AEFW experiments and study

[tektite]

Awhile back I took in some frags from a fellow hobbyist that weren't doing good for them. Turns out some of them had Acropora eating flatworms (AEFW). I did what research I could to find out more, but there's not much scientific information out there.

A big thanks goes to an LFS who gave me their entire collection of Acropora when they discovered a customer had given AEFW to them. While eradicating the AEFW for the LFS, I became quite interested in the little guys. Even found a dip that kills the embryos inside the eggs, but more study is needed on that (will be a later experiment).

I was able to clean the LFS frags of AEFW and returned them, but left AEFW on my own personal SPS. I don't have many, but what I have are now hosts to a deliberate population of AEFW. Hopefully I can keep most of them alive while infected over time. I contacted Dr. Kate Rawlinson, who's done the only real scientific study on AEFW I could find. After a number of emails, we will now be working together to do some more research on them.

Any information we discover I'll post in this thread. It won't be a fast process, but I hope over time we can find some valuable information to help hobbyists against this common SPS pest.


Few quick pics:

Adult AEFW:


Large AEFW moving over SPS polyps. Its mottled appearance makes it blend in extremely well to the host acro:


Badly infested acro showing bite marks and eggs:

 

[tektite]

Experiment 1:

Survival period for hatched AEFW of all sizes with no access to Acropora hosts.

Questions to be answered:
Length of time from removal from food source to death?
Do smaller AEFW die sooner than larger ones? Or do the smallest ones not die as fast as they still have yolk reserves post-hatch?

Side questions:
Will gravid AEFW lay eggs in the compartments away from Acropora?
Are AEFW more active during the day or night?


I built an acrylic container to hold the AEFW. It has 5 compartments, 4”x4”x4” each. It is watertight, so even the tiniest AEFW will not be able to get out. The AEFW will be sorted in each compartment by size, and obviously gravid AEFW will be in a compartment of their own. Macro pictures will be taken every day of each compartment's inhabitants. The container will be floating in the main display tank, so the AEFW will have the exact same conditions as when they were on the acros. Same temp, lighting cycle, water parameters. 80-90% waterchanges will be done once a day in each compartment, and the container will be partly covered to keep evaporation down.

Container being used:


Results to follow!

 

[ormet]

Tagging along, very interesting!

 

[flamron]

Yup. Embryo death. That is interesting. If it's real, you are the man (or woman)!

 

[ClownNut]

yup. Embryo death. That is interesting. If it's real, you are the man (or woman)!

+1

 

[tektite]

Woman The dip definitely killed the embryos (verified with microscope, watched them die), just need to tailor it so its not too hard on the acros too. It is showing definite promise, but need to do more study before going public with details just yet.

 

[rtbm]

Outstanding!
The hobby has needed someone like you to come along and finally take these thing on in this way for years.

Very interested in hearing some results.

 

[flamron]

Woman The dip definitely killed the embryos (verified with microscope, watched them die), just need to tailor it so its not too hard on the acros too. It is showing definite promise, but need to do more study before going public with details just yet.

Any teasers you can give us? I'm very interested as I lost my 120g to them. I was testing a lot of things, but didn't have the equipment to do any of that.

 

[tektite]

Not yet...I want to study their lifecycle before methods of killing, with a finite supply of them at the moment. I need to get my hands on some cheap ugly acros to up my supply of food for them, then I'll have extra to experiment with killing directly.

 

[MammothReefer]

Nice work. Look forward to your upcoming finds. As far as acros you can easily recycle acros by basting & blasting AEFW off them and letting them heal. It won't be perfect but it will save you from having to need to find a constant supply of Acros.

 

[watchguy123]

Cool stuff, tektite. I contacted Dr. Kate Rawlinson as well about a year ago regarding AEFW and she was kind enough to respond. You are certainly taking your interest much farther than I did and good for you. The only experience with AEFW that I have had is recognizing it on some potential frags for my tank. My concerns were such that I discarded the frags! Very much looking forward to see what you find

 

[tektite]

Nice work. Look forward to your upcoming finds. As far as acros you can easily recycle acros by basting & blasting AEFW off them and letting them heal. It won't be perfect but it will save you from having to need to find a constant supply of Acros.

I am doing that, I just don't have many acros at all right now. I have learned how to keep the acros alive while infested at this point Every once in a while I lose one but not too frequently. I need to get more acros so I can have 2 groups going. One group of acros will be left infested to keep large adults available for study while the other group is cleaned temporarily to give them a rest period from predation. Then as the eggs on that group hatch and grow up, the other group will be cleaned. I recently got home from a month long trip, my husband did good taking care of my tanks for a complete non-reefer, but I did lose a number of my acros. I should have more soon

 

[MammothReefer]

I am doing that, I just don't have many acros at all right now. I have learned how to keep the acros alive while infested at this point Every once in a while I lose one but not too frequently. I need to get more acros so I can have 2 groups going. One group of acros will be left infested to keep large adults available for study while the other group is cleaned temporarily to give them a rest period from predation. Then as the eggs on that group hatch and grow up, the other group will be cleaned. I recently got home from a month long trip, my husband did good taking care of my tanks for a complete non-reefer, but I did lose a number of my acros. I should have more soon

ah nice. I think the other thing you should consider is the acropora type. In my experience AEFW will mainly gravitate towards specific species and some species can handle a bit more abuse then others. If I were doing what you were doing I would go for some Bali cultured nanas or validas which you should be able to get pretty cheap browned out.

 

[Constrictor6090]

I've seen them go for acropora nasuta first like pink lemonades and strawberry shortcakes

 

[alessandro]

Great work!
I'll follow you for sure.

 

[sahin]

You are doing an amazing service to the community! :thumbsup: I hope this turns out well. You have something that kills the developing embryos! That itself is amazing for the hobby!

Wish you all the success. Please keep us updated.

 

[sirreal63]

You are doing an amazing service to the community! :thumbsup: I hope this turns out well. You have something that kills the developing embryos! That itself is amazing for the hobby!

Wish you all the success. Please keep us updated.

+1

It is great to hear your LFS is responsible enough to want to eradicate them instead of just passing them along. If I had any infected Acros I would deliver them in person to you.

 

[UTCReefer]

I'll be tagging along too.
Im AEFW free after a long QT process for all my colonies and by leaving my DT acro free for several months. I would love to help find an easier way to fight them for sure.

If you are willing to pay shipping i would be happy to donate a bunch of Acro frags from the colonies that were the most heavily infected in my tank. It would easily be 10+ specimens for your research. PM me if you are interested.

Good luck with your endeavor.

 

[dowtish]

Subscribed! This is fantastic what you are doing. Thank you

 

[MBMAX]

tagging along, very interensting.