Wormwood Treatment for AEFW

[jda]

While we all know that there is not any miracle cure that kills AEFW in their tracks, there is one that works systematically over several months.

There has been some hype around a new miracle treatment that does not appear to work as described, but it can work if you give it time and use a different methodology.

Wormwood is a powdery, pulpy substance like coffee grounds. It appears to be the main product in a few off-the-shelf remedies. Wormwood will not usually kill larger, healthy AEFW, but it does appear to interrupt their lifecycle and keep any new ones from being born. I have seen it work on a tank with my own eyes, but it took months while the older, larger worms died childless.

How can you make some? Get some Wormwood Powder from Amazon or a health food store. I had been mixing 1/4 cup in a 2 liter soda bottle. Shake it well and let it sit. Keep the cap loose after you shake it or else it can get some back pressure. The wormwood will settle to the bottom. Shake the bottle and dose 1ml for every 10g of tank water EVERY DAY. It harms nothing. It does not even kill normal red planaria.

For those of you who do not feel like mad scientists, just get some KZ Flatworm stop and use at 2x their recommended dosage. This is what got us going on this treatment. Other than being very expensive, it works well.

Here is what you might see... within a few weeks, significantly less bites. Within a month, only large worms and corals starting to regrow around the infected areas. Within two/three months, only a few worms and not new eggs. Within four/six months, none. Keep dosing for a while after this - it hurts nothing, so why not keep it up for a while?

Future study: it does not appear that the KZ Flatworm Stop has the "grounds" or "pulp" in it. They must filter it out. A coffee filter would probably be fine for this. Somebody would need to test that this is just as effective as keep the "grounds" in the solution.

Here is my thread on this in real time while helping a friend:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2670592

Good luck to all with these basturds.

This is what wormwood looks like after it is mixed up:

 

[OnPointCorals]

“There has been some hype around a new miracle treatment that does not appear to work.....”

Wow just like that huh? Feel like it might be a little early to make that claim, no?

 

[jda]

I should specifically state that I am talking about the species of flatworm described and studied by Dr. Kate Rawlinson and not some other unknown species - these are the same ones that have resisted the quick treatment. No amount of this stuff can effectively kill them on one or two doses unless you are like at 30% solution to 70% tank water. It is not like nobody has ever tried this before. The stuff can work, but not the way that it is directed or prescribed unless there is a new ingredient in it... but with both tests failing, that does not look promising. I think that it is OK to say that the quick treatment needs more work.

@BoomCorals has done some testing too. I forgot how long it too him to see total eradication, but it was not quick or after a few doses.

 

[brianbigoats]

Wormwood make great Absinthe and Vermouth (it is the main bittering agent)

 

[CoralPassion - Tony B]

@jda after reading your thread on RC that you link to above, it looks like you hadn’t used wormwood but Zeovit FWS? Have you personally used wormwood at the strength you recommend here on this thread?

 

[Mattrg02]

Keep up the good work! We need, safe, in tank, treatments for these debilitating diseases and infestations.

 

[jda]

Yes - it works. All of this started with FWS, but then figured out what it in it. I have never had AEFW in my display, but I have added the wormwood at this strength and is reef safe. Then, two locals used it on their tanks and it acted just like FWS with the slow eradication timeline.

 

[Mattrg02]

Now we need a similar treatment for montipora eating nudis.

 

[Art2249]

Now we need a similar treatment for montipora eating nudis.

Sasquatch milk. but it's really hard to acquire.

 

[Mattrg02]

Sasquatch milk. but it's really hard to acquire.

I’ve got a coworker that saw him while hunting. I’ll bet he could hook me up

 

[Art2249]

I’ve got a coworker that saw him while hunting. I’ll bet he could hook me up

The problem is, those female sasquatch just don't like being milked!

