all out war on aefw, opinions on plan

[toothman]

LET ME APOLOGIZE FOR THE RAMBLE FIRST, AND HOPE WHO EVER IS INTERESTED IN HELPING CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING. THANKS FOR INPUT.

Aefw are not rampid in my tank however any coral that seems to show some stn when dipped one to three aefw's come off. Only one coral did I see actual egg cases on it. (now in the gargage) System is a 400 gal main tank and two 125 gallon tanks side by side joined by a plumbed ball valved pvc pipe. The worms that I have do not seem to let the acroora live after infestation of a colony. If reefers say they can live with them they must not have this type. So far I have euthanized 10 colonies in fear that the worms would spread. And they are spreading, for the last month I have removed 3 per week.

MY BIGGEST CONCERN IS THAT ONE AEFW WILL REMAIN AFTER TREATMENT AND REPOPULATE THE ENTIRE TANK. will any worms remain on the rocks etc.

My plan is to use one of the 125 gallon tank in remote area which is plumbed to the system, with one of my lights from main tank over it. I plan to use a small pump to circulate water back into the main system, the pump will have fliter sock with carbon to remove any excess bayer insecticide and a 40 watt uv steralizer which will hopefully kill any stray worms. All acropora will be removed and placed in isolation tank, a lot still on their rocks. I really do not want to set up a seperate tank since some coral are quite large and would be hard to fit in anything less than a 125 gal. ALSO BIG CONCERN IS THE BIOLOGICAL FILTRATION WOULD BE LACKING IF I DID NOT PLUMB IT TO THE EXISTING SYSTEM.

Dipping will be weekly for 6 weeks. With bayer.

So opinions if this will remove all the worms.

What should be done with the few lps I have.



PLAN B: would be to set up one of the 125 gallon tanks in remote area with some live rock and dip as above. But use clorox on the entire system, and isolate the corals for 2 months. Possibly add some new live rock and bacteria like zeobac, mb7. LIKE A NEW START.

I personally like plan B better since it will ensure all worms are out of the main system. Believe me it is not easy to break down a 400 gal tank. time/mess/smell /etc. I JUST WANT TO DO IT RIGHT ONE TIME!
I just want the problem to go away.

PLAN C :
WHICH I LIKE BEST

keep both 125 gallon tanks in basement up and running and do as above but remove main tank from system and clorox tha main tank. The one 125 gal in basement has about 100 lbs of live rock in it and should provide a decent amount of biological filtration the other will be the isolation tank. Again they are plumbed together. One concern is it possible that the live rock in remote sump could possibly have a worm in it.



THOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO ADD A FEW SHOW OFF PICTURES PRIOR TO THE POSSIBLE/PROBABLE TANK DEMISE.
Simple I phone picture.



<a href="http://s382.photobucket.com/user/eralff/media/photo18.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo268/eralff/photo18.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo photo18.jpg"/></a><a href="http://s382.photobucket.com/user/eralff/media/photo17-1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo268/eralff/photo17-1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo photo17-1.jpg"/></a>

 

[aqua_dog]

im not sure about your questions but your tank is amazing

 

[animalkingdom]

id go with plan b but its going to be hell. really wishing you good luck on this. your tank looks very nice!

 

[epstein]

why not go down the wrasse and levisamole path?

 

[MammothReefer]

I donnu you have a lot of pieces that are doing really well.. I would baste and dip the infected pieces typically they just go for the same ones again and again

 

[rogerwilco357]

If you have the tanks I would dip and check my main mother colonies then put them in another established tank. If one shows aefw I would still dip and break colony in half just incase and put in two different setup tanks increase chances . If you see eggs then there are a lot more hidden through out your tank . I have lost this battle with large colonies like yours the stags and slimers had the most aefw and eggs . it crippled my tank and my mind. Haven't got back in since ..good luck either way. Hey you could leave them be and get some natural predators you might be able to co-exist i have seen this done in larger tanks like yours at 400 gallons..could work..

 

[scottwhitson]

With colonies that size I would strongly discourage against plan B if one of the corals starts to go downhill you won't have the biological filtration to combat it and I can almost guarantee you would lose all your corals. We tried the same thing with much smaller corals and lost over 50% of our frags. I would use plan C except I wouldn't bleach the main tank. In a few experiments I have read about and conducted AEFW don't live very long without food usually around a week. If you left your main tank without SPS for the six week dip time then almost certainly there wouldn't be any survivors in the main tank.

 

[greenhead]

Hey boss I am currently using a couple six line wrasses and Korralin Flat Worm Stop. Its expensive stuff but Somehow the wrasses or Flatworm stop are working very well as I have not seen a bite mark on one coral in a couple weeks now. Started dosing about 1 month ago. You dose this stuff every day and at $59 a bottle it gets a little expensive. Especially with a system of your volume. It would probably take about 1 bottle a month. Maybe more. It is states it assists coral in repair and I have noticed faster encrusting on frsh cut frags.

Hell with the colonies you have there you could sell a couple frags a month to pay for the stuff. Very nice setup my friend.

