BREAKING NEWS! We Have Officially Eradicated AEFW's With A 100% Reef Safe IN TANK Treatment.

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AquariumSpecialty

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We started carrying the Zeovit line 15 years ago. Ironically its our 15th anniversary this month. We've got plenty of KZ products in stock including Flatworm stop if you are in need. We use to offer Purge but the manufacturer seems to have put the product on hold for some reason. Perhaps that is reason buried somewhere in this thread?

 

Eder

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Been using KZ FWS for 1.5 months now and it’s a miracle. Haven’t used purge yet as FWS seems to have turned our tank around but have it in hand just in case.
 

Poochaku

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I have dosed this product 3 times in my tank. My short answer is that it absolutely 100% killed my flatworms each time; whether it kills them all is based on the dose. I think it's extremely important to know your actual water volume (after sump/rock/sand etc) and know that you will need to do an initial double dose.

My tank is a 300G system with very large SPS colonies; doing a rip clean and dip was not possible without a massive loss that I was not willing to take. I did not want to disrupt the look so this product was my lifeline.

Where I feel this product falls short is that it does NOT kill the eggs and they will eventually come back. I like to think of it as an in tank dip that eliminates them. In my opinion, if you were like me and you feel an in tank solution to these nasty things is the only answer then I will say I swear by this product ALONG with KZ Flatworm stop together. I'll warn you, this is NOT cheap.

Here is my detailed experience:

1: Around 2016 I noticed my first AEFW; started seeing my first SPS losses and at first thought it was params. Due to chasing some numbers I inadvertently allowed the population to become an infestation. By 2018 I was at wits end about to do a restart and this thread came along. I figured what the heck as I was about to restart anyway and bought an initial test batch. I did the initial single dose instructions that were later changed to double. I experience no coral loss and some colonies I wrote off as dead came back to life in a big way in 3 - 4 months. The initial single dose did not kill them all ( large ones remained ) so I reset half way through and started over with an initial double dose and noticed that I no longer saw the large AEFW as I blasted the corals with a turkey baster. I was happy, in about 6 months I felt my tank fully recovered. Colors came back, PE was awesome and I was thrilled.

2: After close to a year since I started to notice low PE and it seemed my AEFW problem was slowly coming back. I purposely did not add ANY new livestock to the tank since the initial recovery so I knew this was remnants of the old infestation. It took about a year for the eggs the initial dose did NOT attack to get back to infestation stages but luckily it took long enough to where all my corals recovered and were healthy to hold off the bites.

3: About 1 year later (June 2019) after the population re-established and my colonies much larger I decided to try again but with a twist. I had read JDA's post about helping his friends tank with KZ Flatworm stop and found it interesting how they attack the flatworms a different way. Instead of actually killing them they helped the corals build a stronger slime coat that would eventually starve off and even though it also didn't kill eggs could eradicate them by starving new generations out before they can lay eggs. I just needed to weather the storm as it takes this product around 6 months (with double dosing daily) based on user feedback on the internet. This is where Purge came back into the picture.

4: I ordered enough bottles of purge to do 3 double doses on a 3 week schedule. While maintaining my KZ FWS dose I wanted to use purge to knock the population back while my corals built up their slime coat and recovered. It did it's job and I noticed very few flatworms and I could notice by blasting my corals fewer and fewer "new" ones as I dosed FWS.

5: Fast forward to January 2020 and I couldn't find a single FW in the tank; still did my daily blasting through March of this year and still nothing. I have had my most heavily effected corals (garf bonsai and tri color) come back to life after I thought they were long did during the first infestation 2+ years ago. As of today I have 100% confidence I am in the clear as my tank is booming with growth.

Takeaways from my experience:

I never experience loss even with heavy dosing of purge, usually within 2 weeks all my PE was usually better than ever and colors returned. Each time I was able to see bite marks healing over the multi-week dosing regime but again realize the eggs (the real problem) are not killed with this product.

Some users report alk rising, mine was opposite. I think because I had a large footprint of SPS colonies and slow growth as my tank was infested I had my calcium reactor tuned low because no alk demand. I had a few moments during dosing where my alk dropped from 8.0 to 6.5 within a day so make sure you test alk while dosing.