 

[oldnsalty]

@jda stumbled across this thread and was wondering if this treatment is still valid and working? I would have expected this thread to be quite long being how bad these aefw are for the hobby. I just finished a six week treatment of purge and after a month I am now finding worms again.
thanks

 

[bigcheese]

Wormwood make great Absinthe and Vermouth (it is the main bittering agent)

Way OT, and certainly not a treatment approved by the AVMA, AMA, ASPCA, or the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but...
Hmmm, Absinthe. You could carbon dose, do a round of copper for ich, and kill AEFW all in one shot. Clever! [emoji23]

J/k... absinthe hasn't been made with copper sulfate since the late '70s. I'm also not sure how the fish will act when they're hallucinating.
...and now for something completely different...

 

[joseserrano]

Just ordered some. From what I have read, kz flatworm improves sps colors and growth.

 

[oldnsalty]

@jda stumbled across this thread and was wondering if this treatment is still valid and working? I would have expected this thread to be quite long being how bad these aefw are for the hobby. I just finished a six week treatment of purge and after a month I am now finding worms again.
thanks

also wondering if the wormwood treatment also has the same improving effects with the corals that flatworm stop has?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I am so suprised not more people have been trying this stuff. I used fws the same way jda did in two separate tanks and they are both free of aefw a year plus later. People might think this is a joke but it works, very well. Next time if I have to do a treatment I am using the wormwood.
I would guess the wormwood has the same effect as fws on the corals too. I mean there is nothing else we know of that would be put in fws to get these results. There may be preservatives or something else good for corals in the fws that the wormwood mixture has but the effective part that we need seems to be in the wormwood per jda. I would try it without thought if I was a reefer looking for a solution to aefw. There are too many companies banking off one simple ingredient in a bottle while acting like it’s a special concoction they formulated that no one else has, that’s the aquarium supplement businesses in a nutshell really.

 

[jda]

Still all good. The Flatworm Stop is a sure thing. Wormwood works too, but the dose and whether to strain the pulp, how much to use, etc. has varied but still nearly everybody has eradicated the AEFW in 4-6 months. If you want a sure thing, then get the Flatworm Stop.

I had one fella PM me in a fit because his worms were not dead the next day.

 

[jda]

When Matt was at Boom, he send did some testing and there also appears to be some Iodine in FWS. Otherwise, it looks like mostly Wormwood with likely some other secret ingredients. I don't know if they filter it through a coffee-type strainer, press the juice out, or what, but there is not that much pulp.

He also used 8x the amount of wormwood that I said in the first post and his reef was fine, but he also had no worms.

I am sure that at some dosage, it is bad. Even though UWC has said that Purge has no wormwood it in, I think that they are liars - they have lied about Vibrant in the past... and I don't really blame them since they took the time to develop this, so they don't have to say what is in it, but they could also just keep quiet like KZ does. In any case, Purge has hurt some tanks, but we have no idea if it was wormwood or the other ingredients that do it.

 

[joseserrano]

Do you think you would dose less or more dependent on bipolar/ coral density?

 

[oldnsalty]

When Matt was at Boom, he send did some testing and there also appears to be some Iodine in FWS. Otherwise, it looks like mostly Wormwood with likely some other secret ingredients. I don't know if they filter it through a coffee-type strainer, press the juice out, or what, but there is not that much pulp.

He also used 8x the amount of wormwood that I said in the first post and his reef was fine, but he also had no worms.

I am sure that at some dosage, it is bad. Even though UWC has said that Purge has no wormwood it in, I think that they are liars - they have lied about Vibrant in the past... and I don't really blame them since they took the time to develop this, so they don't have to say what is in it, but they could also just keep quiet like KZ does. In any case, Purge has hurt some tanks, but we have no idea if it was wormwood or the other ingredients that do it.

I dont know if you have experienced purge but it is nasty stuff. From what little I have read about wormwood it sounds like purge has it in it unfiltered. completely clouds up the tank and lasts for days that way. I had to do about 3 30% water changes before my skimmer would ever even think about working again without overflowing. Im out over $200 on the stuff not including all the salt, lost corals, stress and time. I think I will try the fws this go around. Get started with it and then maybe try wormwood.
thanks