100% water change is exactly what I'm trying to avoid on a 250 gallon total water volume system.
Curious about the time of application as well.
Curious about the time of application as well.
An Almost Successful In Tank AEFW Treatment
- Thread starter Laser
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OP
OP
It will definately do the trick in 30 minutes. We did not have enough storage for the complete 100% to even attempt it. I would be cautious about exposing the corals to air for the amount of time if would take to drain the whole tank and then refill. As discussed earlier we only performed 3-25% changes in a 24 hour period after treatments and then a 50% 2 days later each time. The elevated K levels from 1600 at treatments to 400 by end of water changes lasted for 2 days in short....Most of the losses we saw during the 3 treatments we concluded were due to the water changes and exposure to air (we only lost corals on top of reef that were exposed. Noticing this after the first treatment we then did our best to keep the corals splashed while exposed and not dry any and we then saw no more losses after treatments 2 and 3. I supppose it would be fine if you can keep them moist...
OP
OP
Day 50 update:
All fish and cleanup crew now in tank for 6 days and doing well. They have already put a pretty good dent in the algae outbreak and will have the rest of the lawn mowed in no time. All corals are doing well with no more losses to report. Colors are coming back amazingly quick!!
All fish and cleanup crew now in tank for 6 days and doing well. They have already put a pretty good dent in the algae outbreak and will have the rest of the lawn mowed in no time. All corals are doing well with no more losses to report. Colors are coming back amazingly quick!!
Lazys Coral House
Well-Known Member
Congratulations and thank you for sharing your journey. It is about time we finally have a potential in tank solution to deal with AEFW. No doubt this will continue to be tweaked and enhanced over time and lead to a new standard of elimination of this pest
There isn't a lot of feedback here but I am sure many folks are extremely happy to hear about this and encouraged by your results.
There isn't a lot of feedback here but I am sure many folks are extremely happy to hear about this and encouraged by your results.
OP
OP
You bet happy to help the hobby!! Having AEFW in the coral world is like admitting you have an infectious disease but I feel if this gets around we will have a chance to get these beasts under control...Hence I am sure many are reading but not comfortable commenting....I have personally battled AEFW twice in the past 4 years so having options is certainly a step forward.
Lazys Coral House
Well-Known Member
There is 3,465 Threads in this board "General SPS Discussion" This one was created less then one month ago and is already at thread 225 when sorting by views. It is getting some serious attention.
Mod's may want to consider making it as a sticky thread as long as it is proving effective solution.
$pikes_{air
Active Member
Since I can't get my fish out I will have to do a dip of this and dip a few pieces at a time
KMmm
Curious on how you calculated the 1 teaspoon of Brightwell per half gallon of tank water to achieve 1600. I have no way to test levels of 1600 so I followed the directions on the bottle (assuming Brightwell printed accurate info-Thats an unknown since I can't test that high as mentioned)
2 teaspoons in 8oz of RO/DI will make a stock solution that raises 1 gallon of water 1.7ppm
If there are anyone reading who is more skilled at math please jump in with some calculations if mine are inaccurate.
I figured;
1ml raises 1 gallon-1.7
1ml raises 1 cup-27.2
Assuming tank water is 300ppm and target being 1600ppm
Target increase 1300ppm/27.2mls= 47.8 mls needed of solution made to reach 1600
Anyone want to check that for me
Round up to 48mls of solution needed to raise 1cup of tank water (Thats 300ppm) to 1600
1 gallon = 16 cups so
16 cups x 48mls = 768 mls (of solution) needed to raise 1 gallon of tank water to 1600 or roughly 3 1/4 cups solution needed per gallon of tank water to achieve 1600 ppm
Please feel free to correct me
Anyway......
I followed the directions and mixed up a small batch of solution and aquired a frag (2 frags actually) that had AEFW. I dipped the frags in the solution and after 60 seconds I used a turkey baster and gave them a blast-worms came off like water off a ducks back.
I did this on one frag for 30 minutes and at the end of the 30 minutes the worms had fully dissolved-my wife was sort of scared at the way I kept walking into the tank room and the maniacal laugh I kept breaking out into.
MELT you rotten Acro killing abominations, MELT moooo haaaa haaaa haaaa
I rinsed the frag and put it into the tank (oh yes I did) the next day polyps fully extended and it looks great-that was a week ago. 2 days ago I took the other frag and this time just dipped it for 15 minutes since the basting caused the worms to fly off. They start melting around 2-3 minutes. I rinsed this frag and placed it also in the same tank-today all looks great.
I will be using this as a preventative dip going forward, I have always used Bayer but hate the milky white that doesn't allow you to view pests coming off.
Someone please check my calculations if you would not mind
Thanks again for posting this!!!
I read this treatment on a different forum over the weekend. Great thread, BTW.
I don't have any AEWF or red bugs but I wanted to test the spike and drop in K on a frag.
