Is this AEFW? (acro eating flatworms)

[david p.]

Hi,

I have a 85g tank, i think i have a prety vigourous protocol for anything getting in my tank, dip, remove and change plugs, observation of frag/colonies. I don't have a QT for my corals.

I have a SPS only (or almost all sps).

I spend a lot of time inspecting tank (daily) for any sign.
I found small white dots, like bites, not a lot. Coral seems very healty, but i decided to dip just in case, i could count 4-5 of these and probly smaller ones that i could not see, picture taken with macro fct on my Olympus TG4, maybe 1-3mm:


i guess it's AEFW ?

the colony infected is the big circle, the small circle is the area affected. i think it's early, i did not count the whites marks, maybe 2 trails of 5-10 bites and a small cluster of bites. i spend more than 1h inspecting everything with my macro /underwater camera. nothing else that i can see.


i diped the frags in the front, the yellow birdnest ,the pink colony in the back with the ghosthly tip, none had aefw that i could see. i believe other colony could be infected(highly probable) , but no sign for now. i diped the colony easily accessible, i tend to glue corals on live rock, so not easy to remove all to dip as a first check.

i have read many post and stickies on AEFW.
but i have question,

1. Treatment tank, should i assume all acro are infected to i just treat and put back in the DT, or i MUST have a treatment tank ? some post mentionned to remove all SPS... but that everything i have in.

2. i currently plan to use Revive every 3-4 days. i though about Flatworm exit... it's an option i would avoid, but since it seems very early, i'm not freaking looking at my SPS, only one seems to have the bites. is there a risk to crash my tank even if at really lowapparent AEFW population ? i doubt i will go that route.

3. I was in the process to start a LPS tank 25g, no water yet, could i turn it in treatment tank, with the tank hooked to my DT sump, i would add a filter sox on the returne of the 25g. Would that work ? i would not hook it if i use flatworm exit.

4. could i use the treatment tank as a QT for a sixline wrasse ? and use it as a predator ? there is a nice one at a LFS.

thanks

 

[david p.]

was able to get decent pict of the trail and cluster of bites

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Indeed it is AEFW. Following...

 

[Sabellafella]

Hi,

I have a 85g tank, i think i have a prety vigourous protocol for anything getting in my tank, dip, remove and change plugs, observation of frag/colonies. I don't have a QT for my corals.

I have a SPS only (or almost all sps).

I spend a lot of time inspecting tank (daily) for any sign.
I found small white dots, like bites, not a lot. Coral seems very healty, but i decided to dip just in case, i could count 4-5 of these and probly smaller ones that i could not see, picture taken with macro fct on my Olympus TG4, maybe 1-3mm:


i guess it's AEFW ?

the colony infected is the big circle, the small circle is the area affected. i think it's early, i did not count the whites marks, maybe 2 trails of 5-10 bites and a small cluster of bites. i spend more than 1h inspecting everything with my macro /underwater camera. nothing else that i can see.


i diped the frags in the front, the yellow birdnest ,the pink colony in the back with the ghosthly tip, none had aefw that i could see. i believe other colony could be infected(highly probable) , but no sign for now. i diped the colony easily accessible, i tend to glue corals on live rock, so not easy to remove all to dip as a first check.

i have read many post and stickies on AEFW.
but i have question,

1. Treatment tank, should i assume all acro are infected to i just treat and put back in the DT, or i MUST have a treatment tank ? some post mentionned to remove all SPS... but that everything i have in.

2. i currently plan to use Revive every 3-4 days. i though about Flatworm exit... it's an option i would avoid, but since it seems very early, i'm not freaking looking at my SPS, only one seems to have the bites. is there a risk to crash my tank even if at really lowapparent AEFW population ? i doubt i will go that route.

3. I was in the process to start a LPS tank 25g, no water yet, could i turn it in treatment tank, with the tank hooked to my DT sump, i would add a filter sox on the returne of the 25g. Would that work ? i would not hook it if i use flatworm exit.

4. could i use the treatment tank as a QT for a sixline wrasse ? and use it as a predator ? there is a nice one at a LFS.

thanks

Unforunantly it looks like one =(. If your not able to dip all the corals frequently, try a predator

 

[Sabellafella]

I would keep a closer eye on the acropora that have no PE or lack there of

 

[david p.]

Unforunantly it looks like one =(. If your not able to dip all the corals frequently, try a predator

i have a red mandarin that seems to 'work' as a predator as per my readings, but wrasse seems to be key. i will get the 6linewrasse isaw at LFS. QT in 25g tratment tank.

Corals are currently under radion G3 pro, will my AI prime HD planned for my LPS will do to maintain SPS ?

 

[david p.]

