My own AEFW (Acro Eating Flatworms) images - Page 30

mrkalel · #**726** 07/25/2007, 01:11 PM

I noticed that you have listed the clown goby as a problem for SPS. I have started to try SPS in my tank and I wanted to know do you find those fish are really a problem, I have always liked them so much...

melev · #**727** 07/25/2007, 02:50 PM

Definitely evil. I appropriately named mine "Fang" and he mowed down several pretty frags of mine. Finally one day I couldn't take it any more and siphoned him right out of the tank.

The green Clown Gobies seem to be safer. The Yellow are well known to be problematic.

mrkalel · #**728** 07/25/2007, 06:02 PM

And have you noticed the black ones or other color combos as bad?

melev · #**729** 07/25/2007, 06:21 PM

I'm only familiar with yellow or green Clown Gobies.

mrkalel · #**730** 07/25/2007, 06:31 PM

Just a quick look at all these color combos...
http://liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1850

cstires · #**731** 07/25/2007, 10:28 PM

Hey guys and gals!

I think I have these damn worms! I had a few corals start to die off at the base, I took them to my LFS and she looked at them under the microscope. We couldn't find anything, but I got rid of them just incase.

Well two more corals began to do the same thing. One is an ORA birds nest, the other an ORA blue bottle brush. I read this thread earlier today and since I couldn't think of anything else it could be, I decided to take the corals out and investigate.

I looked for signs of eggs on the birds nest, and didn't find anything nor anything that looked like a worm. But I decided to put it into the TMPCC just for giggles. I then examined the BB, I found what appeared to be a cluster of round eggs, probably 3-5 of them. I'm not sure if they are eggs because they resembled the color of the corals tissue, but were pretty symetrical. Anyway, I didn't see anymore than the one cluster but I tossed it into the dip as well.

After about 5 minutes I checked the corals and noticed a flat worm of some type falling off the BB, nothing at all on the birds nest. After 15 minutes I shook the corals and took them out of the dip. I didn't place the BB back in the tank, but I did place the birds nest back in.

The worm was around a 1/4" or so and almost clear. Well the color is hard to guage since it's floating in the dip water.

Sorry for the long post, it's just right now I feel like I've contracted some infectious disease...

Any help would be appreciated. I'm taking the coral to the LFS tomorrow to put under the microscope. Hopefully it's nothing more than a regular flat worm, but my guess is that I'm going be on a major erradication quest!!!

Philip Root · #**732** 07/28/2007, 12:24 PM

I think I have found a new dip that will rid you acros of flat worms within 2 mins and your acro will not slim.( or brown) I would like to send a few people some samples that have AEFW and see what they think of it. Any takers? PM me

jay24k · #**733** 07/28/2007, 10:10 PM

Why not just let everyone know what it is and people can actually give it a try. That's what this thread was about in my opinion. The sharing of information in the event a cure can be found.

cstires, I thought I had them too because of base recession. I have some fluke tabs if you need a few. I tested several and didn't find a single one. I moved the coral (valida) to a different spot and it is coming back very strong. I would check your alkilinity and maybe have the LFS you go to verify your tests. If your coral keeps receeding, that piece should have the flatworms from what I understand. And there is an even higher chance of eggs on that piece too.

cstires · #**734** 07/28/2007, 10:26 PM

Well I took the piece to SITC and there was definitely some eggs on the coral. Not sure what type, but did look similiar to the ones shown on Melev's site. When I first dipped the coral I saw a single flatworm fall off. It didn't quite resemble the ones shown on here, but I assumed it was a bad one, as well as I'm assuming the eggs were its as well.

I discarded the coral to be safe. I've been looking at all my corals every since and haven't noticed a single thing. I have even took corals that looked healthy and dipped them, and nothing.

It can't be possible that only one coral was affected, but I honestly can't find a single trace of them anywhere else. My Valida is doing great, nothing wrong with it at all. I'm worried that all of a sudden I'm going to see a crap load of these things everywhere...

I too agree, if you think you've found a reliable treatment, then please share with everyone! Even if I don't have them, helping others save god only knows how many thousands of dollars would be awesome!!!!

Philip Root · #**735** 07/29/2007, 09:51 AM

Share? !!!! I said I was giving it away!!!! But that is not enough.

cstires · #**736** 07/29/2007, 10:17 AM

Giving us the ingredients of the dip isn't enough? I can understand being hesitant if your planning on marketing your dip, but if not, then just post it.

Philip Root · #**737** 07/29/2007, 11:08 AM

Giving away what it is made of is giving away too much at this point. The people who get the samples will---- think ----that they know what it is when the open the bottle. I may market it or I may share it, I don't know yet but I am not ready to give away what it is.

Me No Nemo · #**738** 07/29/2007, 03:42 PM

Well, I've done some more research since Cstires brought his piece in. I was able to get an acro with flatworms on it and placed it in a new product Julian Sprung is releasing called "Revive Coral Cleaner" that Julian was kind enough to forward me a sample of. Using the recommended dosage, the flatworms absolutely writhed off the piece and were dead in no time. I think this stuff has enormous potential! I've also used it, as he suggested, on some blastos that came in looking pretty "wilted" and after placing them back in the tank they looked amazing.

Here's some info from his website regarding the product:

ReVive Coral Cleaner™

Two Little Fishies ReVive Coral Cleaner™ is a new product developed by Julian Sprung for cleansing live stony corals. It is a surface cleaning formula based on plant extracts. Use for all general purpose live coral cleansing, as a part of acclimation to aquariums when corals are first received, for rinsing prior to shipping, and for rinsing newly fragmented corals, such as at coral farming facilities. 500 ml (16.8 fl oz) bottle.

