Mutha F'r Acro eating flat worms!

[sps4mytank]

I learned from past experience that a buffer system works. Bayer does work but note that it will not kill eggs. Nothing except levansol kills everything, but that is a process.

I was probably one of the initial people to use bayer, but it should be used prior to your buffer system. when I get fragments now and its on a plug...I ALWAYS CUT THEM OFF and remount. If i get a colony...I also cut and remove the base. This is typically the source of the eggs.

DIP everything. Put in a buffer tank before it goes in your display. Monitor it regularly. It takes anywhere from 2-3 weeks for eggs to hatch and leaving one adult will produce thousands.

Like i said. I have dealt with AEFW in my garage tank years ago. You dont want to have to dip everything over and over. Its a pain in the ***. Take everything out. Leave it empty for atleast 2 months and let it run its course. One sps in the tank will keep the AEFW alive.

In your QT tank make sure you have no sand. just your corals and a good powerhead with heater. You'll thank yourself later. Try to mimic your display but in a more simple fashion. Dip regularly and just do regular maintenance. Before you put them back in your display inspect...if your unsure keep it out of your display. Best thing to do....those corals in your qt should be kept there and only a fragment should be put into your display.

IMHO...start over and take the hit(financially). Dont buy anything new. YOur LPS and softies should be ok.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Little update.

Got 2 frag racks and went to work. I put everything on a new frag plug and re dipped all corals. Today found not one aefw. However after further inspection I found eggs on 1 big colony and my dragons blood Millie. The Millie I was able to just scrub them off, but the other colony had to go away.

I'm lucky, all my pieces (besides that one big colony) are all frags. If u have aefw with big colony's, your fuacked! It's way to hard to get all the eggs from in between the branches. Here's a couple pics.

This one colony had at least a thousand eggs on it. When I dipped it the first time, I forgot to check for eggs. I know most people say they can lay eggs on rocks, but I have not found that to be true. Every piece I found, whether it be a colony or a frag, has had eggs laid directly on the SPS coral or on the very base of the frag.(found alot of eggs on the crazy glue where I glued down the frag.). I checked the rocks/ frag plugs where the corals were attached, and found no eggs. This doesn't mean it's impossible for them to lay eggs on rocks, I just haven't found any in my tank. Hoping after a few months of dipping and inspecting for eggs, I'll be aefw free. I still don't believe removing all corals and moving them to a new tank would be any better. I imagine u will end up losing most corals to stress and tissue necrosis rather then the aefw. If u truly want to get rid of them, easiest way us remove all acros from your tank. But I'm not down for that, at least not yet


Sent from my iPhone

 

[SchnitzelReef]

In super bummed about that big colony. I bought it for $15, it was brown and ugly. Been in my tank for about 6 months and colored up to a nice green and purple no name. But I liked it. Luckily I was able to save a couple small pieces that I knew for sure had no eggs.


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[lowbudget]

nick you are so fooked. they been in there for a long time.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Well see. I'm not that worried. All else fails, I'll start over on the acros. Only have about $500 in acros, so it's not to bad. And almost all are small frags


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[lowbudget]

cool deal save the time and energy thats all im recommending i would stay 6 month acro free if that happens cause they live off acros what i read

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Well I did a massive dip again with bayer this time.

Found no bite marks, no eggs, and didn't find any adult flat worms. If there was any babys, I couldn't see them. I got pretty good at finding eggs and bite marks, so I am about 99% sure I got rid of them. I didn't wanna get my hopes up, but two dips with no eggs or bite marks. I guess I'll do 2-3 more dips over the next couple weeks and if I don't see any bite marks or eggs, ill start glueing down my frags back to the rocks.

At the end of dipping all my SPS, I noticed I had a bunch of dead pods floating in my tank. I googled it and I think I killed all my pods. I guess I might have had a little bayer on my hand and got it back in the tank. I rinsed all the sps in a cup full of tank water before I put them back in my tank. Hopefully when I wake up everything is ok.

 

[Assyrian fish guy]

Little update.

Got 2 frag racks and went to work. I put everything on a new frag plug and re dipped all corals. Today found not one aefw. However after further inspection I found eggs on 1 big colony and my dragons blood Millie. The Millie I was able to just scrub them off, but the other colony had to go away.

I'm lucky, all my pieces (besides that one big colony) are all frags. If u have aefw with big colony's, your fuacked! It's way to hard to get all the eggs from in between the branches. Here's a couple pics.

This one colony had at least a thousand eggs on it. When I dipped it the first time, I forgot to check for eggs. I know most people say they can lay eggs on rocks, but I have not found that to be true. Every piece I found, whether it be a colony or a frag, has had eggs laid directly on the SPS coral or on the very base of the frag.(found alot of eggs on the crazy glue where I glued down the frag.). I checked the rocks/ frag plugs where the corals were attached, and found no eggs. This doesn't mean it's impossible for them to lay eggs on rocks, I just haven't found any in my tank. Hoping after a few months of dipping and inspecting for eggs, I'll be aefw free. I still don't believe removing all corals and moving them to a new tank would be any better. I imagine u will end up losing most corals to stress and tissue necrosis rather then the aefw. If u truly want to get rid of them, easiest way us remove all acros from your tank. But I'm not down for that, at least not yet


Sent from my iPhone

so those brown yellow things on the sps are the eggs? am going to dipe all my rocks and corals b4 i put them in my new tank

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Yep those little round brown balls are eggs.

