AEFW on new frags - What to do?

[Stickboy97]

So I bought several new frags yesterday, dipped them, and only a few little specs of something fell off... great.

Bought several more frags today, from a different seller, and dipped them and found what appeared to be several (6) AEFW in the bottom of the bowl. Put them in the secondary rinse and shook off 1 more.

What would you do? I put them in a tank I set up to QT fish, would you just toss them? Leave them in QT? For how long? What is the life cycle if there are eggs? I didn't see any, but I didn't have a magnifying glass or anything.

Shane

 

[drawman]

I would do weekly bayer dips and keep in QT until I see no more signs of AEFW. I would also remount onto new frag plugs. I can't remember how many weeks but 6-8 come to mind. I know dowtish has a good thread that he detailed.

I would get something to magnify and routinely look for eggs.

 

[btb72]

Toss

 

[SPS911]

Backyard

 

[Piper27]

You can see eggs with your eyes but a magnifying glass helps. If you have a qt tank why not just at least try and save them. I am not for sure on how long it takes for eggs to hatch but 2-3 weeks I think is around the number, search around and you will find out. 6 weeks would be the safe number of dips an experienced person would need to rid yourself of aefw. Some people do more incase they miss a worm and get an extra egg batch after a few weeks of dips. Wether you keep them or not should depend on how many acros you risk to infest in your display if you dont get rid of them from the frags. Also how confident you are that they are gone.
Aefw are very slick, they will get by your dips at any means. But a few frags is not hard to clean if you have a qt tank, time and the understanding of how to do it properly without shortcuts. Good luck!

 

[tripdad]

I agree with Piper, give it a try as long as you have a qt. Several have beaten them with success, Sahin's last tank comes to mind. Check his last tank thread, I'm pretty sure he outlined the process he used. There are a couple of others battling them right now.

 

[jda]

I you got 6 or 7 off, then there are likely more. You sure they are AEFW and not just regular planaria?

I would toss them unless they are really special. If you need to keep them, then get rid of all dead skeleton, frag plug and anything that is not live coral tissue. Dip them a few more times. Dip them again. I would use both CoralRx and bayer - they can do different things and you can see what comes off in a CoralRx dip since the water stays clear. I would dip them every few days for the next few months, but the worms can live off of the coral for quite some time, so this is not foolproof.

They can live without coral for a few months IIRC. You can easily see the eggs, but they can also live a long time so you might be QTing them for a while. You can also easily see the bite marks.

More importantly, don't get frags from that source ever again.

 

[Hentz]

I had a recent outbreak that took out 2 mini colonies and was eating a big colony as well as one of my favorite mini colonies.

I started by dipping everything and tossing ones that were just too far gone. I clipped and dipped is what I did.

Got egg crate, built frag racks, and put everything on frag plugs so I can easily monitor and dip when needed. Luckily it was quite small. I did however find some a few eggs on a maricultured piece I had, which I just tossed. Wasn't worth the hassle.

I got a Turkey Baster and basted each an every Acropora morning/night so my wrasse could pick them off.

Ever since then, I haven't seen any issues. Now since I'm paranoid, I've done close up checks with a flash light every few nights. I also do a deep check every water change since the flow is off and water-level is down.

I used Bayers for all my dipping, leaving corals in there for 10-12 minutes while occasionally swishing the cup around and/or grabbing the coral with long tweezers and swishing it around.

I agree with jda, unless its something really special, toss them if they're pretty bad.

I got a pretty sweet deal on a 48x24x11 frag tank setup. So that is now my QT/Frag system. Everything from here on out will go in there with a rigorous dipping and monitoring process.

 

[evolutionZ]

there's nothing to fear for AEFW, just dip them, inspect for eggs and dip multiple time . they are part and parcel of any SPS keepers. have to learn to live with them. tossing out frags just because they have AEFW is just wasting.

 

[Piper27]

I you got 6 or 7 off, then there are likely more. You sure they are AEFW and not just regular planaria?

I would toss them unless they are really special. If you need to keep them, then get rid of all dead skeleton, frag plug and anything that is not live coral tissue. Dip them a few more times. Dip them again. I would use both CoralRx and bayer - they can do different things and you can see what comes off in a CoralRx dip since the water stays clear. I would dip them every few days for the next few months, but the worms can live off of the coral for quite some time, so this is not foolproof.

They can live without coral for a few months IIRC. You can easily see the eggs, but they can also live a long time so you might be QTing them for a while. You can also easily see the bite marks.

More importantly, don't get frags from that source ever again.

I don't believe aefw can live long without any coral to eat. Someone did a study on here and from what I remember newly hatched ones die within a week or a few days with no acros. Adults live longer but not much more than a few weeks from what I remember. I could be off a little, I haven't read the write up for a while. Where did you read they live for 2 months with no acros to eat?

I also agree with part of what evolutionz said. Dealing with aefw is part of keeping acros. No matter who you get them from or where you get them from, the odds are there that you will get them on some new coral. I have bought from well respected hobbiests and vendors and found them, so no one is a safe bet. It's also nothing to be embarrassed about, lots of people don't even know they have them.

 

[CynicalReefer]

You should cut the frag as low as you can but still leaving a portion of the live tissue behind.then dip the newly cut frag to kill the hatched AEFW. The eggs get laid on the skeleton, dead parts or the base/frag plug which you should discard. I have been using this method on all of my new addions when I can and I have not had any issues with pests since, Knock on wood.

 

[Reefnub]

You should cut the frag as low as you can but still leaving a portion of the live tissue behind.then dip the newly cut frag to kill the hatched AEFW. The eggs get laid on the skeleton, dead parts or the base/frag plug which you should discard. I have been using this method on all of my new addions when I can and I have not had any issues with pests since, Knock on wood.

^--I just dip, cut off the base from plug, and put glue to cover up any potential exposed skeleton.
I especially glue up the bottom portion of skeleton cause they usually lay on the base.

 

[LimeTwist]

dont risk it, return where you got it from or toss it.

 

[nashorn]

Its the eggs you need to worry about.
You have a pic of the frag?
I no longer trust Bayer to dip once and found AEFW still moving around. I notice they fall off and do a death dance in Revive every time.