My own AEFW (Acro Eating Flatworms) images

[bigt0706]

so has any one sucesfully done dips and kept ther acros in the main system

[CyanoMagnet]

I have read the entire post. Took me all day. But boy was it worth it. This thread has given me hope after the feeling of despair after confirming that I have AEFW in my display.

Stoney. You get a big big ovation from me and my corals for the info you have put out to all of us.
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Marc. I realy appreciate your overall attitude of attempting to keep each and every coral alive like it is on the verge of extinction ,and your method in attacking problems without panicking, or overreacting.
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And to all those who have reported their results, good or bad (and there was one very sad account of dosing the display with fluke), thank you.

Just two questions,

Stoney, are you still free of AEFW?

Marc, I am under the impression that you never actualy took all of your corals out and quarantined for 4+ weeks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you treated each coral individualy as per need basis?
Are you now completely AEFW free?

Thank you for the great thread.

Sam

[melev]

Hi Sam,

I only treated the corals that were affected. I spend a lot of time looking at my corals, and can usually see if one is 'not right'. After the original incident that spawned this thread, I didn't see any for a year. Then on a totally new A. valida frag, I noticed a bunch of bite marks and even eggs.







With that amount of eggs, it was easier to throw away the center of the coral. I kept the base that was fine, and the tip that was AEFW-free.

The base has been growing quietly in my reef ever since. It really doesn't have much to show for itself after all this time, but it is alive.

The tip ended up getting reinfested in a totally different spot. Because of its location, I can't see bite marks, but the coral is faded with little color. What I do is every two or three days, I blow off the usual suspects with a turkey baster, sending any flatworms flying. My fish are eating them that way. I added a tiny Yellow Coris Wrasse that fits into the nooks of my SPS to help work on these pests.

Am I out of the woods yet? No. Every new addition is carefully dipped and studied to make sure nothing new sneaks in. I've been doing so for the past couple of years since the original outbreak, as I don't want to add to the current problem with even more of these suckers.

The reason why I've never set up a 6 week quarantining process is because you have to set up an entire reef next to your actual reef. All the SPS are moved, all are treated, all are handled, and all are stressed. You have a new tank with new flow patterns, different lighting, and a bunch of upset corals. All those stressors are in place, and the corals usually don't handle a lot of stress well.

Worst case scenario - they eat the corals and I simply can't keep those in my tank any longer. Since they have a certain type they like, it would mean I'd have to give up keeping those particular ones. Fortunately, that hasn't been a problem.

[CyanoMagnet]

OK marc, thanks. I am considering 2 venues myself right now. Quarantine, or going by the way you did.

It would be alot easier for me to quarantine than yourself since I found AEFW on my first set of sps ever (yep , talk about luck) which I received 2 weeks ago. Theres only 30 pieces or so , mostly frags and only a 3rd of them are actual acro's.

Still up in the air what I will do.

I do know one thing. I will be more prepared for future additions.


BTW, did you ever consider the camel shrimp idea to attack the eggs?

[melev]

If you have 20 or 30 frags, you can treat them all in ReVive. That would be what I do with all new arrivals.

It is actually quite odd that you found some on birdsnest. Did you scrape those eggs away? Or cut off the healthy section and toss the base.

[rogergolf66]

Stupid Question how can you tell the difference in an acro and other SPS. the obvious the montipora, digi, caps things like that ok but are stags considered acropora? I guess I am asking is a green slimmer an acro LE blue tip stag, blue tort things of that nature do they fall in the acro familly?

Also Marc if you have the Worst case scenario as you said after the 30 days couldn't you put acros that are free of the AEFW in the tank as the ones in your tank would have died with no food? not to say you want to throw that many acros away but if they were to all die because of the lack of proper treatment (remove and put in QT and treat) then couldn't you just wait abit for all the AEFW to die and the eggs to hatch and also die (life cycle)?

Thanks Roger

[CyanoMagnet]

Originally posted by melev
If you have 20 or 30 frags, you can treat them all in ReVive. That would be what I do with all new arrivals.