Po4 can be an issue; I normally run 0.02 po4 and after doing it was close to 1.0 so be prepared for that.

While I did not experience any losses I would always expect maybe a few because your tank is already stressed an alk spike or po4 spike could defiantly push them over the edge.

I didn't feel filter socks helped or hurt in either way.

KZ Flatworm stop is 100% needed if your'e looking at long term defeat of these things. Purge does a fantastic job at killing them.

I highly recommend a garf bonsai and tri-color in your tank if you're ever worried about these things to act as canaries. These AEFW seem to LOVE these types; their fast growth, deep purple color and great 24/7 PE seem to make it extremely easy to spot these things early. Even today my previous decimated colonies I thought were long dead fulled recovered and I check on them all the time to ensure they are clean as can be. A great tool for those who love to "eye check" their tank for problems.

Hopefully this wall of text is of value for all the folks battling these nasty things. I will say it's quite disappointing to read negative stuff because as I write this I look over at my pride and joy tank and see all the beautiful growth and colors. It wouldn't be in this state if this stuff didn't work and I will always be thankful to UWC for being one of the few who put time, research and money into battling these nasty little creatures.
Is there any amount of time using both KZ flatworm stop and Purge v2 where you would feel comfortable saying that AEFW have been eliminated? Conceptually, I feel like 5-6 weeks of treatment should be enough to kill all worms and any subsequent worms that have hatched.
 

2Wheelsonly

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Is there any amount of time using both KZ flatworm stop and Purge v2 where you would feel comfortable saying that AEFW have been eliminated? Conceptually, I feel like 5-6 weeks of treatment should be enough to kill all worms and any subsequent worms that have hatched.

I would personally do two 6 week treatments 1-2 months apart just to be safe and continue to dose KZ for 6 months after last dose. Just playing it safe, my personal belief is that all these in tank remedies just flat out make it hard for these things to survive in this environment. I have never lost a coral using purge, I don't have any issues dosing...the hardest part is not using my skimmer for the recommended time period but that's not much of a big deal to me.
 

ScottB

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Update:

Sadly, I must report that my aefw are back. I thought I had them beat back in August after a couple months of the throwing the kitchen sink at them. (Weekly dips, predators, cutting off plugs/rocks, and FW Stop X 2.

I dropped back to regular maintenance dosing. Last couple weeks I noticed a couple colonies were not doing so well in the lower middle sections -- deep inside the branch structure. I dipped them in Interceptor for 16 hours and had a dozen or so flatworms.

Dipping 70+ other pieces revealed only another handful of FW. My worms are rather choosy about their hosts. Mostly milli and a couple smooth acros.

Back to work I go. I also did order AEFW - X and will give that a try. Also need to replace my 6 lines as they all jumped over time.
 

The Opinionated Reefer

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API MelaFix is something I've always used to dip corals, with great effect and even treat whitespot in full blown reef aquariums over the years again with great success compared to anything else available to date. I've always used the dosage as per what the bottle has stated for treatment in tank except for when dipping corals I've used 10ml per 1 litre of dipping water.

So I decided to try API MelaFix in the same format that Purge advised as a dosage regime prior to its availability here in the U.K.

All the American posts I could see were showing the same cloudy water effects from purge as when I had used MelaFix. Of course I'm not saying for one minute it's the same, just an observation.

It was used on an aquarium where AEFW had been around but never in enough numbers to cause serious issues, so I thought, but there was colour loss on some corals and slow tissue necrosis seen on a few too.
When I used the API MelaFix at the stated dosage on the bottle for an in tank treatment with Turkey basting, low and behold a huge amount of AEFW came off of the corals than was suspected.
Note the protein skimmer cup was removed and at times had to be stopped due to the over foaming production. I'd suggest good water surface movement and perhaps add an air pump to the main aquarium as the protein skimmer might have to be stopped.
Turkey basting all the corals shortly after each treatment of MelaFix was added is also essential I feel. Many of the wrass were eating them also as they were being blown off.
A few corals were able to be removed and inspected carefully where eggs were seen.

