Dam. AEFW

ostrow

It's Dr. Goodluck Himself
For some reason that I'll never understand, I did an Interceptor treatment a couple months back. I never worried about red bugs. Boy, what a flipping mistake that was.

AEFW. I lost all my milles within a week. Now the rest of my acros are on the way out. I thought the milles were killed by the Interceptor but today I saw AEFW.

Worse part, I go to China for 2 weeks starting on Tuesday.

And there's no in-tank treatment. My system is too large and I have no holding tank large enough to treat these.
 
I wouldn't go blaming your treatment of red bugs with interceptor for your outbreak of AEFW. If you dont dip/qt your SPS before introduction your eventually going to get these pests, its just the nature of the beast in this hobby.
 
No acro or any coral added for 8 months. And, reading on AEFW, there are many, many folks who saw them damaging things after having done Interceptor. Those red bugs may well be beneficial critters....
 
No acro or any coral added for 8 months. And, reading on AEFW, there are many, many folks who saw them damaging things after having done Interceptor. Those red bugs may well be beneficial critters....

That's how it was with me. I left my tank untreated for red bugs for a few months; I was having a really hard time getting my hands on Interceptor. Once I treated, the AEFW's, which were there already (not known at the time), flourished and destroyed. I won't say that's the definite reason, but it seemed that way. As a side note, I didn't dip. Tough lessons to learn.
 
Red bugs may not eat your corals but they certainly do affect PE and coloration. Regardless the AEFW didn't just magically appear after dosing interceptor, they got in your tank somehow...
 
You can still get AEFW even if you Dip/QT. I ended up with them and have been battling them for a little bit now nothing lost yet (cross fingers) except a piece that I dipped in revive when I shouldn't have (belinas are very sensitive). Get some wrasses blast everything with a maxijet or turkey baster the best you can, do it again when you go back. I thought I was in clear but I found 5 last nite. The damage at this point is so minimal as long as you stay ontop of it. The whole qt thing doesn't anyways make sense I assume every acro in my tank has AEFWS at this point and since my tank is all acros whats the point of moving my entire tank... ...into another tank. The treatment is going to be the same.
 
When I say QT I mean new corals should be dipped and then placed into a QT tank for at least 4 weeks..if you already have AEFW in your display I wouldn't want to remove everything either.
 
If you don't have too many corals (or if they're easily removable and not mounted to a large piece of rock), then I would suggest inspecting all of your corals, scraping off any eggs you find, and then trying to dip all of your corals on a weekly basis (I used Revive). Or at least dip once before you leave for two weeks, and do it again once you get back.

I personally dealt with AEFW AND Red Bugs almost a year ago, and have successfully gotten rid of both with only 1 casualty (from the AEFW). I actually already had a small holding tank and only placed the affected corals in their after dipping them in Revive since it wouldn't fit ALL of my corals (and continued to dip them religiously every week for about 2 months). Another trick that I'm not sure was the solution, but may have helped, is after scraping any eggs that you find, place a thick coat of superglue over the area to make sure that any leftover eggs are sealed and presumably die or never hatch (this is just a guess, so don't think this alone should do the trick). Knowing that there was likely eggs or AEFW still in the display tank, I also dipped all of the acros in there every week for the same period of time even though none of them showed signs of having AEFW. I then left both tanks untreated for two weeks, checking for any signs of AEFW before placing the holding tank corals back into the DT.

This worked (or at least I haven't seen any AEFW for the last 9 months or so), so I guess it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to believe that if you didn't even get a holding tank, but at least dipped on a weekly/regular basis for a couple of months, then it should have the same impact. My rationale is that you have to: 1) Kill the hatched AEFW by the initial dip in Revive, and 2) Kill the leftover AEFW eggs/hatchlings that end up hatching between dips via the repeated dips before they lay eggs of their own and start the cycle over.

Good luck! It's definitely a pain in the a$$, but hopefully you'll get through it unscathed.

-Chad
 
Tank is jam packed with huge colonies encrusted on the rocks. Removal is not practical.

Neither is the blowing/baster -- I would be spending half my life doing that. Have loads of wrasses already, including 2 radiants.

I had zero problem with polyp extension or color before, by the way. Neither did other TOTM hobbyists who had redbugs at the time they were TOTM.

But I don't want to debate redbug treatment here -- people have different approaches.

I just wish there were an in-tank treatment for AEFW. But removal of all these colonies just is not possible really.
 
Tank is jam packed with huge colonies encrusted on the rocks. Removal is not practical.

Neither is the blowing/baster -- I would be spending half my life doing that. Have loads of wrasses already, including 2 radiants.

I had zero problem with polyp extension or color before, by the way. Neither did other TOTM hobbyists who had redbugs at the time they were TOTM.

But I don't want to debate redbug treatment here -- people have different approaches.

I just wish there were an in-tank treatment for AEFW. But removal of all these colonies just is not possible really.

Bummer... well, I don't know what else to say since there isn't currently an "in-tank" treatment. I guess I would do what others have said and try to live with them (i.e., get some wrasses and do regular basting of your corals). That's your only option at this point. :headwally:

Good luck!

-Chad
 
Tank is jam packed with huge colonies encrusted on the rocks. Removal is not practical.

Neither is the blowing/baster -- I would be spending half my life doing that. Have loads of wrasses already, including 2 radiants.

I had zero problem with polyp extension or color before, by the way. Neither did other TOTM hobbyists who had redbugs at the time they were TOTM.

But I don't want to debate redbug treatment here -- people have different approaches.

I just wish there were an in-tank treatment for AEFW. But removal of all these colonies just is not possible really.


Well, not to be a dick here but your basically saying you can't do anything. You won't baste, you won't qt, ect ect. So I suggest your put up your corals in the FS forum get rid of everything and restart when you get back form china. Nobody said keeping sps was easy. It's a rewarding challenge. If you aren't willing to put in the time then don't do it.
 
Sorry to hear that. Might be a good idea to take a frag from each colony you want to save, dip them, inspect them and then start up a bio cube to preserve them. Don't call it quits as you will most likely regret that decision shortly down the road. Mammothreefer is right (although I don't agree with his less than tactful approach) - it is a rewarding challenge that is not easy. Good luck.
 
Just use an MJ1200 to blow the critters off the corals. Takes an hour out of your life once a week.

LOL @ actually using turkey basters for this. What are we, in the 16th century?
 
I switch between a turkey bastard and a mj1200. It's easy for me to blast them once a day w/a turkey bastard the mj1200 i reserve for once as week as it blows over half my rock.. so I opt to once a week pick up every piece that isn't glue'd down blast it and put it back, lets me get all sides of it, and doesn't take that long unless I do like I did yesterday which was try to blast them on the rocks..and ended up with everything toppling over.
 
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