 

[thresher]

Regarding these worms, do they only eat sps? Will they move from rock to rock? What happens to them in a tank with just lps, and softies? Any natural predators?
As of late I've been seeing some flatworms due to a recent addition of live rock and livestock. However I can only see the flatworms on the glass right now. I'm assuming they are just the typical red planaria type. Last time I had these I was able to eradicate the problem with a yellow coris and some manual syphoning.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Regarding these worms, do they only eat sps? Will they move from rock to rock? What happens to them in a tank with just lps, and softies? Any natural predators?
As of late I've been seeing some flatworms due to a recent addition of live rock and livestock. However I can only see the flatworms on the glass right now. I'm assuming they are just the typical red planaria type. Last time I had these I was able to eradicate the problem with a yellow coris and some manual syphoning.

AEFW only eat SPS. U never see AEFW like you see planaria. The AEFW only stay on the coral, And they are almost invisible. Only time u can really see them, is if u blast them with water and they come flying off the coral.

 

[wickedfish]

Come to think of it. My pod population is pretty low since I started this as a primary dip.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Come to think of it. My pod population is pretty low since I started this as a primary dip.

By the way all my corals and fish were fine this morning. I can't say the same about my pods. I'll see how my fuge looks tonight.

 

[wickedfish]

By the way all my corals and fish were fine this morning. I can't say the same about my pods. I'll see how my fuge looks tonight.

I you have sock you will definitely know if you messed up and how bad.

 

[Assyrian fish guy]

man reading this gots me really scared keeping sps. am going to check all my sps this sunday. so i should look for brown balls, and white worm like things?

also about the dipping method its 20ml of the bayer, and how much saltwater??

 

[watchguy123]

man reading this gots me really scared keeping sps. am going to check all my sps this sunday. so i should look for brown balls, and white worm like things?

also about the dipping method its 20ml of the bayer, and how much saltwater??

There is a sticky on Bayer. If you have not been dipping, then you most likely have AEFW because they are endemic in this hobby. Hard to see eggs and harder to see worms. These guys have not been kidding about the destructiveness of this pest. There are those that talk about frequent bastings and wrasses to keep it under control but once infected, pretty hard not to have destruction of one kind or another. I think schnitzel reef has been documenting his efforts to treat an infected tank. Best treatment is avoidance of the pest.

There is a new product out by Reef Pest Solutions but there is no evidence to date that it is effective at killing anything except for the manufacturers claims which are extensive. I remain skeptical regarding its effectiveness and remain loyal to the Bayer protocol

The most predictable method to rid a tank of AEFW once infected is to remove all sps including areas of coral encrustations and keep the tank free of sps until all AEFW have died. It is assumed they only survive on living acropora, therefore by removing all sps, it is assumed they will die off. Then you can determine if you want to throw away the infected sps or go through a series of dips in a quarantine tank hopefully killing all AEFW including new hatchlings over an extended time. There are new types of pests being identified periodically and who knows if Bayer is the magic bullet or not. For the time being, it seems to be the best choice

 

[SchnitzelReef]

There is a sticky on Bayer. If you have not been dipping, then you most likely have AEFW because they are endemic in this hobby. Hard to see eggs and harder to see worms. These guys have not been kidding about the destructiveness of this pest. There are those that talk about frequent bastings and wrasses to keep it under control but once infected, pretty hard not to have destruction of one kind or another. I think schnitzel reef has been documenting his efforts to treat an infected tank. Best treatment is avoidance of the pest.

There is a new product out by Reef Pest Solutions but there is no evidence to date that it is effective at killing anything except for the manufacturers claims which are extensive. I remain skeptical regarding its effectiveness and remain loyal to the Bayer protocol

The most predictable method to rid a tank of AEFW once infected is to remove all sps including areas of coral encrustations and keep the tank free of sps until all AEFW have died. It is assumed they only survive on living acropora, therefore by removing all sps, it is assumed they will die off. Then you can determine if you want to throw away the infected sps or go through a series of dips in a quarantine tank hopefully killing all AEFW including new hatchlings over an extended time. There are new types of pests being identified periodically and who knows if Bayer is the magic bullet or not. For the time being, it seems to be the best choice

Before I glue my SPS back to my rocks, I will put them in my new frag system for a couple weeks. I want my maint tank o be SPS free for a couple weeks just in case


I also got rid of 95% of all of my live rock, and put in all new rock. At the same time, I glued all SPS to frag plugs and put them on a big frag rack. I figured this way if there were any eggs in the rocks, they would be pulled out.

 

[jbaeza83]

Mark, will the Bayer dip kill the eggs?

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Mark, will the Bayer dip kill the eggs?

Nope. If u have eggs, and u don't wanna throw away the piece, u can pit crazy glue over the eggs. Jorge (reefers cove) just told me this technique. Wish I had thought of that earlier.

There's a thread on RC where some guy dipped an Acro that had eggs on it. He used all the popular types of dips, and none of them killed the eggs.

Killing the worms is the easy part, it's the eggs that come back to bite u in the assss$$

 

[JOSE CASAS]

Dam this totally sucks ...............