Reef Bass
colors and textures
As many of you know I've been dealing with aefw and my population of acros has suffered tremendously in both numbers and size. I have fewer than half the frags and no longer have any volley ball size colonies. IME, aefw are the nastiest pest I've had the displeasure of encountering.
I realized that I was approaching one year since first discovering them while doing routine maintenance basting. Flatworms came flying off a colony which had lost some color and polyp extension.
I also dip absolutely everything always, so I was particularly perturbed by the discovery. And this points out the difference between dipping and quarantining. Dips can kill or dislodge hatched flatworms but are ineffective against eggs. There must have been some aefw eggs on a frag I dipped. If I had qt'd in addition to dipping, I would have eventually noticed and eliminated the newly hatched aefw before they were in my tank.
I realized that the dipping I had been doing to since control them was not sufficiently regular to break the aefw life cycle by eliminating all adults and newly hatched flatworms before they could lay more eggs. If I intended to win this war I had to get serious.
I decided I was going to take every acro out of my tank and dip them once a week for six weeks straight, no exceptions. I have since completed this task and yes, it sucked.
After week 3, I never saw another flatworm in the dip buckets. Compare that to seeing over 100 flatworms come off a single coral, more than once.
I am amazed that most of my acros survived the dipping regimen. None of them enjoyed being hauled out of the tank and soaked in a toxic solution every week for six weeks. They are very pale, but now two weeks after completion I'm beginning to see some color on the tips and some small polyp extension. They are recovering from their year long ordeal.
Last night I reattached my remaining small colonies back to the rocks from which they had been pried some two months ago. I stood back from the tank, arms wet, fingers dappled with WaterWeld and super glue and started to feel a tiny sense of pride in my acros that I haven't felt in a year.
Maybe I've won the war! Or this battle at least.
I realized that I was approaching one year since first discovering them while doing routine maintenance basting. Flatworms came flying off a colony which had lost some color and polyp extension.
I also dip absolutely everything always, so I was particularly perturbed by the discovery. And this points out the difference between dipping and quarantining. Dips can kill or dislodge hatched flatworms but are ineffective against eggs. There must have been some aefw eggs on a frag I dipped. If I had qt'd in addition to dipping, I would have eventually noticed and eliminated the newly hatched aefw before they were in my tank.
I realized that the dipping I had been doing to since control them was not sufficiently regular to break the aefw life cycle by eliminating all adults and newly hatched flatworms before they could lay more eggs. If I intended to win this war I had to get serious.
I decided I was going to take every acro out of my tank and dip them once a week for six weeks straight, no exceptions. I have since completed this task and yes, it sucked.
After week 3, I never saw another flatworm in the dip buckets. Compare that to seeing over 100 flatworms come off a single coral, more than once.
I am amazed that most of my acros survived the dipping regimen. None of them enjoyed being hauled out of the tank and soaked in a toxic solution every week for six weeks. They are very pale, but now two weeks after completion I'm beginning to see some color on the tips and some small polyp extension. They are recovering from their year long ordeal.
Last night I reattached my remaining small colonies back to the rocks from which they had been pried some two months ago. I stood back from the tank, arms wet, fingers dappled with WaterWeld and super glue and started to feel a tiny sense of pride in my acros that I haven't felt in a year.
Maybe I've won the war! Or this battle at least.