This past Sunday, I made a fresh cut of my red tabling milli. Here it is just after cutting:
I then computed that I need one teaspoon of KCl per 1/2 gallon of tank water, that was already at 390 ppm, to get it to about 1600 ppm.
I mixed the water in a bucket with Brightwell's Potassion-P, placed some in a plastic bag and dropped the frag in it:
I floated this in the tank so that the change in water temperature wouldn't be an issue.
After the 30 minute dip, I put it on a plug and took this picture:
It looked like there were no issues. (Note that this acro's growth tips are white, that's not bleaching.)
Here's a picture of it yesterday, roughly 24 hours after the dip:
Still looking great!
Curious on how you calculated the 1 teaspoon of Brightwell per half gallon of tank water to achieve 1600. I have no way to test levels of 1600 so I followed the directions on the bottle (assuming Brightwell printed accurate info-Thats an unknown since I can't test that high as mentioned)
2 teaspoons in 8oz of RO/DI will make a stock solution that raises 1 gallon of water 1.7ppm
If there are anyone reading who is more skilled at math please jump in with some calculations if mine are inaccurate.
I figured;
1ml raises 1 gallon-1.7
1ml raises 1 cup-27.2
Assuming tank water is 300ppm and target being 1600ppm
Target increase 1300ppm/27.2mls= 47.8 mls needed of solution made to reach 1600
Anyone want to check that for me
Round up to 48mls of solution needed to raise 1cup of tank water (Thats 300ppm) to 1600
1 gallon = 16 cups so
16 cups x 48mls = 768 mls (of solution) needed to raise 1 gallon of tank water to 1600 or roughly 3 1/4 cups solution needed per gallon of tank water to achieve 1600 ppm
Please feel free to correct me
Anyway......
I followed the directions and mixed up a small batch of solution and aquired a frag (2 frags actually) that had AEFW. I dipped the frags in the solution and after 60 seconds I used a turkey baster and gave them a blast-worms came off like water off a ducks back.
I did this on one frag for 30 minutes and at the end of the 30 minutes the worms had fully dissolved-my wife was sort of scared at the way I kept walking into the tank room and the maniacal laugh I kept breaking out into.
MELT you rotten Acro killing abominations, MELT moooo haaaa haaaa haaaa
I rinsed the frag and put it into the tank (oh yes I did) the next day polyps fully extended and it looks great-that was a week ago. 2 days ago I took the other frag and this time just dipped it for 15 minutes since the basting caused the worms to fly off. They start melting around 2-3 minutes. I rinsed this frag and placed it also in the same tank-today all looks great.
I will be using this as a preventative dip going forward, I have always used Bayer but hate the milky white that doesn't allow you to view pests coming off.
Someone please check my calculations if you would not mind
Thanks again for posting this!!!
Last edited:
OP
OP
KMmm
Curious on how you calculated the 1 teaspoon of Brightwell per half gallon of tank water to achieve 1600. I have no way to test levels of 1600 so I followed the directions on the bottle (assuming Brightwell printed accurate info-Thats an unknown since I can't test that high as mentioned)
2 teaspoons in 8oz of RO/DI will make a stock solution that raises 1 gallon of water 1.7ppm
If there are anyone reading who is more skilled at math please jump in with some calculations if mine are inaccurate.
I figured;
1ml raises 1 gallon-1.7
1ml raises 1 cup-27.2
Assuming tank water is 300ppm and target being 1600ppm
Target increase 1300ppm/27.2mls= 47.8 mls needed of solution made to reach 1600
Anyone want to check that for me
Round up to 48mls of solution needed to raise 1cup of tank water (Thats 300ppm) to 1600
1 gallon = 16 cups so
16 cups x 48mls = 768 mls (of solution) needed to raise 1 gallon of tank water to 1600 or roughly 3 1/4 cups solution needed per gallon of tank water to achieve 1600 ppm
Please feel free to correct me
Anyway......
I followed the directions and mixed up a small batch of solution and aquired a frag (2 frags actually) that had AEFW. I dipped the frags in the solution and after 60 seconds I used a turkey baster and gave them a blast-worms came off like water off a ducks back.
I did this on one frag for 30 minutes and at the end of the 30 minutes the worms had fully dissolved-my wife was sort of scared at the way I kept walking into the tank room and the maniacal laugh I kept breaking out into.
MELT you rotten Acro killing abominations, MELT moooo haaaa haaaa haaaa
I rinsed the frag and put it into the tank (oh yes I did) the next day polyps fully extended and it looks great-that was a week ago. 2 days ago I took the other frag and this time just dipped it for 15 minutes since the basting caused the worms to fly off. They start melting around 2-3 minutes. I rinsed this frag and placed it also in the same tank-today all looks great.
I will be using this as a preventative dip going forward, I have always used Bayer but hate the milky white that doesn't allow you to view pests coming off.
Someone please check my calculations if you would not mind
Thanks again for posting this!!!
Exactly what I was seeing and I understand the funny looks from the wife. She came out and asked if I was watching a football game one night during a treatment!
