My AEFW journey

[Dowtish]

Thanks for the well wishes Rob.

Mike, no need, you might want me to hold your's.:bigsmile:

Dave, thanks for the tank again. I got dialed in nicely, no noise at all. I have noticed that certain corals will have worms all over it, and another one that is just inches from it, havent been touched. I am not going to discriminate, I'm just going to dip them all to be safe.

 

[turbo21]

Good luck, i dealt with them in the same way. Bayer dips and quarantine and still lost a bunch of stuff.

some advice for the future that has been working for me. Whenever i buy acros now the first thing i do is snap the frag off and throw the plug with the encrusted base away. Hopefully that will limit the chances of me bringin eggs back into my tank. I got my worms from a wild ice fire colony at a swap in ohio, i dipped the piece but there had to be eggs on the base

bob

 

[Dowtish]

Good luck, i dealt with them in the same way. Bayer dips and quarantine and still lost a bunch of stuff.

some advice for the future that has been working for me. Whenever i buy acros now the first thing i do is snap the frag off and throw the plug with the encrusted base away. Hopefully that will limit the chances of me bringin eggs back into my tank. I got my worms from a wild ice fire colony at a swap in ohio, i dipped the piece but there had to be eggs on the base

bob

Thanks Bob, that is definitely the plan on all new corals. I just hope that I dont suffer too many losses. Going to try my best to keep the water pristine, which I think may be one of the key elements. There was quite a bit of sliming going on when I transferred them over, so I am going to add some rox carbon in a reactor tomorrow.

 

[gmoney243]

Thanks for the well wishes Rob.

Mike, no need, you might want me to hold your's.:bigsmile:

Dave, thanks for the tank again. I got dialed in nicely, no noise at all. I have noticed that certain corals will have worms all over it, and another one that is just inches from it, havent been touched. I am not going to discriminate, I'm just going to dip them all to be safe.

haha naw mine alrdy dipped and in my QT that i been cycling past 2 months and i think i got lucky i only found 2 worms and no eggs. but lots of red bugs.

thx for the salt BTW LMK if i owe u anything for it. needed it to fill my sump i finally got around to finishing lol

 

[FF337]

there isnt really a known predator for AEFW. some are speculated but none are proven. scientist still arnt sure why in the wild AEFW dont grow to plague proportions. i think high current could be involved if its constantly blowing them off. and im sure something eats them or kills them. at least from what all ive read. if you have other info id love to read those articles.

Lindsey im afraid i dont think youll be able to get rid of them if your not QTing in seperate tank and let the AEFW in your DT die off after 4-6weeks of no acros.

I too do not know of any proven predators. I do want to believe the acro crabs may get rid of these things also their eggs. I have heard of someone transferring an acro crab to a known valida colony infested. Within a month the valida colored up and had polyp extension much better than I saw before. I would love to of seen then colony dipped though. Wish there was proof acro crabs work or help.

Surely there is something that eats them though. If you find it I want to buy 2 for preventative maintenance.

 

[schooleyosis]

Good luck Chris. The QT looks great.

 

[Dowtish]

I too do not know of any proven predators. I do want to believe the acro crabs may get rid of these things also their eggs. I have heard of someone transferring an acro crab to a known valida colony infested. Within a month the valida colored up and had polyp extension much better than I saw before. I would love to of seen then colony dipped though. Wish there was proof acro crabs work or help.

Surely there is something that eats them though. If you find it I want to buy 2 for preventative maintenance.

I have had a few acro crabs in the tank, but they never last. I blame that on my wrasses.

 

[Dowtish]

Planning on making some PVC stands so that my colonies are not touching the glass. I noticed this morning that the tips that were touching the glass were sliming.

 

[pickupman66]

Boy I got some Big ones off last night.. its amazing how big they can get. did alot of cutting and dipping.

On a side note, I was adding that product zeovit. Yea, snake oil. dosing 10ml daily into my tank. snake oil.

 

[Dowtish]

Yeah. I looked into the zeovit product. Not enough proof there for me to justify spending that kind of money.

 

[JonnyJ]

Hey man, good luck with this all. What a nightmare. Sometimes it's inevitable, I've been through my fair share and its not fun. Just keep parameters steady and wait it out.

 

[Dowtish]

Hey man, good luck with this all. What a nightmare. Sometimes it's inevitable, I've been through my fair share and its not fun. Just keep parameters steady and wait it out.

Thanks man. I am just attacking it head on, not letting it get to me. I am just glad I had the resources/equipment to set this thing up properly. I already am planning on adding a fuge to the system, and an ATO. Do it right, or dont do it at all, is my take on it right now.

 

[turbo21]

I am starting to wonder if everyone has flatworms and just doesn't realize it. I always inspect incoming pieces but had no reason to check my in tank pieces. I think the only time they can truly affect the coral is if some other event happens in the tank (alk swing etc..)

I didn't realize i had them until i got lazy and had my alk drop below 7 and then the worms went nuts. I was wondering why things were going downhill and noticed the little buggers everywhere.

I have a buddy right now that has worms and has great color and tremendous growth on everything. He gave me some frags the other day and i saw the bite marks on his bonsai frags. He started basting last night and was watching some fly off

so what do you think of my theory?

 

[Dowtish]

I am starting to wonder if everyone has flatworms and just doesn't realize it. I always inspect incoming pieces but had no reason to check my in tank pieces. I think the only time they can truly affect the coral is if some other event happens in the tank (alk swing etc..)

I didn't realize i had them until i got lazy and had my alk drop below 7 and then the worms went nuts. I was wondering why things were going downhill and noticed the little buggers everywhere.

I have a buddy right now that has worms and has great color and tremendous growth on everything. He gave me some frags the other day and i saw the bite marks on his bonsai frags. He started basting last night and was watching some fly off

so what do you think of my theory?

I can say with almost total certainty there are plenty of folks that do not have AEFW in their tanks. I have read where people know they have them and just baste them off the coral. But I also think that if you check all your corals well, and with a little luck on your side, you can have an AEFW free tank. I have never heard of anything with alk parameters having to do with them getting out of hand. But I am an open-minded person, and have entertained the strange correlation with AEFW and Red Bugs. Being that there has been multiple reports that once someone had RB's, they treated for them, and then suddenly they had an outbreak of AEFW. The thought behind it is that, they either eat the worms, or just keep them off the coral. I did dip a few pieces a few months back that RB's on them, and they were the first to show signs of AEFW. hmmmm?