Acro Eating Flatworms - I knew it was coming one day...
- Thread starter jsousa
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kvosstra
New member
I also used revive - I used 2x dose for 3-5 minutes. Make sure you are keeping the dipping water warm during your treatments - I placed 1-3 corals in a 5g bucket for the few minutes - based each with a turkey baster - then pour out the water into another 5g bucket, leaving just the "junk" at the bottom of the bucket - inspect this for AEFW to confirm or deny the bugs on those corals. I placed "clean" corals in one section of Qt And "infested" in another section of the QT - all clean corals had no AEFW on the 2nd dip - on the 3rd dip I found just 2 or 3 large AEFW - so it takes time...especialyl for the known AEFW infested corals - really baste the corals to get all the things off the corals!
I did not find AEFW on all acros, it really only spread by corals that were touching, usually base to base. All were introduced by a small frag...(that was a mistake!) that was then attached to one particular rock.
I did a QT like Mark, and rigged a dosing schedule, some LR (far from the other corals), t5 lights and 2 tunze 6100 for water flow.
I did not find AEFW on all acros, it really only spread by corals that were touching, usually base to base. All were introduced by a small frag...(that was a mistake!) that was then attached to one particular rock.
I did a QT like Mark, and rigged a dosing schedule, some LR (far from the other corals), t5 lights and 2 tunze 6100 for water flow.
prop-frags
SPS Slave
I absolutely LOATHE these pests.
I've had them off and on for years. Never been able to completely eradicate them. My last round about 2 years ago, I tore the whole DT down, put in all new rock, got rid of all (20+) SPS colonies , and just kept little pieces that had been repeatedly dipped in Levamisole. They've still managed to return some how. I am now starting to believe that AEFW are a bit like ich; it's pretty much always there. Even with very strict QT... I just don't know how to be completely rid of them without being so obsessive compulsive that I just give up and quit the hobby.
Now it's more like maintenance:
I've had them off and on for years. Never been able to completely eradicate them. My last round about 2 years ago, I tore the whole DT down, put in all new rock, got rid of all (20+) SPS colonies , and just kept little pieces that had been repeatedly dipped in Levamisole. They've still managed to return some how. I am now starting to believe that AEFW are a bit like ich; it's pretty much always there. Even with very strict QT... I just don't know how to be completely rid of them without being so obsessive compulsive that I just give up and quit the hobby.
Now it's more like maintenance:
- Inspect the corals - get a good magnifying glass (eBay) and keep a very close eye out
- Dip at the first sign - have plenty of dip on hand and have the discipline to use it at the first sign of bite marks or tissue loss
- Encourage predation - keep a good mix of animals that seem like natural predators for AEFW
- Maintain good husbandry - keep your livestock healthy with good reef keeping habits. Healthy corals seem to resist pests better
pwoller
New member
I tryed them but they disappeared never to be seen again. I beat AEFW's by adding a bunch of wrasses, 6 line never stops hunting, and taking my sps out and dipping them in revive. After a couple dips and regular blasting from the baster, my tank and all the infected corals are coloring up and growing really well. I knew I had them whipped when my tricolor started growing over the damaged areas. Dont freak out they are annoying but you can get them under control without QTing everything. Scrape off the eggs when you have them out for the dips. Good Luck!
losthere
New member
I have not heard this before. I did not know they had a preference. Felipe you or anyone have more info on this?
Guys give Coral RX a try. A buddy of mine had them and with regular dips of Coral RX he eventually knocked them out. Best of luck to you guys. Im currently preparing for a FW Exit treatment on my cube for planaria FW's. Man what a pain they are, especially with the worry about the toxins!
I can verify this as well, dont know why but they LOVED my buddies tricolors for some reason. They stayed away from the red planet and other acros for some odd reason.
I can verify this as well, dont know why but they LOVED my buddies tricolors for some reason. They stayed away from the red planet and other acros for some odd reason.
There are no sound facts on their gestation periods and the time is truly takes for them to hatch to mature into "egg rearing stage", but a good time period is 21 days. In my research, I saw as itlle at 14 days, but 21 is what I used after speaking with more than a dozen people.
I would say that my tank is pretty clean. Here is the last tank shot
Here is the tank last year when I added corals back
Here is what I looked at for 7 weeks
while the corals were in
I will never say that my tank or any other tank is 100% clean as we never know. I also had not added any corals before hand for awhile except from two people that said they had beat them by "the basting and wrasse" method. What I can say is that I feel much better about my tank after I made the corrective steps to aid in the tanks recovery. I am also no longer attached to my corals as I was before. I understand that if I need to ditch a base, its ok because corals grow and recover.
Is this method for everyone? Of course not. Not everyone has the room or intensity to undergo a project like many of us have. It taught me that QT is my friend and even though I may be excited to throw that new frag into my tank that I just bought, I should be patient and QT correctly and thouroughly.
Another one of my friends compared AEFW to STD's (now please keep this all in context). If you came down with a STD, wouldn't you do everything you could to rid them? :hammer:
Wow Mark, very encouraging. I feel much better.
So, how long from the first QT shot to your latest shot? Such great growth and amazing color. What's your light rig and are you dosing any supplements?
Thanks. Looking back on it, It wasn't as much work as it is all made out to be. The first week took 5 hours, but each week after that only took about 2.5 hours.
My first post about them was on 8/17/2008
I removed the corals on 9/27/2008
The "rebirth" picture was on 11/09/08
FelipeRB
New member
not really, i read that some time ago when i had the problem ( let me look it ), and in my personal case it is semmed like real, my first problem was my purple nana, inmediatly my two tricolor.
