biom's Reef

[biom]

OK, I've lost it.

At least find the reason - it can be seen even from the last picture I've posted few days ago - it is AEFW Acropora Eating FlatWorms.


The eggs:
(ruler in centimeters)


The acropora base was about two inches in diameter, and the coral weights about 820 grams


There were no new corals (or fish) entered the system from more than one and a half year. I found the source of the parasites - that was a small acropora coral that I have from that time, which was not growing at all. After the stress I caused adding KZ Zeobac to the system flatworms spread over the other acropora corals. Probably will lose them all. Will try to get conditions stable again and will introduce yellow coris... It is sad anyway

 

[Zack K]

OK, I've lost it.

At least find the reason - it can be seen even from the last picture I've posted few days ago - it is AEFW Acropora Eating FlatWorms.


The eggs:
(ruler in centimeters)


The acropora base was about two inches in diameter, and the coral weights about 820 grams


There were no new corals (or fish) entered the system from more than one and a half year. I found the source of the parasites - that was a small acropora coral that I have from that time, which was not growing at all. After the stress I caused adding KZ Zeobac to the system flatworms spread over the other acropora corals. Probably will lose them all. Will try to get conditions stable again and will introduce yellow coris... It is sad anyway

Wow. I just read the whole thread and what a way to end on a cliff hanger. I swear some of these threads are better than books. I hope you get this figured out and fast! I know flatworms are nothing to mess with. Wish you the best of luck!

 

[revhtree]

Uggh! What's the plan of action?

 

[biom]

Wow. I just read the whole thread and what a way to end on a cliff hanger. I swear some of these threads are better than books. I hope you get this figured out and fast! I know flatworms are nothing to mess with. Wish you the best of luck!

Thank you Zack, I'm scientist and this is an experimental tank and I should be "prepared" for such situations, but... still makes me sad

Uggh! What's the plan of action?

First some analyses, then list with lessons learnt (I have already 2-3 in mind)
And for sure no chemical treatment or using "magical" products

May be will add some yellow coris fish, or will make small separate tank sort of coral cleaning station with Camel Shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis).

 

[Myka]

Oh no Stoyan! I am so sad to hear this about your beautiful tank!

 

[biom]

Thank you Mindy.
I have one bad and one good news. The bad one is all of my Acros are infected with flatworms. The good one? I found TLS ReVive actually immobilizes and kills adult Amakusaplana acroporae flatworms after 25 minute bath, the corals are not stressed at all, may be because the product is based on essential oils. I was really surprised, (not only because I have this bottle of Revive open in refrigerator more than 5 years ) I'll report back in 10 days.

 

[revhtree]

Thank you Mindy.
I have one bad and one good news. The bad one is all of my Acros are infected with flatworms. The good one? I found TLS ReVive actually immobilizes and kills adult Amakusaplana acroporae flatworms after 25 minute bath, the corals are not stressed at all, may be because the product is based on essential oils. I was really surprised, (not only because I have this bottle of Revive open in refrigerator more than 5 years ) I'll report back in 10 days.

Best of luck!

 

[Myka]

[QUOTE="biom, post: 3695604, member: 56765"I found TLS ReVive actually immobilizes and kills adult Amakusaplana acroporae flatworms after 25 minute bath, the corals are not stressed at all, may be because the product is based on essential oils.[/QUOTE]

Yes, it does work to stun them. Do you use a "turkey baster" to blow the worms off during the bath? I find this works quite well as long as you are diligent.

 

[Cory]

So how did the flatworm problem come along? Im very surprised they showed up after so long.

I have a hypothesis that live rock can hide them, dormant, and if a tiny piece breaks off they show up. Maybe a long shot though. Ive also wondered about bristlwworms boring holes in the rock possibly releasing an egg trapped for years.

 

[Sahin]

Very sorry about the aefw. How is the tank now?

Would be nice to see photos if tank is still running.

Anyway before the problems with aefw start how many fish did you have in the tank? A list would be great.

