AEFW-the battle begins:)

[gflat65]

As some of you know, I have found AEFW on my tank. The movement for eradication has begun...

I removed every acro from my system tonight... The tank is very bare. I drained ~35 gallons on a water change to fill the 20L initially and not upset the acros. Did the treatment and did a 66%water change in the 20L with more of the water I pulled from the display earlier. I'll likely do another WC in a couple of days, before the next treatment (then again after the next treatment...). The post treatment WC's will likely all come from the display, with 25% NSW WC's between treatments.

I threw together a treatment tank and started the treatment tonight. 3.36g of levamisole HCl (90%) for 1 hour and ten minutes (started watching 24, so the hour got away from me...). One down, two more to go over the next week and a half.

Setup empty

Acros in the tub

Acros after treatment (no difference)

Top down, just for fun (not a great shot...)

Dying flatworm. There were at least thirty or forty of the nasty little buggers on th ebottom of the tank after the treatment (along with a few writhing pods and bristle worms)

 

[Angela Short]

I hate when trouble comes along Good luck!

 

[Mikeyjer]

Good Luck with it Gary, let me know about the outcome!!!

 

[fishdoc11]

Good luck Gary.

That last pic gives me the willies.

 

[gflat65]

Yeah, there were a number of them on the bottom. I hope they were getting ready to begin the death throes... They weren't swirming like I would have liked to seen. Sprung did say 20ppm at 2 hours, right? I'm wondering if I extend the treatment time with 40ppm by another half hour or so, if it'll make the nasties squirm like... uh... spaghetti noodles. None of the corals showed signs of stress.

It's kinda cool seeing them all in the same small tank jammed in together (over 40 different ones, with a few frags) under the 12K's again (Jenn even commented on the bare bottom because of the reflection). Those AB 10K DE's are adding actual color, but killing viewing color, if you know what I mean... I didn't realize the coralreefing's (I'll quit calling it Leroy's) garf blue tip actually has purple tips out of water (and the garf tricolor loripes has pink tips...). Cool seeing them under soft white, or whatever I have in the light sockets around the house.

 

[boofer]

Good luck Gary

 

[greystreet41]

what exactly in that pic is the aefw?

 

[DMBillies]

You've had a run of bad luck recently... hope it turns around for you. I also thought that I would comment that the treatment tank really does look pretty cool with all the different corals in there. In fact, it may look better than my display tank I'll trade you some green star polyps and a leather mushroom for the FW invested acros

Good luck

 

[gflat65]

Casey,

The biggest thing in the picture (whitish semi elliptical thing). There is a reflection below it, so it may look like two. In reality, I've seen them from 1/8" to 1/4" around...

 

[gflat65]

Apparently, I should have treated for 5 hours instead of 1. I got some guidance from someone who has been dealing with AEFW with success. The procedure is going to bea bit topugher, but if it gets rid of them, it'll be worth it. Nothing else goes in my tank without a dip in some Levamisole.

I'm treating the 20L again with 3.36g for five hours. Then I plan to drain the water into a rubbermaid tub and some into a 3 gallon bucket. As the water level comes down, I will violently swish the colonies/frags in the 3 gallon bucket and place them in the water I will be pulling from the main display later this evening (around 10:30'ish). Then I will be pumping that water back into the 20L (after cleaning out the little nasties) and put the colonies/frags back into the 20L. Four treatments at about a week apart should get them all, according to anecdotal evidence...

 

[c_stowers]

Gary, where are you getting your Levamisole? What concentration are you using? Will you post a dip treatment protocol that you think will keep everyone else free of AEFW's. After hearing what your going through, I really want to avoid these guys and I think dipping all corals before going into the display is the only option.

 

[gflat65]

I got the Levamisole HCl from CO-OP on the north side (Dickerson Rd, just north of crack central). it was $13.95 for 20gr (90% Levamisole HCl). It is a pig wormer. They had it right behind the check out counter.

