Acro Eating Flatworms - I knew it was coming one day...

J

jsousa

Member
So I just removed all my acros from my main display today. It's such a shame. Tank was looking absolutely beautiful. Great growth and exquisite color. Things were going way too good. Should have known.

Anyway, I bathed each set of corals in Revive for about 5-10 mins before putting them in my QT. All in all, it's about 30 corals.

I read thru the sticky thread on pests today and I was wondering what the latest and greatest technique of removing these buggers would be. I am prepared to do a weekly dip but I just want to make sure it works. As far as I can tell, Fluke tabs seem to be the way to go for safety and color. Does anyone disagree or vouch for another method?

And if it is recommended, what is the dosage?
 
I recommend putting in a small fish (like a wrasse) and basting the corals on a regular basis. So long as the fish can eat the AEFW that fly off then this is a less intense removal option. You would also need to check and scrape eggs on a regular basis. Of course, dipping on a regular basis is necessary but maybe you could substitute some with basting (or a maxi-jet).

Since you have already dipped it may be a good idea to break off the basis, AEFW only lay eggs on dead coral skeleton (for the most part) - usually right were the rock meets the base of the coral. This would take a lot of the guess work. Since the dip probably knocked them off the branches then breaking off the basis could be a good move.

Just take your time and do it with as little stress to your corals as possible. You have probably had them for more than 6 months, stretching the QT out a little long won't hurt.

You have definitely made the right moves and it is good to hear that you did some research rather than panicking. That is fantastic that you have a QT at your disposal for all of your acropora. Good luck!
 
My six line picks at the rocks all day long. +1 on the mounting the frags again like stated above. If you keep the display SPS free for a month or two they should die out.
 
You guys have made me feel a little bit more comfortable with the issue. I was definitely freaked out earlier in the day. Have either of you actually experienced this nightmare? Just wondering what your choice of dip was for removal.
 
I recently discovered I have them too, I also freaked out when I found my first one on the glass one night, apparently blew off one of my acros due to the high flow environment I have created. I then took a turkey baster and blasted a few corals that would exibit more signs of stress than I could not understand...I chalked it up as finicky corals, not the case... I collected over 12 large AEFW that night and started the research. I remember a thread titled "Living with AEFW", searched it out and started giving my feedback. It is possible to have a beautiful thriving and colorful reef that has AEFW, of course making sure the corals have great conditions to begin with. If you satisfy the basic needs for sps, you should be able to deal with them by having fish that eat them, especially if you incorporate blasting of your corals as a part of your routine. Either way, you can remove, dip, and quarenteen, then dip, dip, dip, and quarenteen, keeping your MT acro free. This is the most reliable method I suppose, but I simply deal with them and blast the corals on a bi-weekly basis. Good luck, those little buggers end up in the nicest of sps reefs out there, so don't panic, research and determine your best approach to erradication or dealing with them. Either way, best of luck to you!
 
I applaud the efforts. It was the in summer of '08 when I did what was needed to rid my tank of AEFW. I did the 6 week QT with dips on week 1,2,3,4 & 6. I did not find any after week 3 and I only found two that round.

The key now for me is to have a second system stable enough to keep all new corals in for as long as I want. I just do not have the time to baste my tank; and the fact that every time I looked at my tank, I knew there was a predator eating my corals :(

The key is, they are not the end of the world and you can live with or without them. I just chose not to ;)
 
I hear you Mark,
A 70 gallon tank with only 18-20 acros is alot easier to deal with rather than that big beautiful reef chuck full of acros you have...:)
 
I baste my corals on a daily basis as a precaution. At first the corals would stressed alot and not display polyps for a long time. They have now gotten used to it, polyp extension within 30 seconds of being basted.
 
the AEFW prefer the tricolor type and purple acros like cerealis, nana, válida. it die whit any lugol:uzi:.
The FWExit don´t do it nothing!!

About the eggs, you can remove mecanically, but you can look all the recesses the lugol bath don´t kill it, you can get a CAMEL shrimp at the sump, and after the Lugol bath, you can put at the sump or a recipient the acro to the Camel shrimp eat all the eggs, carefuly to check when the Shrimp end the eggs because after that, i read it can eat the acro tisue. In fact the Camel also eat the AEFW.
 
mpoletti said:
I applaud the efforts. It was the in summer of '08 when I did what was needed to rid my tank of AEFW. I did the 6 week QT with dips on week 1,2,3,4 & 6. I did not find any after week 3 and I only found two that round.

The key now for me is to have a second system stable enough to keep all new corals in for as long as I want. I just do not have the time to baste my tank; and the fact that every time I looked at my tank, I knew there was a predator eating my corals :(

The key is, they are not the end of the world and you can live with or without them. I just chose not to ;)
Click to expand...

What did you use to dip with?
 
You really have to find the eggs and eradicate them. They can lay in the tiniest cracks, nooks, and spaces on the frag base. When I bring in new frags that have AEFW - I would use an old water-pik with saltwater to blast the eggs off and then I scrape anything else off with a small metal hook (similar to what you'd find at the dentist). That always seems to do the trick as I have never had them in my DT.
 
So there is no dip to recommend. It’s just blow, scrape and quarantine. I think I can handle that. Of course, right now, while I have my acros separated which is extremely hard to do, I was looking for some chemical eradication to be certain but if it’s not needed I will stay away.

BTW, I left Green Birdnest and Pocillipora in the display tank. Is that OK to do? I had read that they on prey on Acros.
 
Revive seems pretty good. That’s what I used on my first dip yesterday because it was all I had but honestly I don’t really know if it worked or not.

I was afraid to use TMPCC because I heard it’s really harsh on the corals. Is that the case?
 
plyle02 said:
I recently discovered I have them too, I also freaked out when I found my first one on the glass one night, apparently blew off one of my acros due to the high flow environment I have created. I then took a turkey baster and blasted a few corals that would exibit more signs of stress than I could not understand...I chalked it up as finicky corals, not the case... I collected over 12 large AEFW that night and started the research. I remember a thread titled "Living with AEFW", searched it out and started giving my feedback. It is possible to have a beautiful thriving and colorful reef that has AEFW, of course making sure the corals have great conditions to begin with. If you satisfy the basic needs for sps, you should be able to deal with them by having fish that eat them, especially if you incorporate blasting of your corals as a part of your routine. Either way, you can remove, dip, and quarenteen, then dip, dip, dip, and quarenteen, keeping your MT acro free. This is the most reliable method I suppose, but I simply deal with them and blast the corals on a bi-weekly basis. Good luck, those little buggers end up in the nicest of sps reefs out there, so don't panic, research and determine your best approach to erradication or dealing with them. Either way, best of luck to you!
Click to expand...

I do the same, and have been living with AEFW for about a year and a half now. I haven't lost any corals due to the AEFW, and have settled into a routine of basting my corals when I do my weekly water change.
 
I battled them for a while. I would baste on a weekly basis and my wrasses would eat them but I found this did nothing but help the buggers spread. I removed what I could every 10 days and dipped in revive. This all got to be WAAAY too much work. The only way I found to rid your system of them is to dip and clip everything. Take ALL acros out of the tank, cut them from the bases and dip the coral before returning it to the tank. This eliminates the eggs and the adults. It will only work if you're willing to take every coral out of the tank at the same time.
 
Well, that's where I am right now. I've taken every acro out of the tank and placed them into QT. Planning on keeping them in there for 6 weeks...long enough for AEFW eggs to hatch and starve. So...were you successful? Is you're display tank truly devoid of AEFWs. If so, what did you dip with and did you use a QT?
 
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