It is actually quite odd that you found some on birdsnest. Did you scrape those eggs away? Or cut off the healthy section and toss the base.

I didnt find any on the birdsnest. That die off (on the birdsnest) , I think its from epoxy burn.

So far only known coral is the green slimer.

Revive is great from what Ive read. Too bad it does'nt kill eggs.

But those shrimp , according to the website, do pick "all" the eggs off the coral. Thats the only reason I am considering these shrimp. For the eggs. Every other base seems covered with the dips.

[CyanoMagnet]

Originally posted by rogergolf66
Stupid Question how can you tell the difference in an acro and other SPS. the obvious the montipora, digi, caps things like that ok but are stags considered acropora? I guess I am asking is a green slimmer an acro LE blue tip stag, blue tort things of that nature do they fall in the acro familly?

Also Marc if you have the Worst case scenario as you said after the 30 days couldn't you put acros that are free of the AEFW in the tank as the ones in your tank would have died with no food? not to say you want to throw that many acros away but if they were to all die because of the lack of proper treatment (remove and put in QT and treat) then couldn't you just wait abit for all the AEFW to die and the eggs to hatch and also die (life cycle)?

Thanks Roger

Thats what alot of people do. Read the entire thread, thats what a few did successfully.

In some cases (like marcs forexample) its not so easy to set up such a large quarantine I guess.

[melev]

how can you tell the difference in an acro and other SPS. the obvious the montipora, digi, caps things like that ok but are stags considered acropora? I guess I am asking is a green slimmer an acro LE blue tip stag, blue tort things of that nature do they fall in the acro familly?

There are many many corals that are Acropora sp. As far as I recall, 'sp' stands for species. "LE" stands for Limited Edition, as in corals that Steve Tyree sells. Corals with nicknames are definitely adding to your confusion. "blue tort" refers to a blue colored Acropora tortuosa. Now that you know the full name, is it an Acropora? "Green slimer" is Acropora yongei. Birdsnest is Seriatopora hystrix, thus not an acro. If you can find out the coral's latin name, that will really help you sort this out. There are lots and lots of acropora out there, but when in doubt, just ask.

Also Marc if you have the Worst case scenario as you said after the 30 days couldn't you put acros that are free of the AEFW in the tank as the ones in your tank would have died with no food? not to say you want to throw that many acros away but if they were to all die because of the lack of proper treatment (remove and put in QT and treat) then couldn't you just wait abit for all the AEFW to die and the eggs to hatch and also die (life cycle)?

AEFW eat SPS corals. Those that want to eliminate them permanently have reacted by removing every trace of SPS from their system. All the acros, including any encrusting areas on the LR, were removed from the tank. Take away the food source, the animal must die. LPS, anemones, leathers, ricordia, clams etc... they can stay in the tank.

They prefer smooth corals, so A. nana and A. valida are their most well-known targets. These are the ones they are found on the most, and often, the first corals to be infested. I call it AEFW candy. And you can remove that coral entirely from the system, or use it like bait.

In my worst case senario, any coral that died due to these pests would be the ones I wouldn't replace with the same. However, that has not been an issue fortunately.

My tank turned 4 years old yesterday, and looks great even though a few of those guys are in there presently.



Bigger picture from an angle: http://melevsreef.com/pics/08/07/fts_angled_LG_0723.jpg

From the side:

[melev]

Originally posted by CyanoMagnet
I didnt find any on the birdsnest. That die off (on the birdsnest) , I think its from epoxy burn.

So far only known coral is the green slimer.

Revive is great from what Ive read. Too bad it does'nt kill eggs.

But those shrimp , according to the website, do pick "all" the eggs off the coral. Thats the only reason I am considering these shrimp. For the eggs. Every other base seems covered with the dips.

I forgot to answer your question about the Camelback shrimp. That sounds like a nice option if you can get a bunch of them and keep them hungry. The premise of putting the affected coral in the tank with them for exactly (and not one minute more) 30 minutes to pick them off sounds almost fun. I don't know anyone in my area that has actually done it.