7 weeks after the first treatment, no AEFW and no eggs could be seen on the corals that could be removed, this doesn't mean they weren't there, just I didn't see any on the corals as before. No losses of any corals happened during this time at all. Any STN had stopped completely and signs of healing and regrowth of the corals tissue was also observed. All coral colours had dramatically improved and the skimmer cup was back on and activated carbon used to remove the MelaFix and small water changes undertaken also.

I hope other Reef Keepers take this as another in tank treatment option to consider for AEFW. I'm not endorsing this or giving any guarantee, just sharing my experience with using the API MelaFix for AEFW as an in tank treatment option.
I've also not used Purge at all so cannot I comment on it's effectiveness.
Happy Reefing
What is the dosage for in-tank treatment and how do you go about it step by step? I am also in the uk.

I have tried MelaFix as a dip and it was not very effective imo. I had also added 0.5ml of dettol for these buggers to come off an infested colony. The best dip is potassium chloride, it kills everything on the corals really fast.
 
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UWC

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Oh sorry, thought you were asking about Purge :)
 

Matt1997

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Amazing how companies are not held responsible for these massive tank collapses as a result of their products. What a joke this product is. I went through 12 pages and only one person continuously said it was a success. Makes me think that individual is associated in some way to the developer.
 

The Opinionated Reefer

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Amazing how companies are not held responsible for these massive tank collapses as a result of their products. What a joke this product is. I went through 12 pages and only one person continuously said it was a success. Makes me think that individual is associated in some way to the developer.
Yeah agreed, although I am not convinced the products are 100% responsible for the tank collapses. But I am sick of companies bringing out products that only half work some of the time and claiming it is the new wonder drug that will solve the problem guaranteed and charging you appropriately. I have just finished 3months of AEFW-X and I am still finding AEFW in the tank even though they claim it will eradicate the worms in 4 to 6 weeks on the bottle. It costs £70 a liter in the UK for this stuff and I have gone through two bottles and it has not worked!
 

TheHarold

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Amazing how companies are not held responsible for these massive tank collapses as a result of their products. What a joke this product is. I went through 12 pages and only one person continuously said it was a success. Makes me think that individual is associated in some way to the developer.

Yup. I lost essentially my whole tank, and a good portion of my dedication/enjoyment of the hobby. Stinks.
 

jda

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UWC had a for-cause site visit from the EPA for likely selling a known EPA registered algaecide as a bacterial supplement. UWC also had their account suspended by r2r for not responding to questions from Dr. RHF about the product. I doubt that they are in any position to make any product or care to repsond to any questions.

FWIW - the stuff did not work anyway.
 

ScottB

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Does anyone have news from the manufacturers or product continuity?
I didn't see an answer if we can continue with the ozone?
I found this product to be completely ineffective against my AEFW. Same with AEFW-X.

And yes, I followed directions first. Then went to double dose. Ineffective.
 

The Opinionated Reefer

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I found this product to be completely ineffective against my AEFW. Same with AEFW-X.

And yes, I followed directions first. Then went to double dose. Ineffective.
I finally beat them by accepting that all acros need to be removed from the rocks and put on a rack. Dip them once every 10 days in reef primer and it solved the problem. By doing this you force all the worms in the tank to move to the rack where there food source is. You are then killing the adults and the newly hatched before they can reproduce breaking their life cycle. After about 8 weeks they are exterminated. Its the only way.
 

Macdaddynick1

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I found this product to be completely ineffective against my AEFW. Same with AEFW-X.

And yes, I followed directions first. Then went to double dose. Ineffective.
That’s unbelievable. Judging by the impeccable record of the company and their products, it must’ve been your fault. You are probably lying about following the directions. /s
 

polyppal

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Does anyone have news from the manufacturers or product continuity?
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ScottB

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I finally beat them by accepting that all acros need to be removed from the rocks and put on a rack. Dip them once every 10 days in reef primer and it solved the problem. By doing this you force all the worms in the tank to move to the rack where there food source is. You are then killing the adults and the newly hatched before they can reproduce breaking their life cycle. After about 8 weeks they are exterminated. Its the only way.
Sadly, I believe you are correct. This was my experience as well -- although I dipped with food grade potassium chloride @ 1 tbls per gallon. Since the active ingredient in Reef Primer is "potassium salts" I feel like they might be the same thing.

Annoying and tedious work, but effective.
 
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