Tiny tiny Acro parasites?

[Hansss]

Hi,
I've been having trouble with slow tissue necrossis on my Acros for a few months time now. At first I thought it was because of a temporary Alk swing and/or too low nutrition levels. But I corrected both of this without getting the STN to stop.
It's only Acropras that are affected. LPS and other SPS like Porites and Stylophora look fine. I see areas that look like bite marks but I've dipped a few corals without finding any flatworms.

I now got a phonescope (like a microscope on the phone) and were able to see something moving in areas that are currently bleached/loosing tissue. What do you think this is? Is it the main reason for the STN or just something that attacks corals that are weakend by something else?

http://www.drakfisken.se/bilder/20160731_143405.mp4

[Reel North]

AEFW

Start sipping everything, 2x a week for 6-8 weeks. That's what's killing your coral. Break everything off the frag plugs.

I used melafix marine to beat mine.

[wheelman76]

Originally Posted by Reel North

AEFW

Start sipping everything, 2x a week for 6-8 weeks. That's what's killing your coral. Break everything off the frag plugs.

I used melafix marine to beat mine.

That's a little extreme no?

I didn't see anything in that video that looked like AEFW. The tiny bugs moving around certainly aren't. Of course that doesn't mean that he doesn't have AEFW , but not enough evidence in that video to say that he does.

Also dipping for AEFW twice a week seems a little unecessary , once a week for a minimum of 8 weeks should do it , preferably 10 weeks.

[Reel North]

The aefw was right in middle of the frame.

All the reading I did says that they MUST come to the coral at least one every 7 days to feed. So by hitting every 3 or 4 days, you end up getting them eventually before they can breed.

I had aefw. The only way I won that was 2x per week, with total plug replacement on all frags. I dipped in melafix marine for what seemed like months, but they are gone.

There is no "too extreme" when it comes to pest eradication.

[wheelman76]

Originally Posted by Reel North

The aefw was right in middle of the frame.

All the reading I did says that they MUST come to the coral at least one every 7 days to feed. So by hitting every 3 or 4 days, you end up getting them eventually before they can breed.

I had aefw. The only way I won that was 2x per week, with total plug replacement on all frags. I dipped in melafix marine for what seemed like months, but they are gone.

There is no "too extreme" when it comes to pest eradication.

I don't see it , looks like a close up of where health acro tissue meets dead tissue with some very tiny critters scurrying around on the dead tissue. I don't see and AEFW anywhere

[Piper27]

I see something at the left near the edge of the circle and edge of the dead tissue that looks like the shadow of an aefw. Dipping twice a week is not necessary but won't hurt if your infestation is bad, especially if using a dip like melafix which is easy on corals. I like to dip every 6 days. Also technically you can beat them with less than 6 weekly dips if none are missed and all eggs are cought before hatching in the beginning. I agree nothing is too extreme when dealing with these pests. Unless your qt setup or dipping too much is hurting your corals further. The way to best them is to keep them all healthy during this process.

I would say thoes are Pods and are feeding on dead tissue/algae and whatever else is growing on the new exposed skeleton. Although it is A LOT of Pods I don't see any on the live tissue. Some pics of the whole coral underside would help determine if it is aefw.

[bif24701]

What about flat worm exit?


Aaron

[Piper27]

Flatworm exit doesn't kill aefw. It is a good dip for nudis on zoa's though.

[Myka]

I see something that MIGHT be an AEFW. You can see it better in the video than you can in my cell phone photo of the video. I'd remove the coral and dip to see if there are AEFW on it. I think the tiny critters moving around are just copepods that are feeding on the dying tissue, but that's hard to say.



If you remove the coral and let it dry out a bit the AEFW are much easier to see, like Melev's photo:

[Stormtrooper]

Originally Posted by Piper27

I would say thoes are Pods and are feeding on dead tissue/algae and whatever else is growing on the new exposed skeleton. Although it is A LOT of Pods I don't see any on the live tissue. Some pics of the whole coral underside would help determine if it is aefw.

No AEFW there IMO.

Just some small pods.

[Piper27]

I agree with dipping. Way to much going on there to not find out if it's aefw.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[C.Eymann]

Like others said, do a dip, see what falls off, that's the best way to confirm. I have a hard time seeing the FW others are seeing, but the symptoms you are describing are textbook of AEFW.

[Reel North]

Dip it and see. The video was super choppy, but I saw it clear as day, right below the black circle.

[reefmutt]

I can't make the link work for me but like many have said, start by dipping that coral and see what comes off. It will give you a lot of information and probably benefit the coral at the same time.
Bayer or melafix are both effective and not too harsh on the coral.

[JWClark]

I was having the same issues and turned out to have AEFW and most acros appeared affected. I removed everything to QT and am dipping once a week for five weeks. I've read that anything left in the tank will starve in a week--tank should be free now--and the eggs take 21 days to hatch. Based on this, there should be no more eggs to hatch after the third week. I used Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure for the first two dips and will now use CoralRX for the remaining three dips.

Please correct me if you think this is not adequate. Don't want to re-introduce after putting the corals through this.

From now on all new frags will be removed from their plugs and dipped before putting in the tank. May QT w/ a few dips to be safe.

[Reel North]

I'd do every 6 days for 6-8 weeks.