AEFW experiments and study

We're prepping to begin experiments in earnest. Dr. Rawlinson is coming down to my place mid April. We're very excited!
 
With our present limited knowledge of the AEFW lifecycle, what would be the best estimate or guess for the time of hatching to sexual maturity? I am presently on a dipping cycle of once a week and have completed three out of the eight dips I plan to do. Once a week seems a bit overkill to me and I was thinking of stretching it to once every two weeks. But for all I know they could hatch pregnant.
 
Wow according to that article they starve in just five to seven days without a host and are exclusive to acroporids. Here is the email and reply I received from Dr Rawlinson

Dr. Rawlinson,
I'm sure you get a lot of email from hobbyists and I appreciate your valuable time in reading mine. I am presently breaking down and replacing a large reef aquarium due to structural issues. I'm taking advantage of the circumstances to try and rid my system of AEFW that have probably been present for over 8 years. I have many large established sps colonies. I have already dipped all of them on a weekly schedule 3 times with 5 more planned. I know the life cycle of the flatworm has not yet been determined, but I was wondering if you might venture to advise on the frequency of the dips. Weekly dips appear to be stressful for the corals. I would greatly like to decrease the frequency to once every two weeks but not knowing how long it takes for the flatworm to sexually mature complicates the process. I'm sure you don't know that information yet either but I think your guess would probably be better than mine.

Thanks for your time and good luck with your research,
Paul Bruns

Hi Paul,
Thanks for contacting me. You're right I don't have these answers yet, but I would think that reducing the frequency of dips to once a fortnight should be equally effective. Preliminary data that my collaborator, Cat Dybala, has collected would suggest that they take about two weeks to hatch and they reach maturity at a small size, so probably mature within a matter of weeks if there is lots of food about. Dipping once a fortnight should hopefully get any new hatchlings that have survived previous dips.
I hope that over the coming months we can give you more accurate data and work out an optimal dipping protocol - that is our initial aim.
Good luck,
Kate
 
reefkeeper2 said:
Wow according to that article they starve in just five to seven days without a host and are exclusive to acroporids. Here is the email and reply I received from Dr Rawlinson

Dr. Rawlinson,
I'm sure you get a lot of email from hobbyists and I appreciate your valuable time in reading mine. I am presently breaking down and replacing a large reef aquarium due to structural issues. I'm taking advantage of the circumstances to try and rid my system of AEFW that have probably been present for over 8 years. I have many large established sps colonies. I have already dipped all of them on a weekly schedule 3 times with 5 more planned. I know the life cycle of the flatworm has not yet been determined, but I was wondering if you might venture to advise on the frequency of the dips. Weekly dips appear to be stressful for the corals. I would greatly like to decrease the frequency to once every two weeks but not knowing how long it takes for the flatworm to sexually mature complicates the process. I'm sure you don't know that information yet either but I think your guess would probably be better than mine.

Thanks for your time and good luck with your research,
Paul Bruns

Hi Paul,
Thanks for contacting me. You're right I don't have these answers yet, but I would think that reducing the frequency of dips to once a fortnight should be equally effective. Preliminary data that my collaborator, Cat Dybala, has collected would suggest that they take about two weeks to hatch and they reach maturity at a small size, so probably mature within a matter of weeks if there is lots of food about. Dipping once a fortnight should hopefully get any new hatchlings that have survived previous dips.
I hope that over the coming months we can give you more accurate data and work out an optimal dipping protocol - that is our initial aim.
Good luck,
Kate
Click to expand...

Try Springers damselfish
 
Fish may help with keeping the AEFW in control, but highly doubtful as a means of permanent eradication. Especially in well established tanks with large acropora colonies.
 
If I had this pest and it's for sure that the springers damselfish actually eats the worms, I would put tons of them.

Is there anything related to the temperature of the water do slow down or increase the lifecycle of this evil creatures ?
 
roberto_lopes said:
If I had this pest and it's for sure that the springers damselfish actually eats the worms, I would put tons of them.

Is there anything related to the temperature of the water do slow down or increase the lifecycle of this evil creatures ?
Click to expand...


I havn't found anything about the effects of temperature. I would assume that any temp warm enough or cold enough to adversly affect them would probably adversly affect your coral as well.
 
reefkeeper2 said:
Wow according to that article they starve in just five to seven days without a host and are exclusive to acroporids. Here is the email and reply I received from Dr Rawlinson

Dr. Rawlinson,
I'm sure you get a lot of email from hobbyists and I appreciate your valuable time in reading mine. I am presently breaking down and replacing a large reef aquarium due to structural issues. I'm taking advantage of the circumstances to try and rid my system of AEFW that have probably been present for over 8 years. I have many large established sps colonies. I have already dipped all of them on a weekly schedule 3 times with 5 more planned. I know the life cycle of the flatworm has not yet been determined, but I was wondering if you might venture to advise on the frequency of the dips. Weekly dips appear to be stressful for the corals. I would greatly like to decrease the frequency to once every two weeks but not knowing how long it takes for the flatworm to sexually mature complicates the process. I'm sure you don't know that information yet either but I think your guess would probably be better than mine.