 

[Carapapa]

flatworm stop from kz really helps!!

 

[Geeray]

It would certainly suck to loose those nice colonies...

 

[tannersmith2000]

shew this sounds like a nightmare

I am as impatient as any, but I QT everything.

you got a beautiful tank! just don't panic!! You don't wanna stress these beautiful colonies. Just ensure that water chemistry is correct when making the transition to a QT tank.

 

[Thales]

Living with them means basting them off the coral and letting fish eat them out of the water column - have you been doing that?

Moving those big colonies will most likely result in their death.

 

[toothman]

I donnu you have a lot of pieces that are doing really well.. I would baste and dip the infected pieces typically they just go for the same ones again and again

I think there are only some colonies affected as you said. My son and I took most of the rocks with coral attached and dipped them 15 mins/bayer really did not see any flatworms. Still so worried about biological filtration. Did a 100 gal water change and plan to do another monday.

IT was interesting taking out the big tables for dipping, really a bit easier than I thought, didn't really break much. Thing I will have to break the red planet soon it is about 1.5 inches from glass.

I do have some other thoughts on the stn on some of the acropora. It most likely will not be a popular one. I think the tank is being over skimmed and there is not enough food to go around.

 

[toothman]

With colonies that size I would strongly discourage against plan B if one of the corals starts to go downhill you won't have the biological filtration to combat it and I can almost guarantee you would lose all your corals. We tried the same thing with much smaller corals and lost over 50% of our frags. I would use plan C except I wouldn't bleach the main tank. In a few experiments I have read about and conducted AEFW don't live very long without food usually around a week. If you left your main tank without SPS for the six week dip time then almost certainly there wouldn't be any survivors in the main tank.

you are right. This tank is endless.

 

[toothman]

Living with them means basting them off the coral and letting fish eat them out of the water column - have you been doing that?

Moving those big colonies will most likely result in their death.

For the moment just decided to dip them, I agree with you.

 

[honkit]

The folks at Korralenzuhct (the makers of zeovit) utilize camel shrimps to consume aefws and their eggs.

Obviously this would entail putting sps corals in a separate tank or container and let the camel shrimps do their jobs for half an hour or so. Any longer than that and the shrimps will turn to the corals for food as well.

You might wish to consider this method.

 

[biggles]

I do have some other thoughts on the stn on some of the acropora. It most likely will not be a popular one. I think the tank is being over skimmed and there is not enough food to go around.

First off i'm really bummed to see you fall victim to AEFW, your beautiful and mature acros are amazing mate.
Why do you say it won't be a popular suggestion about the over skimming. If you run your water very rich in suspended food which is generated by the occupants of the tank then skimming can and will strip your water of coral food imo if you do it too aggressively. I used to run my beckett skimmer as dry as possible because it stripped the water clean if i ran it too wet. The needle wheel types we all use now are much less brutal in how they go about accomplishing the same thing i find and much easier to fine tune. Have you tried running your skimmer a lot drier than you normally do for a few weeks, might reduce so much water borne 'stuff' being collected as quickly. If i have a crystal clear view through 40" of water in my tank i'm not happy.
Sorry if i misunderstood what you meant by the comment and i just realised how off topic this is as well

 

[cato]

If you have the tanks I would dip and check my main mother colonies then put them in another established tank. If one shows aefw I would still dip and break colony in half just incase and put in two different setup tanks increase chances . If you see eggs then there are a lot more hidden through out your tank . I have lost this battle with large colonies like yours the stags and slimers had the most aefw and eggs . it crippled my tank and my mind. Haven't got back in since ..good luck either way. Hey you could leave them be and get some natural predators you might be able to co-exist i have seen this done in larger tanks like yours at 400 gallons..could work..

Ditto ^^^

Been here before. Personally I'd frag every piece and put frags into a different system to start over. Then just try to manage the main display rather than upsetting everything in it. I lost a looong battle. Watched as many huge colonies were dessimated by these things. Honestly I'm not convinced its possible to rid your system of these once you have them unless of course you start over and QT at nauseum. IMHO prepare yourself to lose all those beautiful colonies, baste them daily. Add natural predators like coris wrasse and cross your fingers. And if your able to save some of them count your blessings. This suks man. Sad to see this. Good luck with what ever you try. Hope it works for you.

 

[toothman]

The folks at Korralenzuhct (the makers of zeovit) utilize camel shrimps to consume aefws and their eggs.

Obviously this would entail putting sps corals in a separate tank or container and let the camel shrimps do their jobs for half an hour or so. Any longer than that and the shrimps will turn to the corals for food as well.

You might wish to consider this method.

may try this some day but the info was very helpful, after searching camel shrimp I realized how destructive they can be and how it is hard to identify them compared to pepermint shrimp

 

[honkit]

may try this some day but the info was very helpful, after searching camel shrimp I realized how destructive they can be and how it is hard to identify them compared to pepermint shrimp

Hence the need for a separate qt tank for these little shrimp.

To be certain of getting the correct species, you might want to order from live aquaria.com if you reside in the US.

I noticed that live aquaria promotes it as an aefw predator.