I remember perfectly what the comentary or article said... that this plague could live undetectable in our tanks for much time, because some acros have more mucus and other conditions
idea:don´t remember?)than others than have it more resistant and fast recuperation, but after a time, the proliferation of the AEFW exceeds the acros recovery capacity and is until this moment when we detect the problem; and it say somethink like: "if you belive you don´t have this pest in yor thank and you don´t have a tricolor acro, you can get one to check if you really don´t have it"....now you asking me... i think if the AEFW really have a preference for the tricolor and purple acros, or this kind of acros are less inmune to the AEFW, and it appear more fast more concerned.
My personal case,, i did the Procoral Cure baths, and added a Camel shrimp at the display ( ERROR! after a time it started to eat my acans ) i left it at the Sump. after that newly i had have more evidence precisely in my purple tricolors acros.
my purple nana when was affect:
out fo the water it not appears be so bad, but closelly and in the water was other think, the base started to turn brown and decayed, the purple intensity estarted to less, and after the Procoral Cure bath it almost lost all the color.
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i use chromis, i had red flatworms and couldn't get rid of them with salifert fw exit for the life of me, i got 3 chromis for my BC29g and now i have no more flatworms IMO the chromis work best...not sure why this is i just know they worked for me, they are constantly picking rock and glass and since i added them i haven't seen any red flatworms
Red flatworms are planaria and they are different from AEFW.
i haven't seen them eat the flatworms but i had flatworms in all 3 of my tanks, my main tank and my 10g and 12g frag tanks i did tons of Blue-life flatworm exit and tons of sali-fert FW exit and both of them never got rid of the flatworms completely
i added the chromis and after about 2-3 weeks i have no flatworms at all, i mean none there were always 50+ on the glass of the 12g and 10g and i don't see them anymore i hated the fact that SF FW exit did a great job but never killed 100% of them so they always came back, i dosed over 20 drops in my 10g and 12g and still had flatworms after about 3 times of this i said **** it and got the chromis
since then no more flatworms
i added the chromis and after about 2-3 weeks i have no flatworms at all, i mean none there were always 50+ on the glass of the 12g and 10g and i don't see them anymore i hated the fact that SF FW exit did a great job but never killed 100% of them so they always came back, i dosed over 20 drops in my 10g and 12g and still had flatworms after about 3 times of this i said **** it and got the chromis
since then no more flatworms
what are you feeding them?
i fed my chromis hikari pellets but only 1 time a day, main tank is the same way, though in my main tank i have a sun coral i feed 3-4 times a week with frozen mysis and brine, fish get plenty of food though since i don't have the FW's anymore
IMO red and white flatworms would pretty much be the same foodwise to the chromis so IMO it would work the same, but no way to tell unless you try, i hate flatworms and did everything i could to remove them before getting the chromis, i always see them pecking the glass though so i know they do eat whats on it and can see pretty good and since they are small they can get into and behind rockwork most fish can't
IMO red and white flatworms would pretty much be the same foodwise to the chromis so IMO it would work the same, but no way to tell unless you try, i hate flatworms and did everything i could to remove them before getting the chromis, i always see them pecking the glass though so i know they do eat whats on it and can see pretty good and since they are small they can get into and behind rockwork most fish can't
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JPMagyar
New member
Garlic.
Garlic.
I ran across Lanman's AEFW thread and although he says he felt Revive was best, I latched on to this bit of data regarding his results with a Garlic dip:
1 Tablet/cup of water.
One crushed tablet of Allicin 6000 (Vitamin Shoppe store brand) was dissolved into a cup of tank water. Allicin is the active ingredient in garlic, and the tablets claim to have 6000mcg of Allicin Yield per tablet. Tablets also contain Thiosulfinates and Sulphur. $13.99/100 caplets.
A small frag of acropora nana with one Acropora-eating flatworm (AEFW) was placed into the solution.
00:30 - AEFW stressed, writhing on coral.
01:00 - AEFW hanging by one end from coral - not moving.
02:00 - Dislodged AEFW from coral with gentle agitation
05:00 - AEFW obviously dead already. Coral rinsed and returned to tank. Coral looks fine.
45:00 - Coral looks healthy and polyps are extended.
Question: Does anyone else have experience with using garlic as a dip to kill AEFW?
Is it easier on corals than Revive?
Thanks,
JP
Garlic.
I ran across Lanman's AEFW thread and although he says he felt Revive was best, I latched on to this bit of data regarding his results with a Garlic dip:
1 Tablet/cup of water.
One crushed tablet of Allicin 6000 (Vitamin Shoppe store brand) was dissolved into a cup of tank water. Allicin is the active ingredient in garlic, and the tablets claim to have 6000mcg of Allicin Yield per tablet. Tablets also contain Thiosulfinates and Sulphur. $13.99/100 caplets.
A small frag of acropora nana with one Acropora-eating flatworm (AEFW) was placed into the solution.
00:30 - AEFW stressed, writhing on coral.
01:00 - AEFW hanging by one end from coral - not moving.
02:00 - Dislodged AEFW from coral with gentle agitation
05:00 - AEFW obviously dead already. Coral rinsed and returned to tank. Coral looks fine.
45:00 - Coral looks healthy and polyps are extended.
Question: Does anyone else have experience with using garlic as a dip to kill AEFW?
Is it easier on corals than Revive?
Thanks,
JP
