AEFW vs Red Bugs

[Atomikk]

I wonder if the introduction of red bugs to the QT setup filled with sps and aefw can produce a pest war where darwin's rules apply.

I have a QT that I am using to treat sps that have aefws. Some acros have the flatworms and some dont. But, recently I found a tricolor that had red bugs but no aefws. I checked the coral and the polyps are reaching in the current. There were no visible bite marks nor egg sacks. Just to make sure, I placed the coral in some good flow to see if anything would come off. To my surprise, the coral was clean of flatworms.

I do have to preface this by saying that I am using KZ Flatworm Stop for the last two months. So it too can play a role in this, but strangely enough I think the parasidic crustaceans (red bugs) are competing with the flatworms for space on the coral.

Maybe if the red bugs 'defeat' the aefws from the corals (force them off), the solution to eliminating the AEFW through biological means may be easier than we thought.

I am going to continue to monitor this and will post a writeup in the AEFW thread that I had started a while ago.

(lets not forget we still have to eliminate the Red Bugs using Interceptor)

 

[Allmost]

your experience has been documented by many ... but most of them noticed AEFW after killing their red bugs, which means the red bugs didnt KILL off AEFW fully. they somehow did more damage to corals to the point where AEFW didnt want any part of it maybe ?

why are you using flatworm stop in QT ? if corals are in QT, then why not dip them and kill AEFW ? 3-4 dips, 5-7 days apart, seems to do the job, you kill adults, then in 7 days the eggs newlyh hatched and then another one for the sake of it. I have seen it work for many !

 

[Atomikk]

your experience has been documented by many ... but most of them noticed AEFW after killing their red bugs, which means the red bugs didnt KILL off AEFW fully. they somehow did more damage to corals to the point where AEFW didnt want any part of it maybe ?

why are you using flatworm stop in QT ? if corals are in QT, then why not dip them and kill AEFW ? 3-4 dips, 5-7 days apart, seems to do the job, you kill adults, then in 7 days the eggs newlyh hatched and then another one for the sake of it. I have seen it work for many !

1. 30 gallon vs 320 gallon is a big cost difference in using FWS.
2. Dipping stresses corals out. If they are already stressed out, they will die.
3. I want to find a less labor intesive method of eliminating AEFWs

Competition for food usually eliminates one competing party. This is what should happen in a QT setting.

I actually personally experienced this cause and effect with Red Bugs and AEFWs before where by eliminating the Red Bugs first would cause an explosion of AEFW population. If they are left to compete each other out of existance, then it may be easier to get rid of them after all.

 

[Allmost]

was trying to help, but never mind

and if red bugs would have killed AEFW, so many ppl wouldnt notice them after using interceptor its sometimes good to have an open mind and read what others say.