Here's a link to more info:

http://www.twolittlefishies.com/docu...1162048240.pdf

Me No Nemo · #**739** 07/29/2007, 03:48 PM

If anyone else in the Orlando area has some of these I can experiment with, please get in touch as I'd like to do some more tests to see how it does. I have not seen the product on my wholesale sheets as of yet, but understand it should be available very soon.

melev · #**740** 07/29/2007, 04:30 PM

That sounds promising. Thanks for posting about it! Hopefully others will try it out and report success.

Me No Nemo · #**741** 07/29/2007, 05:14 PM

Hope so Marc...this was a one shot trial, and perhaps a bit early to post about it, but if others try it (or I can get some more specimans) we can see if we get the same results. Seems they are making their way into lots of tanks lately. The sooner we find a solution to these pests the better!

afishfanatic · #**742** 08/13/2007, 04:19 PM

Me No Nemo,

Did the ReVive Coral Cleaner cause the sps to brown out?

kirsto71 · #**743** 08/15/2007, 05:33 AM

I have been a little concerned lately as to wether or not i do actually have AEFW so i dipped a coral that i thought was not going as well as it had been. I used betadine but due to a slight mis-calc i only ended up dosing 2.5ml per litre instead of the 3ml. I dipped for around 20-25 minutes and after i found no evidence of AEFW. Could the slightly lower dose not affected the flat worms or do i just not have any on that coral?

Please help me decide whether to redo the dip or just learn to leave things be.

Me No Nemo · #**744** 08/15/2007, 10:46 AM

Hard for me to tell since the pieces I treated are under much lower light right now in quarantine, so their colors are going to be muted anyway. I have several pieces I've treated twice and so far so good as far as the AEFW. But, many corals I've treated with various treatments (Interceptor in particular) have browned out then colored back up again. This is a new product so I can't give you all that much info yet. I just tried it recently myself. If anyone else does try it I'd love to hear results.

Twistedpro · #**745** 08/15/2007, 04:52 PM

If only one coral in the system is showing signs of the AEFW and all the other corals dipped around it have not got any would it be bestto ride it out and hope that the other corals don't have them??

melev · #**746** 08/15/2007, 05:35 PM

That would be my hope. I think I got lucky in that I was able to deal with them before they were able to spread into my reef. I ended up loosing that beautiful Tyree frag though, and as I look through older picture folders on my site, it makes me sad. I'll have to get another A. valida one day.

SERVO · #**747** 08/15/2007, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Twistedpro
If only one coral in the system is showing signs of the AEFW and all the other corals dipped around it have not got any would it be bestto ride it out and hope that the other corals don't have them??

Thats a risk that you need to decide if it is worth taking. IMO, no, its not. The work to pull out off of your corals, treat and QT them and then place them back into the tank is a hassle, but is the only way that you can ensure that you won't have them.

I believe that it is irresponsible to treat one coral assume that you don't have AEFW's and then go on to trade/sell frags of the corals that under your best judgement did not appear infected.

Don't worry about browning out the coral. Worry about irradicating the worms. The corals will color back up in time. I think that I am finally free of AEFW, but I still am not going to trade/sell/give away anything until I can show no signs of sick corals for a year.

So my corals have started to color back up. I'm not quite where I was color wise, but I think that some of that has to do with me down sizing my lights from 4 400W to 3 400 W with Luminarc II reflectors. I added T5's as well and I'm really impressed at how they affect color. I saved a lot of corals, but catching them before they lay eggs is key IMO. If you have eggs, your headaches will increase exponentially. If you treat early, you can get them off of your corals. I used Fluke tabs first and them TMPCC. The TMPCC and crappy conditions with stressed corals caused a color shift, but things are almost back were they were. Here are a couple of top down shots.

kirsto71 · #**748** 09/23/2007, 06:39 AM

If there are some corals attached to some live rock does it need to be removed or can i dip the whole thing into some betadine dip. I appreciate other items within the live rock my die but i am keen to treat a piece of corals that is only really just encrusting and cannot be fragged off easily at all.

I would really appreciate some guidance on this issue.

Dudester · #**749** 09/23/2007, 09:03 AM

You could certainly keep the coral attached to its live rock base for the betadine dip, and you have already mentioned the hazard involved with this. Namely, the betadine may kill some beneficial organisms in the LR. Do you plan to do this as a method to evaluate for the presence of AEFW or to kill a know infestation?

SERVO · #**750** 09/23/2007, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kirsto71
If there are some corals attached to some live rock does it need to be removed or can i dip the whole thing into some betadine dip. I appreciate other items within the live rock my die but i am keen to treat a piece of corals that is only really just encrusting and cannot be fragged off easily at all.

I would really appreciate some guidance on this issue.

IMO, I wouldn't just rely on one method/medication. I used Fluke tabs (Metronidazole and Praziquantil) in addition to TMPCC (Iodine).

Iodine based medications are very unstable in water and will quickly disassociate to iodate. Keep this in mind as the dip will lose it potency over time. I agree with the above poster. If you keep the coral on the rock you run the risk of killing not only autotrophic bacteria, but also sponges and other live matter that may cause a nitrogen spike in your tank. This alone could kill a stressed out coral. Personally, I used a hand wire saw and sawed off all of my acros to treat. PITA!!!

Good Luck mate!