This is where I am getting my info from. mjcarl has experience with these guys.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=5907829#post5907829 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mjcarl
<Will this work with the fw's that lay eggs?
<Also, how do you measure out 40 ppm?

Yes, it will work for the egg laying flatworm.

To calculate drug dose use the following formula:

For 100% active drug:

volume in liters of tank x ppm (drug dosage) / 1000mg/g=#of grams required of the drug

For drugs that have less than 100% active drug, you take the percentage of the active drug (Levamisole hydrochloride is 80% active w/ 20% inert ingredients) and multiply the percentage to the 1000mg/g. So...

volume in L x ppm / 800mg/g = grams of drug

So if your treating a 10 gal tank w/ 40ppm Levamisole its:

37.8L x 40ppm / 800mg/g= 1.89g of Levamisole

Keep in mind, I'm not a vet, I just play one on TV.

Mitch

He PM'd me and told me that he recommends doing the treatment for 5 hours (or until they start to drop off). Then to swish the acros violently to fling the AEFW's off. Then place them back in the tank. Since I am treating in the QT tank, it is my actual dip location, so I have to drain it and swish in another location, then clean the tank and set back up. I'm using display tank water for the water changes, so it should be less stressful for the corals. If you don't isolate every acro, or place them back in the display, you run a good chance of leaving a few behind to repopulate. He said the reason for the swish and reloaction is that the Levamisole HCl works more as a paralyzer, so you can knock them off easily (though it will kill them, too). Many have tried dosing FWE at super high doses (some as high as 15X+) and have not eradicated them. They seem to get immune, so I'd recommend the full removal and treatment method. I read about an in tank treatment at 8ppm for an hour or two, but it's not anywhere close to 100%. It will kill off pods, bristle worms, chitons, crabs, etc. For that reason, a full tank treatment could really spike your water. Some have anecdotal evidence that certain wrasses (banana, leopard, Christmas), but to expect a complete eradication seems a little hopeful.

That said (disclaimer time), what you do to your tank is your choice. Mitch said he has had success with the method I'm going through. This stuff kills nudis, too. I'm not sure about Red bugs, but it seems like it would since it kills pods, so it may be my new dip of choice. I was able to make four measurements for a 20L at 3.36g and several (8 or so) treatments for a five gallon at .84g.

 

[gflat65]

BTW, this is the thread that info came from. There is a sticky on the SPS forum with another thread, too.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=688833&highlight=SeanT

 

[c_stowers]

Thanks for the info!

 

[gflat65]

Googity... Just finished the first full treatment (just gave them a shot of some immunotherapy, apparently, Monday night).

I left the 'meds' in for 5 hours and 25 minutes (before starting to drain and swish). I drained a little bit of water from the 20L (~5 gallons) into a 15 gallon tub for the swishing. After getting most of the larger pieces out, I started swishing in the 20L with the powerhead. It took 40 minutes to swish everything (violently...). I used a MJ 1200 to blow off everything I could from the frags and rock, then gave everything a nice violent swish and moved it into the WC water in a 37 gallon tub from the display from just before the swish. I then rinsed everything from the tank (equipmentwise) in hot water under the spray nozzle in the kitchen sink, including the 20L. A few fat FW's were still clinging to the sides of the tank. They melted away under the hot water. That took 25 minutes. The it took 35 minutes to put the corals back into the 20L with water from the main display WC.

Most of the acros were sliming out a little and it looks like there is some lightening, but that may be from the full assault from the powerhead. I may have a few casualties, but right now, they seem to be smaller pieces that can be replaced. The water after the swishing was pretty foul. They got a 100% water change. I'll inspect tomorrow to see if I have any roamers on the glass and to see how everythign makes it through. Alot of them were showing polyps as soon as I put them in the 37 gallon tub.

My back is sore and I'm pretty tired. Fried my heater (water level in rubbermaid tub dropped too low and it got hot quick and cracked when it slipped further into the water). Time for some beddie by...