Thanks.

 

[Sahin]

Is the tank still running? What happened to the acros?

 

[305Reefer]

bump for curiosity.

 

[biom]

Sorry for my late response and thank you for following along. The good news is the tank is still alive . The baths with ReVive and other products based on essential oils did't worked for me. First weeks after the bath Acros were OK but after second treatment they start loosing colors, STN started, and they died. This was long painful period that coincided with busy period for me, as a result the other no acro corals and algae took advantage and overgrown tank. This period ended a month ago when I saw in LFS young Halichoeres leucoxanthus (known as Yellow & Purple Wrasse or White wrasse or Four Spot wrasse or Canarytop wrasse or Whitebelly wrasse or Lemon meringue wrasse - Ooops, I think this fish held the record for many common names ). This small and very active fish solve my AEFW problem in just few days. The last remaining Acros became bright again and showed polyps. The reason I did't did this earlier is I have no sand and my tank is open top. But I find lack of substrate not a problem for this wrasse because all the rocks are lifted 1 inch off the bottom and he is sleeping on there. The only compromise I did is to cover the top of the tank.
Once the flatworms were in control I've started to "clean and cut". During this cleaning process three weeks ago I've got pretty nasty electric shock because of malfunctioning titanium heater (we still dont know what happened exactly), I was thrown clear of the tank by this violent muscular contraction I lost conciseness for short period and my left arm was not really functional for two weeks. But I've survived (again) Off course this did't stop me and two days after I've finished the work (my right arm helped a lot ) now the tank is clean and recovering, me too.
Lessons learnt? Yes, first one: -young yellow wrasses are a must for mature acro tank and the second one - 220 Volt current in the tank is not good idea.
For my coming over 200 gal project there will be no stuff working on more than 12-24 volt for sure.

 

[Myka]

So good to see you back Stoyan! I am surprised, but happy that the wrasse has solved your problem, or at least is able to keep the AEFW in check enough for the Acros to recover. I can't believe you received such a shock from that heater! I've been shocked many times, but never near that bad! Wow! I'm glad you're recovering.

 

[biom]

Yes I've been also shocked many times by a heater but the big difference was this time there were phase in the water, not just induced current from normal heaters work. There is no problem even if there is phase in the water because we have wooden floor and I was insulated until my head accidentally touched aluminium body of the Powermodule which is grounded while my hands were in the water... In the horror movies they obtain the same effect by throwing hair dryer into the bathtub, but I was lucky to survive because this violent muscular contraction throw me away from the water.

 

[biom]

Picture of today, you can see how overgrown is the tank, one of the reasons why the AEFW were so effective in my case

 

[Powder_Blue]

Beautiful! Well done

 

[biom]

Thank you, but corals are not happy they are fighting for more space and killing each other, I hope soon they will have more room to grow.

 

[genetao]

Oh my goodness! First off, I’m glad to hear that your tank is recovering. But more importantly, I am absolutely floored that you had such a dangerous And debilitating shock from that heater! Have you ever considered investing in a titanium grounding probe?

I actually had a similar situation once where one hand was in the water while the other hand was grabbing a pair of long tweezers on top of the aluminum light fixture and I got a bad shock too. Not nearly as severe as what you experienced. But when I connected a voltmeter, it read 103 volts!!! I immediately unplugged the heater and bought a grounding probe the next day.

To test out the grounding probe, I plugged the faulty heater back in and checked the voltage again with a voltmeter, touching one probe in the water, the other on top of the aluminum light fixture. This time, no current or voltage at all. It was absolutely zero. So believe it or not, they actually do work! Needless to say, I chucked that heater in the garbage right after.

 

[choss]

Biom - wow just read the full thread and its a great story so far - glad the tank is recovering, even more glad that you survived the heater incident! Do you have a grounding probe in your tank? I never know if this solves this issue but I thought I'd ask. Looking forward to the recovery of this amazing reef and I just added the first fish to my list - 4 spot wrasse is in my future.