Help RTN one acro a week.

Oscar Bravo · Mar 21, 2019

Hello
So like the title say about one acro a week I have been losing. I have been scratching my head and keep testing my waters parameters and it all checks out. But yet I keep losing them to RTN. One day is perfect and next morning white. This morning I lost my wwc yellow tips so I frag and hope it lives. Any way, the acro next to it had some white spots as well and I knew that can be next, So I dipped. what came out was a brown nudi!! Now I know they can eat acros but can they be the cause to RTN so fast? I will continue to keep an eye for nudis for now on and dip if I can but I am not too sure this is the problem. I also heard about micro parasites under the skin that can cause RTN too. I hope this is not my case. Anyone ideas will be helpful.

jda · Mar 21, 2019

Those are AEFW bite marks on the bottom. I am nearly positive. Sorry.

They usually will not kill a colony all on their own, but they can finish off an otherwise stressed or weakened coral. They can kill a frag.

Dips work. There is a solid, reliable in-tank treatment, but it takes 4-6 months. There is a product called Purge that sometimes has worked, but other times has wreaked havoc.

SeaDweller · Mar 21, 2019

Those marks look like AEFW, although I’ve never dealt with them, I don’t think they cause RTN that quickly, as some people deal with them for months. You’re positive the nudi was creating those bite marks, or coincidentally munching on the acros after they began to rtn?

Journeyman · Mar 21, 2019

Those look like bite marks from aefw.

Oscar Bravo · Mar 21, 2019

What is AEFW?
I don't know if the nudi was responsible but I cough it this morning.

Most are my SPS are still frags and lost them from one day to the other. weird is that I have been able to stop the RTN just by fragging it and it stops. Well only on two of them.

jda · Mar 21, 2019

Acropora Eating Flatworms.

https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/acropora-eating-flat-worms-aefw

They used to be a scourge, but with an in-tank treatment, they can be handled now.

pirate2876 · Mar 21, 2019

Try dipping with melafix and see if any come off. Bet they do...

jda · Mar 21, 2019

If there really was a nudibranch that came off, then you have flatworms as well. Those oval marks are bite marks from the AEFW. What you probably saw was AEFW and not a nudibranch.

Bayer is a great dip for them and easy on corals, but you cannot always see what comes off in the milky white dip. It is less harsh for routine, daily dips, IME. CoralRx, Revive and Melafix are also effective, but I find them a bit more harsh on the corals with constant dipping - especially smooth skinned acropora - but they are clear and allow you to inspect the water for possible offenders.

Oscar Bravo · Mar 21, 2019

jda said:
If there really was a nudibranch that came off, then you have flatworms as well. Those oval marks are bite marks from the AEFW. What you probably saw was AEFW and not a nudibranch.

Bayer is a great dip for them and easy on corals, but you cannot always see what comes off in the milky white dip. It is less harsh for routine, daily dips, IME. CoralRx, Revive and Melafix are also effective, but I find them a bit more harsh on the corals with constant dipping - especially smooth skinned acropora - but they are clear and allow you to inspect the water for possible offenders.

Correct now that I see more pictures that looked like a big flat worm. I have medicoral from brightwell and that's how I saw it coming off.

Oscar Bravo · Mar 21, 2019

By the way, how do we explain my small colony yellow tips RTN overnight?

jda · Mar 21, 2019

Collect your thoughts for a little bit and figure out an approach. One of the following are your options:

1). Remove to Coral QT tank and dip a few time a week for a few months. It is harder than this, but you get the idea.
2). Daily in-tank dosing for 4-6 months with Korallin Flatworm Stop - other than being a bit expensive and time consuming, the treatment is safe and effective.
3). Give Purge from Underwater Creations a shot - there are success stories, but also many failures and some tank crashed and coral losses. There are enough success that this cannot be ignored, but there are also enough failures that the failures cannot be ignored.
4). Trash all of the acropora, stay acropora-less for 3-4 months and then start over.

The corals might have been on-the-edge anyway and the stress from the parasite can tip them. If they are smaller, the the frags do not have enough energy to both survive and also feed the parasites, so they just give up all at once. Larger colonies can stay alive while the worms feed on them.

RinTinTin · Mar 21, 2019

AEFW.. So sorry if you have a lot of acro and removing / dipping each coral on a regular basis to kill the life cycle isn't possible then you might want to read up on PURGE. I have not used it but there is a R2R thread where many have used it with success. Here is a link to the website. No the end of the world if you have them but there is quite a bit of work involved to get rid of them. Best of luck and keep us posted.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...ith-a-100-reef-safe-in-tank-treatment.420443/
https://www.uwcmn.com/product-page/...a-eating-flatworm-treatment-pre-order-special

Oscar Bravo · Mar 21, 2019

PURGE sounds like a good product. However, I am not sure I am ready to treat my whole reef with it. I have try reef safe stuff and end up losing a lot of money. I will leave it as my last option. for now I will try to dip all my acros as best as I can and see if it helps.

RinTinTin · Mar 21, 2019

The big thing with dipping against aefw is that you have to break the life cycle. So i would recommend doing some reading on the frequency people use to beet these and then proceed to dip all of your acro (not just the infected ones). Bayer would probably be your best bet. Again best of luck !

jda · Mar 21, 2019

I am not a fan of purge, but I have not used it either. One of our good local stores sold a 6 pack when it first came out and the owner told me that it did not work for any of the people and one guy even had a mini-crash. There are success stories out there, which is why I mentioned it... with the caveat. It looks certainly like a wormwood base, even though AWC says that it is not... the are likely lying which I don't care for either. In any case, do your homework before you use it - try and weed out the fanboy responses from actual verified users that actually had AEFW.

All 6 of the people who tried the purge are now about 2-3 months into the long-term treatment with Kz Flatworm Stop and it is going great with all of their color and growth returning.

If you dip, you need to do it in another tank and let your display go fallow for a few months. They will be on the rocks and around the corals with no guarantee that they will be on the acropora when you dip it. Dipping them will certainly help to ease the coral's pain, but eradication will be VERY hard if you put them back in the infected tank.