AEFW new info and photos

In the new Reef Aquarium Vol 3, they mention the use of Levamisole as a whole tank treatment, but had issues with them returning. The dosage is, of course, much lower, but it had been done. Keeping something stunned for 5 days be a very delicate balance for the rest of the tanks inhabitants. Then to have to repeat to get the eggs, etc., would be pretty stressful, I would think.

Removing them all is certainly the best option. I had a 125 with 55-60 acro colonies and frags, many of which were encrusted. using bone shears, I was able to get them and the encrustation out. Once again, certainly no fun, but I haven't seen any of the culprits in quite some time.
 
There are known issues with leaving FWE in the tank (IE: not running carbon, WC, etc). Habib definitely doesn't recommend it and there is at least one thread that documented the coral losses incurred by someone who was a little "lazy" (his own words to descibe his actions) and didn't do the WC or add fresh GAC for days. It was not a pretty site to see the coral flesh slooughing off the skeletons. So FWE would not be an option for your plans, and I don't think that the person even majorlky overdosed like most of us did when testing for AEFW treatments.
 
Gflat65
Hi. How many times did you treat your corals? How long now have you not seen any further coral damage?
I thought I was sucessful, but they came back exactly on the sixth months after quaranteen and treatment.
 
I started treatments around the end of March and ran four treatments for a just a little over the prescribed doseage fo Levamisole. I set up a 20 long and moved all acros into it for the duration and completely cleaned the tank after each dosage to ensure there were no flat worms left on the glass, etc. I treated the entire tank and added 100% cycled water from the main display (and had been doing changes from the main display almost daily or every other day). Like I said, it's been just under two months or so since I finished (4-23), so there may be more in store. I had to restock because I lost a number in the process. All replacement corals (regardless of what they are) now go into quarantine for at least four weeks with frequent TMPCC dips...
 
I am beginning to wonder if I may have to follow the same path with the removing to treat - did you guys remove the rocks or just take corals off the rocks? my tank has been up in it's current location for over four years and some colonies are quite large and growing all over the place - it would break my heart to destroy them to get them out - I also have concerns about doing all that and having them return several months down the road - possibly due to non-removed eggs or other reasons
-one other side note is that I think after playing with it for awhile the prazi pro is soluble in water - when first put in it forms a milky slick on the salt water but then after mixing the milky stuff disappears and only a very small amount of clear oily slick is left - this am I could not find any worms on the corals that were left in the bath of this overnight, but I could not see any in the controls either - I'll check them out more closely when I get home
 
I pulled most of them off rocks, but had two larger rocks that had several large colonies encrusted. I ended up breaking them off the rock, too, as I began to believe that the Levamisole was absorbing into the rock during treatment and releasing throughout the week. I may have been grasping at straws, though. I seemed to lose more several days after each treatment, than right away...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7544034#post7544034 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dolt
I am beginning to wonder if I may have to follow the same path with the removing to treat - did you guys remove the rocks or just take corals off the rocks? my tank has been up in it's current location for over four years and some colonies are quite large and growing all over the place
Click to expand...

I removed all 80 or so acro colonies from my 280. Many of them were well encrusted and got broken up quite a bit when I removed them. After I got all of the acros out, I took each rock and inspected it for any encrusted bases that were left behind and then chiseled these off and threw them in the garbage. It wasn't easy and definitely wasn't fun, but it was the "surest" thing to do at the time. Some of my colonies were pretty encrusted and this tank had only been setup for 18 months. I can't imagine the encrusing you would be dealing with in a 4 year old tank.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7537014#post7537014 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparkss
I had read and been told about the radiant wrasses also. They are on our list for acquisition :)
Click to expand...

I dont have AEFW at this point (knock on wood)


But I just wanted to chime in, My radiant, my melanarus, and my meleagris leapord all eat the brown/red flatworms
 
This might seem strange, but what about emerald crabs? Some people noticed some sort of corelation between interceptor and AEFW which was not found to be conclusive at all. But what if emeralds pick at them somewhat. Now if we intercepted a tank emeralds wouldn't be there. I do know that they crawl into sps and pick around without harming the coral. For some reason the AEFWs are now under control.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7545763#post7545763 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gflat65
I pulled most of them off rocks, but had two larger rocks that had several large colonies encrusted. I ended up breaking them off the rock, too, as I began to believe that the Levamisole was absorbing into the rock during treatment and releasing throughout the week. I may have been grasping at straws, though. I seemed to lose more several days after each treatment, than right away...
Click to expand...

When you ran each treatment, did you notice things like extended PE or coloration changes on any acros? I have almost no PE on all my acros and am wondering if you would notice right away whether the treatment is working or not by signs from the acro itself?
 
Also, where can one get Levamisole? Any suggestions where I can purchase this online?

I am upgrading my current tank within the next week or two and would like to treat all my acros in a separate tank before introducing them to my new tank. The last thing I want is to setup a new tank and have this problem, only to have to rip it down again to try to erradicate these bastards.
 
Hi dirtyreefer,
You can get it online at barnstocker.com.
You can try locally at a large animal vet, it is a pig dewormer.
You can also try a local ag supply store. I got mine at a Sioux Nation ag supply locally.
 
I didn't see a big difference immediately on PE, but coloring certainly went to the bad side. Most things turned brown after treatments. Since I did the treatments in a bare bottom with nothing else in it except the acros, I was able to monitor by blasting the corals to see if anything came off of them, and also by watching the nasties crawling around on the glass. Before the first treatment, there were AEFW's all over on the glass, but none after the first treatment. I rinsed the tank and equipment after each treatment under hot water and vinegar.

I got my Levamisole from the local farmer's Co op.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I think I may need to purchase the levamisole from the vet since I don't think I can mail order it up here to Canada.

Sure sounds like a painful exercise though, I wish there was an easy in tank treatment like Interceptor is for AERB. :rolleyes: I don't mind treating in a QT, however this stuff just seems so destructive (and unpredictable) to the acro itself :(
 
interesting - I do not know much about this class of meds so I looked some stuff up - one thing for sure is that some meds in this class are fairly toxic to animals (and therefore likely to fish) with a LD 50 of 370mg/kg (one pound equals 2.2kg) in mice - therefore this does not seem like a good in tank treatment, but maybe a dip? - apparently this guys acros did not like it either - they all died in his QT tank - it appears that this stuff binds more selectively to sodium channels in the nervous system of insects and is supposed to do this much less so in humans - it is actually more sensitive to light than water (at least some of the older compounds) and many are not very soluble in water limiting their utility in our application
 
Good info coming from this thread, keep it up dolt!!!

I'm setting up my QT tank this weekend, got my TMPCC for the dips, so i'm ready to go to war on these buggers.
 
I have been watching this thread as well as the other one in this forum and have been wondering if I have these dreaded little monsters as well. Another Acro started to recede on Sunday before I left for a business trip. I came home today and I still had some of the receding Acro left and I sent it for a TMPCC dip and I finally made a discovery ... I now have AEFW's! In the past couple months I had dipped other acros that were doing the same thing and came up with nothing every time. I guess back to re-reading all the threads and I will be getting the QT tank up and running!

Thanks to everyone here who shares experiences/information on these buggers to help us all along with the treatment process!

Sara
 
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