What are these on my Bonsai Valida

[Reef Able]

Hi Guys
So lately I have been watching my valida bonsai colony loosing its color from the base to the top. I was inspecting it closely and found these small brownish thing on one of the colony’s stem. Not sure what are these. Can you guys identify IF it’s a pest of any kind and what are my treatment options. Thank you.

 

[Dilan Patel]

Can you get a picture without blues on. Are they 3d dots like eggs or are they round and sunken into the coral like bite marks?

 

[Reef Able]

Can you get a picture without blues on. Are they 3d dots like eggs or are they round and sunken into the coral like bite marks?

Thanks Dilan...So I took the coral out and gave it a revive dip. What I saw was bunch of flat white critters came off of the coral when I sprayed it with turkey baster...the pic I posted above was apparently sunken as I tried to take tht off by a tooth brush and they wouldn’t come off...for now I have gave the colony a good revive dip and cleaned it up...all my other corals are healthy and growing...

 

[BoomCorals]

Get any pics of the worms? The pic looks kinda like aefw eggs but hard to say.

 

[Mattrg02]

Thanks Dilan...So I took the coral out and gave it a revive dip. What I saw was bunch of flat white critters came off of the coral when I sprayed it with turkey baster...the pic I posted above was apparently sunken as I tried to take tht off by a tooth brush and they wouldn’t come off...for now I have gave the colony a good revive dip and cleaned it up...all my other corals are healthy and growing...

Sounds like aefw. Oh boy.

 

[Reef Able]

I was so busy in cleaning the corals tht I forgot to take a pic but I think they r flat worms. I have a yellow corris and some fairy wrasses so I am not worried for now as rest of my corals are all healthy and growing...

 

[Cuong]

Those look like fw eggs alright.... My yellow coris wrasse and Labout wrasse took care of that problem pretty quickly. Luckily it was only isolated to a frogspawn that I had sitting on the sandbed. Havent seen one in months...

 

[JaimeAdams]

yeah... Those sure do look like Acropora Eating Flat Worm eggs!

 

[RussiReef]

IMO do not put your tank at risk . Try to cut an uninfected frag and toss the rest in the garbage .

 

[Reef Able]

IMO do not put your tank at risk . Try to cut an uninfected frag and toss the rest in the garbage .

Thts what i will be doing...thanks guys...do you guys think i should use flat worm exit in my display or just leave it alone as other corals does not look affected at all...

 

[Reef Able]

Those look like fw eggs alright.... My yellow coris wrasse and Labout wrasse took care of that problem pretty quickly. Luckily it was only isolated to a frogspawn that I had sitting on the sandbed. Havent seen one in months...

Good to hear Labout Wrasse does the job as well as i have it in my display and i constantly see him working...i will be adding a yellow corris to the display as well..

 

[happyhourhero]

The wrasses are not going to help with AEFW. They will work on other species of flat worms. You honestly have to pull all acros and scrape every last bit of acropora off of your rocks and leave your tank without any acros for 8 or so weeks. You will not win this battle any other way IMO.

 

[Reef Able]

So after some research i found out there are 2 different kinds (thts what we know for now) of flat worms...Rustic Brown and White Opaque...I for sure dont have Rustic Brown as when i dipped the coral in the Revive i saw White worms not Red or Brown falling off the coral which were flat...White Flat worms are usually found on Staghorn and Tricolor corals with Small Polyps. This explain why i lost a staghorn coral colony (my profile picture) earlier in the fall...i tried to frag it did everything i could but was not able to save it...The good thing is they haven't spread on anything else since the death of my staghorn colony...my plan of action for now is eradicate or control these guys with natural means adding Yellow Corris Wrasse, Blue Velvet Nudis...i already have a labout wrasse, a solar wrasse and another one that i dont know the name of...will keep you guys posted....

 

[Reef Able]

The wrasses are not going to help with AEFW. They will work on other species of flat worms. You honestly have to pull all acros and scrape every last bit of acropora off of your rocks and leave your tank without any acros for 8 or so weeks. You will not win this battle any other way IMO.

Thank you but some of them are encrusted to my live rocks so no matter what you do you wont win this battle anyways...the only thing to do is control their population to a more manageable situation...these creatures are part of the eco system which is not 100% clean and as such we will always have them in our tanks..I understand desperate situations calls for desperate solutions but mine is not that bad...i have seen pics of red aefw smoothering the entire tank which i dont have at all...i have the white ones I THINK which only attach to validas, tricolor or staghorn...which proves as none of the other corals i have have been affected at all...

 

[happyhourhero]

The red smothering the whole tank is red planeria, not AEFW. I fully understand that they are encrusted onto your rocks. Pulling all your acros and rocks out and taking a paint scraper to them to chisel off the encrusted acros is no fun. I have done it.

All tanks do not have aefw and we do not always have them in our tanks. I thought I was good when I took out the frag that looked bad but then i decided to cut a healthy frag from across the tank and dip it. Sure enough, worms blew off.

If you leave them in there, you risk any acro you put in dying and you really shouldnt trade with other hobbyists. There is a lot of research out there on them and even on this site. Best of luck with your battle!

 

[Mattrg02]

I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but I hope you don’t trade or sell your corals. Not all of us have aefw nor are we up to the challenge of fighting them if we do.

Someone gave me montipora eating nudis and it’s been hell. I’d kick them in the nuts if I had the chance.

 

[rlman41299]

looks like AEFW eggs

 

[Reef Able]

no i dont trade any corals guys...i got the infestation (even though i dip all my corals before introducing to my display) from some one too but i take is part of the hobby...thanks for chiming in....

 

[Reef Able]

Ok guys removed a 2nd piece of valida from the other side of the tank which is healthier and dipped it in the revive and after shaking this is what came out here are some pics. What do u guys think..

 

[Mattrg02]

Ok guys removed a 2nd piece of valida from the other side of the tank which is healthier and dipped it in the revive and after shaking this is what came out here are some pics. What do u guys think..

Poor starfish. :-(