I would keep a closer eye on the acropora that have no PE or lack there of

all corals are healthy with PE, i was not suspecting anything wrong with my tank, i was just doing my daily stuff around the tank, taking a few shots and stumbles on thise withe dots.
will have a closer look at everything (if it's even possible)... i just love to spend time around it, i spend way to much time around my tank... that's from my 2 kids :(

 

[Sabellafella]

all corals are healthy with PE, i was not suspecting anything wrong with my tank, i was just doing my daily stuff around the tank, taking a few shots and stumbles on thise withe dots.
will have a closer look at everything (if it's even possible)... i just love to spend time around it, i spend way to much time around my tank... that's from my 2 kids :(

6 line wrasse actually do a good job on aefws. You could also take a turkey baster and shoot them off the colonys. Usually the fish will go after them. Yes keep a close eye, also some acros tend to get dull in color when their covered in them

 

[david p.]

6 line wrasse actually do a good job on aefws. You could also take a turkey baster and shoot them off the colonys. Usually the fish will go after them. Yes keep a close eye, also some acros tend to get dull in color when their covered in them

i have read in many post about the turkey baster, but if i do this in the DT, is there a risk to spread the AEFW ?
are AEFW mobile, will they crawl to other acro ? or they usually stay o nthe colony they are at ?

i did some inspection during the night, no other signs other than that one colony.
did a dip on the colony again this morning just to see if i could get more aefw, but nothing came out.i filtered all the dip solution on a scott towel, nada.

i though i would freak out when i encounter these, but since i feel i did everything i could to prevent pest other than a QT, i'm kinda zen about it. pest in a reef happens. and for now it seems pretty much on one acro, i feel i can deal with it... if it was all over the place it would be a different story.

will keep you posted.

 

[bknapp]

Hate to be that guy but if you see them on one colony chances are fairly high that they are prevelant in your tank.

 

[david p.]

Hate to be that guy but if you see them on one colony chances are fairly high that they are prevelant in your tank.

that's what i assume. what i see is only a small small portion of what's in the tank.

what kinda 're-assure' me is that i see PE on all my colonies and i don't see loss of coloration. So if i have them all around, it's not a big issu yet!

 

[bknapp]

These things suck! They're pretty much the reason I tore down my 180.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Do you dip before you put all frags in the tank? I see you dipped after, but was curious if you also did them all before?

 

[david p.]

Do you dip before you put all frags in the tank? I see you dipped after, but was curious if you also did them all before?

my regime for new coral is:
- Remove plug (those you see in my tank are new plugs)
- Dip coral / turkey baster
- Inspect coral
- isntall new plug or glue to scape or rubble
- in DT. i have trown away frags i did not likes.

QT is set-up with new wrasse, small 5g tank on the right!


depending on my observation in the DT, my 25g that needs to be plumbed next week (waiting for my diamind coated drill bits), will be used as a treatment tank.
Will have it hooked to my sump on my main tank, but with a filter sock that should capture any AEFW. the wrasse will go in the treatment tank.
I'm thinking about doing the QT in the 25g... not sure yet, if i discover more colonies, i will do the QT in the 25g. but not hooked to my DT.

 

[luke33]

Sorry to hear about the aefw. Don't freak out as it looks like you caught it early. I would add the sixline, use a turkey blaster daily. I would also dip all the sps that you can weekly for the next 6-8 weeks. Only thing I would say is I'd dip in bayer vs revive. Revive will be pretty rough on your sps if you dip weekly. AEFW are extremely common these days, I find them often in coral shipments from multiple sources. 10 yrs ago they were rare.....not so much anymore.

 

[david p.]

I would add the sixline, use a turkey blaster daily. I would also dip all the sps that you can weekly for the next 6-8 weeks. Only thing I would say is I'd dip in bayer vs revive. Revive will be pretty rough on your sps if you dip weekly. AEFW are extremely common these days, I find them often in coral shipments from multiple sources. 10 yrs ago they were rare.....not so much anymore.

i can't, and would not, add a fish without QT. The wrasse is healthy, but it was in a system at LFS where ick is present. i will do the TTM over the next 2 weeks. The system at LFS was in hypo salinity for the past 2 weeks, they had the wrasse for over a month and was always healthy. salinity in QT is at 1.012, will top off with DT water to slowly raise salinity, while doing TTM.

i will look into the Bayer, never used it.
thx

 

[Lionfish Lair]

my regime for new coral is:
- Remove plug (those you see in my tank are new plugs)
- Dip coral / turkey baster
- Inspect coral
- isntall new plug or glue to scape or rubble
- in DT. i have trown away frags i did not likes.

May I ask the dip?

 

[david p.]

May I ask the dip?

Revive

 

[masssnapz]

Algae eating flat worms, my nemesis.

 

[sawdonkey]

Algae eating flat worms, my nemesis.

Ha, where do you get these? I'd like to get some. [emoji3]