AEFW confirmation

Wazzel

New member
A buddy of mine sent me this photo after we had been discussing problems he had been having with his acros. It looks like AEFW to me, just want to get some more eyes on it to confirm.

image-L.jpg
 
In my experience AEFW will look like bite marks at the base. To me that looks like a water quality/stability issue.
 
Aefw would not be my first thought on seeing that coral, either..
I find it's harder to see aefw when the coral is outside of water, though.
 
No random patches of faded skin. No trail or bite marks. No eggs noted. I used to point my finger at pests killing my stuff but what it came down to every time was alkalinity swings in my tank. As soon as I quit manually dosing alk and started with doser SPS took off. That is odd though that the top is dying also. It's not from AEFW but usually mine die from bottom up. Is it possible he is frying under LEDs at near 100% for too long of photo period ?
 
What is the KH reading of the water? Is he dosing vodka and running carbon?
What type of lighting does he use?
 
Cannot see AEFW marks. AS mentioned its easier to photograph for AEFW bitemarks when the coral is in the water.

In any event, it looks like water quality issues.


i say water issues myself, just a wild guess wink wink
Good to see you're back on the forum. When can we expect another amazing tank from you? :)

Sorry OP for posting OT.
 
IME you usually see base up on AEFW, the necrosis does not appear to be in the order that AEFW normally operate. As stated above, I would lean towards water chem, alk swinging would be my first instinct.
 
I was thinking ALK swing to, but he claims to be stable at 8.5dkh. I though I saw what appears to be bite marks on a different pic he sent for when the coral was in his tank.
 
Just have him dip the coral and use a turkey baster. If AEFW are the problem there should be some blown off. I've never had them personally but there are tons of pics where someone turkey basted a dying coral in the dip container and hundreds of them fell off.
 
what kind of acro is it? the tips look bare and the base has that old green algae look to it and with lack a bite marks that's why I said water quality issues.
 
Just have him dip the coral and use a turkey baster. If AEFW are the problem there should be some blown off. I've never had them personally but there are tons of pics where someone turkey basted a dying coral in the dip container and hundreds of them fell off.

This. There are lots of things that could cause a coral to look like that, but as others have said, AEFW usually does not attack like that. A quick dip will tell you if there are AEFW. They don't drop off when you take an affected coal out of the water, but they will reveal themselves in a Revive dip.
 
This pic is after a dip and he did indicate there were critters around after the dip. He has another local reefer going to is house today to check it out. I am a bit far to drop in to give a hand.
 
Have to agree with everyone else having battled AEFW, those do not look like AEFW bites but more of a alk problem.
 
Maybe try to calibrate the KH test kit? Or use the test kit from the other reefer to cross check the readings.
 
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