AEFW treatment-Fluke Tab warning
- Thread starter hobogato
- Start date
hobogato
New member
three SE 14k coralvue with homede luminarc type reflectors and 2 DE 12k coralvue reeflux with improved reflectors (solartube material - the same stuff i used for the SE reflectors - all 250 watt. i just moved the DEs over to the qt setup. that is probably part of the reason some of the acros are browning - large reduction in light.
hobogato
New member
thats it. i couldnt watch any more corals die, so i cut it one treatment short. i lost the turaki, two marshall island ora corals and a couple more, so i decided to cut the bases off of all the rest of the living corals, treat them once more, and put them back in the tank. it has been a long day.
i will not do this again, if the flatworms come back, i will remove and dip only the corals i see them on like others have done.
i will also be dipping EVERYTHING new that i get - i hope others will do the same
removing the bases
all the bases that were removed
total treatment casualties - about 30 out of 170 total (i fragged some that were starting to go at the base)
the full tank with all the survivors
left side
center
right side
i will not do this again, if the flatworms come back, i will remove and dip only the corals i see them on like others have done.
i will also be dipping EVERYTHING new that i get - i hope others will do the same
removing the bases
all the bases that were removed
total treatment casualties - about 30 out of 170 total (i fragged some that were starting to go at the base)
the full tank with all the survivors
left side
center
right side
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
WOW what a nightmare. Hobogato you've shown some real dedication to the hobby. Many of us would have pulled he plug. Way to go!
hobogato
New member
yeah, i lost about five more really small colonies/frags that looked pretty bad already. no more major losses. all of the bitemarks on the corals that showed major flatworm damage have gone away - still some residual light areas, but i am keeping my fingers crossed that i never see bitemarks again!
A true congratulations on your amazing accomplishment of treating your tank. I know that I would never have had the drive to do something that drastic, but maybe it's because my corals are mostly just frags still.
Your effort is extremely impressing. You're a contribution to this hobby.
Your effort is extremely impressing. You're a contribution to this hobby.
wentreefgirl
New member
Ok, maybe i missed it but you took all the acgros out to quarentine tanks and put all zoox and lps somewhere else for a short bit. What did you do with the display tank. Did you treat that with anything? And you put the lps back shortly after all the acgros went out so would they live on the lps. Just wondering if staved for food will they look for something else and live on. They look great. My fingers are crossed for ya.
msuzuki126
New member
Wow serious dedication. Congrats! At least now your SPS have more room to grow. 
hobogato
New member
no, i was planning an in tank treatment with fluke tabs, so i removed all zoas and lps in case the display crashed while treating. then i found that the fluke tabs didnt actually kill the flatworms, so an in tank treatment wouldnt work. i then took all of the acros out and put them in quaranteen for the 25 days of treatment. while they were out of the display, i redid my rockwork and put the lps and zoas back in. without acros, the flatworms starve, so it was ok to have the lps and zoas in the tank.
Rogger Castells
New member
Sorry to read about the losses, I wish I would have read this thread before you actually started the treatment, I would have liked to share with you some of my own experiences with both treatments.
You are absolutely right on the money, fluke tabs alone will not kill the AEFW, it does however do a good job at stunning them and making them fall off the coral with the aid of a power head, this same power head is the one that kills them, I have done many different test on flatworms, the most interesting observation is how fragile their body structure really is, a slight pressure with your finger and they disintegrate, that's why I believe that the initial experiments done with the fluke tabs people reported that they will die and disappear when they weren't really dying but instead being caught on the PH propellers and shredded to pieces.
Others like me noticed that the FW were not dying, but, I was not using the power heads cause I was curious to see the critters die, when I did test with a power head I couldn't even find traces of the critters.
IME you will continue to get more casualties of the survivor corals due to zooxanthellae dying of after levamisol treatment, they will first loose the brown color but still be alive and then slowly perish, hopefully some coral will be more resilient to this or will recuperate their host algae quicker.
One thing is for sure, fluke tabs does not kill the zooxanthellae, levamisole does.
In the meantime we can just continue to try different things until we find a safe cure, I commend you and thank you for your efforts and sharing of your experiences.
You are absolutely right on the money, fluke tabs alone will not kill the AEFW, it does however do a good job at stunning them and making them fall off the coral with the aid of a power head, this same power head is the one that kills them, I have done many different test on flatworms, the most interesting observation is how fragile their body structure really is, a slight pressure with your finger and they disintegrate, that's why I believe that the initial experiments done with the fluke tabs people reported that they will die and disappear when they weren't really dying but instead being caught on the PH propellers and shredded to pieces.
Others like me noticed that the FW were not dying, but, I was not using the power heads cause I was curious to see the critters die, when I did test with a power head I couldn't even find traces of the critters.
IME you will continue to get more casualties of the survivor corals due to zooxanthellae dying of after levamisol treatment, they will first loose the brown color but still be alive and then slowly perish, hopefully some coral will be more resilient to this or will recuperate their host algae quicker.
One thing is for sure, fluke tabs does not kill the zooxanthellae, levamisole does.
In the meantime we can just continue to try different things until we find a safe cure, I commend you and thank you for your efforts and sharing of your experiences.
hobogato
New member
thanks for the input rogger, but i hope some of what you said is not gonna happen actually, very few of the corals turned totally brown, most retained traces of their normal color. those that turned completely brown died during or shortly after treatment. the others have really begun to color again, and are even showing growth along with great polyp extension again.
actually, very few of the corals turned totally brown, most retained traces of their normal color. those that turned completely brown died during or shortly after treatment. the others have really begun to color again, and are even showing growth along with great polyp extension again.
Rogger Castells
New member
I am happy to hear that, I will continue to check your post let us know any other observations
hobogato
New member
lost a couple of other small pieces, but the tank is doing great now. i bought a friend's sps system for his corals and combined his best stuff with the best of what i had left, and here is the tank about two weeks ago
i have not seen any evidence of flatworms returning, but i am a bit paranoid and trying to be proactive, so on the two corals that didnt look quite right at the bottom, i removed them and dipped them to make sure. i will probably continue to do that for a few months.
anyway, here are some pics
front
back
side shot
camera hog (that is why his name is hog)
i have not seen any evidence of flatworms returning, but i am a bit paranoid and trying to be proactive, so on the two corals that didnt look quite right at the bottom, i removed them and dipped them to make sure. i will probably continue to do that for a few months.
anyway, here are some pics
front
back
side shot
camera hog (that is why his name is hog)