Thanks for your time and good luck with your research,
Paul Bruns

Hi Paul,
Thanks for contacting me. You're right I don't have these answers yet, but I would think that reducing the frequency of dips to once a fortnight should be equally effective. Preliminary data that my collaborator, Cat Dybala, has collected would suggest that they take about two weeks to hatch and they reach maturity at a small size, so probably mature within a matter of weeks if there is lots of food about. Dipping once a fortnight should hopefully get any new hatchlings that have survived previous dips.
I hope that over the coming months we can give you more accurate data and work out an optimal dipping protocol - that is our initial aim.
Good luck,
Kate
Click to expand...

Paul, many thanks for posting this. If you get any further info directly from Dr Rawlinson please post back on this thread.
 
I don't want this tread to become too sidetracked. To my knowledge (and very careful dipping and quarantine procedures this time around) I do not have any AEFW in my display. I do have several Springers damsels however. They are quite aggressive and I have never witnessed them go near any corals or look to be eating anything off the rocks. It seems unlikely having had them for years that they would be able to find and eat flat worms off of acro colonies, particularly the larger ones. Maybe if they were blown into the water column.
 
There is no evidence or reports that springers damsels eat AEFW. All reports, posts and anecdotal evidence regarding flatworms and Springers damsels seems to be regarding planaria and other more free roaming flatworms.

Could we please drop all the "easy fix/wishful thinking" from this thread in the future and focus on the research tektite will report on.
 
ormet said:
There is no evidence or reports that springers damsels eat AEFW. All reports, posts and anecdotal evidence regarding flatworms and Springers damsels seems to be regarding planaria and other more free roaming flatworms.

Could we please drop all the "easy fix/wishful thinking" from this thread in the future and focus on the research tektite will report on.
Click to expand...

I totally disagree with your statement. I thought the purpose of this thread was to find a cure for aefw ????? If it about growing them and seeing how long they live and what the life cycle is then let me know so I can un subscribe right now. Where do you get off tell me what I can and cannot post here? My intentions are to help a community of reefkeppers to achieve there ultimate goal. Keeping a thriving g pest free reef tank.
This is why it's called Reefcentral, if we are going to get away with out providing good advice then why even have a forum ????

Very bad statement and take offense to such a rude posting.

Michael
 
You are welcome to disagree. I think we have different views on what this thread should have as goal but then again, its Tektite's thread and not mine so what do i know. Was just hoping for a thread containing evidence based reports and not a breeding ground for spreading myths about quick fixes and miracle cures.
 
Well of course I disagree isn't this about eradication of AEFW???? I guess I will not post about a nudibranch that I have seen eat them as well.
Michael.
 
trueblackpercula said:
I totally disagree with your statement. I thought the purpose of this thread was to find a cure for aefw ????? If it about growing them and seeing how long they live and what the life cycle is then let me know so I can un subscribe right now. Where do you get off tell me what I can and cannot post here? My intentions are to help a community of reefkeppers to achieve there ultimate goal. Keeping a thriving g pest free reef tank.
This is why it's called Reefcentral, if we are going to get away with out providing good advice then why even have a forum ????

Very bad statement and take offense to such a rude posting.

Michael
Click to expand...

ormet said:
You are welcome to disagree. I think we have different views on what this thread should have as goal but then again, its Tektite's thread and not mine so what do i know. Was just hoping for a thread containing evidence based reports and not a breeding ground for spreading myths about quick fixes and miracle cures.
Click to expand...

No need to argue guys. :)

The OP has a CLEAR idea as to what is going to be tested. The OP is assisted by Dr Kate Rawlinson. I highly doubt they would venture to test things just because someone mentions it here in this thread - unless it was well known to be a good weapon against AEFW. Furthermore, biological controls aren't suitable in our situation, in my opinion for two reasons:

1. Will not be easy for most hobbyists to get hold of unless the species can be EASILY bred.

2. Biological controls arent always 100% successful and usually more of a control than eradication.

What we need is something like a dip that kills eggs, or an in tank solution without damaging the other livestock.

At the start of the thread Tektite stated that a dip to kill the embryos inside the eggs has already been discovered! But that aspect will be experimented on later.

That itself is a big breakthrough. :)

The intended studies such as survival period etc of the AEFW's will help us understand and in turn we will be better informed as to appropriate measures to take.

In any event, having suffered from these pests in the past, and too scared to buy any further acros for my tank (have around 45 Acros all healthy) I am very grateful to Tektite for the time and effort she is putting into this. :beer:
 
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