Maybe I should.

Originally posted by CyanoMagnet
Thats what alot of people do. Read the entire thread, thats what a few did successfully.

In some cases (like marcs forexample) its not so easy to set up such a large quarantine I guess.

I'd have to set up a 120g or larger, and have a way to put all those corals in there so they don't touch, face the right direction, have all the supporting equipment for good water parameters.... ugh. The worst part is you KNOW you'll suffer losses doing this. My method has averted any losses at all. I have all of my corals still, after all this time. The original Tyree LE that got attacked at the beginning of this thread recovered and grew, only to die later because of a salinity issue. However, because I'd banked a piece of the coral with two different people, I got a frag back and that coral is doing great in my reef. Here's a picture from July of it:

[CyanoMagnet]

Beautifull tank. And my mistake, its 30-60 minutes. I am thinking about adding a shrimp tank into the loop, a small one, just as a cleaning station for corals.

And noone said we can't dip afterwards either. I think IF it works it could be a powerfull combo.

If I do have a aefw outbreak I will test it.

[naldopr]

I wish I notice in time but after dipping my corals for several weeks I decide to remove them from the tank and quarantine them. as soon I start taking them out the water they look so bad so infected that I just can handle any more so I took my tank down for I while, now I will do my tank again with a quarantine tank and do it right.. this is a serious problem..

[naldopr]

marc love the side view.

[melev]

naldopr - I'm sorry your infestation was so bad that you had to take the entire tank down. So how long until you set up again? What's your plan?

[naldopr]

well marc probably in a couple of month I'm debating on setting my 90 gallon 48x 24x 18h again or get the new 5' footer from marineland 60x36x27.. I just got a 40 breeder that I will set as a quarantine tank. now I will take my time and patience choosing my corals carefully and of course (quarantine).
Q for you. I ask before but know one answer me. but I notice that my acropora tenuis that had a acropora crab was the only one that I never saw a flatworm on it. I always did the dipping and never find a single one. is that possible?
well thank you
arnaldo

[melev]

Tenuis don't usually have a problem, as far as I've been able to tell. Still, it can be good to verify with a dip on occasion.

I've dipped corals that were busy RTNing just to rule out AEFW, and there were none.

[Los]

Marc-

I know it's hard to find a silver lining, but I'm sure this thread has gotten a bunch of folks (myself included) to set up quarantine tanks. Your unsurpassed ability to document what you do is also much appreciated.

Are you still living with AEFW or did you eventually get rid of them?

[melev]

I've not seen any in a long time, but I never say never.

[Los]

That is GREAT news. Congrats, Marc.

[naldopr]

here is mine not done yet.

[mpoletti]

Thanks Marc for the update; It looks amazing



http://melevsreef.com/pics/08/07/fts_angled_LG_0723.jpg

I know that this thread has helped many including myself. I might of went a little more radical than some, but knowing that people have fought the battle was enough for me. People like you, Ace, Chris and Peter were all great examples for me to follow.

[melev]

You are very welcome; I'm glad it helped.

I've read many threads where people went to such extremes to deal with pests that they ended up losing their prized corals. I prefer to take a less intense approach, looking for reasonable solutions.

Here's an updated picture of my reef, from February 11th, 2009.

[Logzor]

Very helpful thread. I must say it literally makes me sick to the stomach to see some of those pictures. To a degree it makes me ultra-paranoid. Every time I see the slightest spot on a coral I freak out.

I recently snapped a GARF bonsai out of my tank, used epoxy over the base, then threw the coral in my softie tank only to find out that no one agreed that AEFW caused the spots (when I posted lose ups here on RC). I did a dip and could not confirm any AEFW.

Luckily the coral is still alive and is back in my main display.

I think sometime I see spots which are actually new growth due to changes in the flow patterns in my tank (recently moving power tunze pumps around).

[EMT87]

so like im not so good on the whole abbreviation thing so do you think you could tell me what TMPCC is . This was on neptune777 post thanks alot

[cjcoopertag]

Dang