AEFW experiments and study
- Thread starter tektite
- Start date
Thanks for what you are doing, I know we all appreciate your efforts. I have had battles with AEFW several times and they are a nightmare. A while ago I had an infestation and started on a 5 week dipping cycle, as that seems to have worked in the past (doubling the recommended dose of Coral RX Pro and basting the heck out of each coral I found this increased productivity while significantly reducing the dipping time per coral) anyway I knew I still had some left because I was only a few weeks into the cycle when I noticed my acro tips turning white and the corals looking far less than optimal. I tested the water and then realized I had not adjusted my auto doser down when I had removed about 75% of the corals including the larger pieces to a different tank. Long story short is that my alk over a few weeks of accidental heavy dosing had spiked to 18 DKH. I lost a few weakened frags but for the most part the corals pulled through it but afterwards I was no longer able to find any AEFW in that system since that alk spike so I am assuming it must have damaged the eggs as well as killed the adults since by rights there should have been plenty left. I am sharing this because it might be something you could experiment with and see if it is a viable theory, or perhaps spark a thought for some other sort of related treatment.
I had a complete SPS reef wiped out a few years back so I am led to believe that once they have killed all the acropora species they may turn to Pocilloporidae species as well. That said I also had montipora eatings nudibranchs at the same time and found them on other corals such as porites & even chalices once they had devoured all the montis so it could have been them that ate the pocilloporas, etc. Perhaps them moving to other species of corals is something you can look into at some point.
Thanks again for all you are doing.
I had a complete SPS reef wiped out a few years back so I am led to believe that once they have killed all the acropora species they may turn to Pocilloporidae species as well. That said I also had montipora eatings nudibranchs at the same time and found them on other corals such as porites & even chalices once they had devoured all the montis so it could have been them that ate the pocilloporas, etc. Perhaps them moving to other species of corals is something you can look into at some point.
Thanks again for all you are doing.
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Biotopes
New member
:celeb3: :celeb3: :celeb3:
mkart
Active member
It's been 3 days you're killing me! :headwalls: Updates?
This is the type of study that takes months for any real updates, not days.
tektite
I never finish anyth
Yes, nothing new to report, other than I got some eggs laid on a ziplock bag, I'll be watching them to see how long it takes them to hatch. Knowing that will give Dr. Rawlinson and I a timeline to go by when we're designing the details of how we will run our experiments. Progress will be slow, but in the long run we will all know so much more about these pests, and how best to fight them.
trueblackpercula
New member
Ok I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way but there has been 9 pages to date and 209 post in this thread, Can you at least talk about what has been tested to kill them or is this always going to be about how the eggs hatch and how long they live and waiting for funding? please just tell us what hasn't worked or did work ? anything right now would be useful.
Michael
Michael
GainesvilleReef
New member
Usually results and conclusions come after an experiment is finished. They are not usually tied to the number of posts on a thread. I think they were pretty clear that they are still designing the experiment.
tektite
I never finish anyth
This is a very long-term experiment process, and like I said in the beginning, for now we are just trying to learn more about the AEFW and its lifecycle. I will eventually get into the killing side, but for now that is not the focus of this thread and our current experiments/study.
I will however attempt to refrain from mundane updates in the future
tektite
I never finish anyth
Absolutely, they'll lay eggs on many things, typically very close to or on dead sections of acros, but if they're gravid and they leave the acro for whatever reason, blown off, etc., they could lay eggs anywhere in the tank.
thermoJoe
New member
I'll be very interested in the population dynamics you uncover. In my current AEFW problem, my tank is experiences periods of infestation and recovery.
AEFW bite marks were first noticed on 9 Nov 2013, and AEFW confirmed by blasting acros with baster and knocking off a couple of worms, which were easy to ID. I stared dosing with Flatworm Stop (4 mL/g0 gal), added a Melanurus wrasse, and continued basting. After a month or so, I no longer saw any signs of AEFW. In mid Jan 2014 I again noticed many bite marks and knocked off several adult AEFW from one colony. After a week or two of basting the acro, it has healed and currently shows no signs of AEFW, but I'd be very surprised if they are gone. I've continued to use Flatworm Stop even though it may not be doing anything. Although I've scanned for eggs, I have yet to see them, but they must be there.
I have also used Bayer (50:1 dil), Coral Rx, and Revive, but none seem very toxic to AEFW. Just basting the coral seems most effective.
AEFW bite marks were first noticed on 9 Nov 2013, and AEFW confirmed by blasting acros with baster and knocking off a couple of worms, which were easy to ID. I stared dosing with Flatworm Stop (4 mL/g0 gal), added a Melanurus wrasse, and continued basting. After a month or so, I no longer saw any signs of AEFW. In mid Jan 2014 I again noticed many bite marks and knocked off several adult AEFW from one colony. After a week or two of basting the acro, it has healed and currently shows no signs of AEFW, but I'd be very surprised if they are gone. I've continued to use Flatworm Stop even though it may not be doing anything. Although I've scanned for eggs, I have yet to see them, but they must be there.
I have also used Bayer (50:1 dil), Coral Rx, and Revive, but none seem very toxic to AEFW. Just basting the coral seems most effective.
BrentH
New member
I noticed aefw and then rb at same time as we'll .... I did one treatment of interceptor so far and haven't noticed much of either ...pests I would like to know if there's any acros that the worms won't eat ? And are try a acro gobie on a colony later on if u can see if that keeps the aefw off or not ..... And thank u for your time and money I would be glad to donate to your cause ?
Swirlygig
Active member
Tektite - Great thread. I have been wondering how Fenbendazole treatment would work for AEFW. I know it will kill snails, but saw some threads where the only thing it hurt were xenia. I know it is not a fully reef safe treatment, but I don't have any AEFW to test on coral or worms. Any chance this could be tried to see how they react?
