dec 27, 2010

Keith did have them and his tank is great but like you said his fish eat them and he has large colonies. In my tank they had no natural predators to keep them in check nor did I realize I had them till things got nasty. Most of my sps are frags or small colonies and the AEFWs took off faster than the corals could handle, so for me they were as bad as everyone made them out to be.

Hopefully you caught them before they were able to migrate to other corals and lay eggs, otherwiseiwill require several dips throughout their lifecycle to get rid of them. Trust me its better to nip it in thebud now then to deal with a large population of them later. I'm still fighting with them.

reefkoi · Dec 27, 2010

whenever I have dipped acros that had aefw in the coral rx the flatworms started peeling off almost immediately, maybe you arent dosign the rx strong enough? just a thought for future dips :)

Chris

Kbra · Dec 27, 2010

reefkoi said:
whenever I have dipped acros that had aefw in the coral rx the flatworms started peeling off almost immediately, maybe you arent dosign the rx strong enough? just a thought for future dips :)

Chris

Plus 1 to that

medi · Dec 27, 2010

I may have to up the dose. I just follow the directions on the bottle. As far as natural predators goes....what kind of fish were eating them in kieth's tank?

cmjreef · Dec 28, 2010

I have a leopard wrasse that does just that. When I first started basting, he would follow me around. Soon, I started letting the AEFW out of the baster in front of him, and he would eat them. Now, I don't have to because he's "johnny on the spot" now. He loves them, and I get a little giddy watching him eat them. I baste about every other day, and I rarely see any now. I may never get rid of them entirely, but I have a nice looking SPS tank, with good polyp extension, good color, and good growth; most of all, my corals are alive. I agree 100%, you can live w/ them. I wish I didn't have to, but you can.

BTW, Breakin Newz, I love your reef!! Is that a spotted file? How is that workin for you? Can you keep them without decimating your corals? Does he just nibble here and there, or does he have some favorites that he totally destroys? I love those fish.