Assuming the 1ml raises 1 gallon -- 1.7 is correct for the potassium of your choice then I believe the calculations to be correct. I am really interested to see what someone finds when they encounter red bugs with this dip...
Make sure to remove the frags you dipped and saw aefw every two weeks for another dip to get any eggs.
During treatments and dips I did see within 5 minutes every time aefw floating and then, poof, bye bye...Maybe only need to dip for about 5-10 minutes??? This dip will surely evolve but as you can see we have some sort of defense for the nasty aefw.
That's hilarious about the maniacal laughter!
Just throwing it out there to save myself from a calculation session, but has anybody calculated for a dip yet using the water softener material?
Say, 4 cups of saltwater at 400 ppm potassium, needs X amount of the KCl to get the concentration up to 1600 ppm? Just asking because I'm lazy and didn't feel like crunching the numbers. [emoji20]
Just throwing it out there to save myself from a calculation session, but has anybody calculated for a dip yet using the water softener material?
Say, 4 cups of saltwater at 400 ppm potassium, needs X amount of the KCl to get the concentration up to 1600 ppm? Just asking because I'm lazy and didn't feel like crunching the numbers. [emoji20]
Laser was the potassium chloride you got in a powder
I was at Home Depot yesterday and was checking this stuff out;
http://t.homedepot.com/p/Diamond-Cr...e-Water-Softening-Pellets-100012447/100614656
The bag felt like it was full of rocks, like extra course reactor media or lava rock. Id guess it does crush easily.
Just curious
I was at Home Depot yesterday and was checking this stuff out;
http://t.homedepot.com/p/Diamond-Cr...e-Water-Softening-Pellets-100012447/100614656
The bag felt like it was full of rocks, like extra course reactor media or lava rock. Id guess it does crush easily.
Just curious
OP
OP
The bag felt like it was full of rocks, like extra course reactor media or lava rock. Id guess it does crush easily.
Not a powder but it would be easier if you can find it. Diamond Crystal is what we used. When you mix it with RO it dissolves rather quickly. Just used a mag 7 in a 5 gallon bucket and one hour later it was ready to roll..
Last edited:
I was asking because of the measurement of 1 teaspoon or even 1 cup-did you crush it to a powder form or how did you guesstimate.
I'm sure wives around the community wouldn't mind their food processor to be used :behindsofa:
I'm sure wives around the community wouldn't mind their food processor to be used :behindsofa:
This is really incredible. Finally, after all these years, a hobbyist has invented a way to kill off the most dreaded pest we've encountered yet without ripping your tank apart. Great job and thank you for thinking outside the box and being brave enough to try it!
What made you think that raising the K would be a way to kill them off? I mean, it makes total sense in hindsight. I wish I would have thought of it!
The only downside to this method is that you have to be able to catch all your fish. That can be quite difficult for some, especially in a large tank with large colonies, but as you pointed out, it may be possible to let the solution stun them so you can catch them and then transfer them to a hospital tank to recover. It would probably be wise to save a couple of small pieces of LR rubble so that you can use them to repopulate your bacterial populations as well as your pods and other critters.
What made you think that raising the K would be a way to kill them off? I mean, it makes total sense in hindsight. I wish I would have thought of it!
The only downside to this method is that you have to be able to catch all your fish. That can be quite difficult for some, especially in a large tank with large colonies, but as you pointed out, it may be possible to let the solution stun them so you can catch them and then transfer them to a hospital tank to recover. It would probably be wise to save a couple of small pieces of LR rubble so that you can use them to repopulate your bacterial populations as well as your pods and other critters.
Thanks a ton!
OP
OP
The past 2 days the tank has developed a nasty grey algae all over the sand bed. I suspect that a good part of the bacteria has died off. Still showing no nitrates and phosphates still at 0.01 per hanna meter. Hopefully the acros can hang in there..No trouble signs for any lps or zoas as they actually are thriving now.
Thanks for the update-still following along
Please continue with update events as time passes
Please continue with update events as time passes
Last edited:
I actually do not think that this would be a good idea. Some of the hatchlings go free swimming and may be on the rock that you are using to reseed the tank. You would possibly be reseeding the tank with AEFW as well.
I just picked up some KCL in powder form from Ebay. A bit more expensive per pound, but cheaper than a 40lb bag and I'll never even come close to using the 40 pounds. I picked up two pounds for $11 or so shipped. I didn't need the extra pound (using as a dip, not in tank), but it was $2 more than the one pound bag shipped.
Perhaps, but if you keep it in a tank or bucket without any acros for at least a few weeks any AEFW present will die from starvation whereas the beneficial stuff like bacteria and pods would likely survive just fine. I can understand someone not wanting to take that route though. I just know if I were to ever treat my whole tank like this I would want a way to quickly jumpstart its ecosystem again after pretty much wiping it out. That's why the tank is having so much trouble with algae blooms now.
Similar threads
