Disease ? Parasite ? Help !

[bourbeaue]

I have a good size green staghorn colony I have grown out from a frag. It is now al least 18" across. Lately, I have started seeing the skeleton appear on the vertical branches. I can still see the polyps but it is as if the flesh/skin between the polyps is gone. What could be causing this ?

Thanks for your help.

 

[werdlone]

Most likely acropora eating flatworms. Look for small round bite marks on the coral. Just look up AEFW..there are tons of threads on them.

 

[bourbeaue]

Indeed, tons of threads. Is there a concensus on the the treatment method ? Fluke tabs are mentioned a lot. Any more details on what those are ? Also, is it possible to treat an entire tank. A lot of my mature colonies are going to be VERY difficult to pull out. I also don't have a decent QT for SPS.

 

[bourbeaue]

treatment ?

 

[MechEng99]

There's no in-tank treatment. If you aren't willing/able to pull everything out, some reefers just blast the AEFW off the corals every few days and remove them from the water column to manage the threat. If you go that route, please make sure to warn anyone you may give/sell a coral to. Some reefers claim wrasses help, but a study was published not too long ago - showed the gut contents of wrasses supposedly eating AEFW...they don't...just chew them up and spit them out very quickly. Out-of-tank treatment methods consist of fluke tabs, levamisole, or daily dips with Coral Rx.

Best of luck - sorry to hear such large colonies are infected.

 

[fishguy597]

what about flatworm control made by blue vet rx? it says its an in tank treatment.

 

[MechEng99]

In-tank flatworm treatments are meant against red planaria - not AEFW. Various people have shown AEFW to be resistent to typical "flatworm" treatments (like Flatworm Exit, etc).

 

[fishguy597]

What's the difference between red planaria and aefw. I'm not disputing you I just don't know.

 

[LifeAquatic]

Aefw

Aefw

What's the difference between red planaria and aefw. I'm not disputing you I just don't know.

Red Planaria is another type of flatworm. Red Planaria is usualy found on soft corals in high nutrient tanks. Red Planaria will not go after Acropora or SPS. AEFW are a specific flatworm that only eat SPS coral, particularly acropora. There is no in take treatment for AEFW. You have to remove all your SPS corals and put them in a QT tank. The infected corals need to be dipped every week or so for 1-2 months. You can do the basting method listed above but you will never rid the tank of AEFW that way.. only help control the population. There are other dip regimens used by reefers with good success, but I have dipped once a week and it works. You need a good dip like Revive or Coral Rx.

Good Luck

:uzi: AEFW

 

[fishguy597]

Are the revive or coral rx iodine based.have you had this problem befor ? What type of effects did it have on the acros? Can it cause them to STN? What can you do if there is no qt tank available. I'd just like to know just in case?

 

[skinny sam]

Are the revive or coral rx iodine based.have you had this problem befor ? What type of effects did it have on the acros? Can it cause them to STN? What can you do if there is no qt tank available. I'd just like to know just in case?

I am not sure about revive but coral rx does not contain iodine. I have had this problem in the past and the coral rx will do a very good job on most pests. I have never had an acro stn/rtn due to the dip. The acros did how ever lose a little color for about 2 weeks after the treatment. It would be a very good idea to get a QT setup because even if you remove the flatworms from one coral they will just return if you put that coral back in the infected tank.

 

[MechEng99]

Coral Rx does cause some smooth-skinned Acroporas to die (like the ORA Hawkin's Echinata) - there are several threads out there on this. Iodine dips won't cause the AEFW to die - only to come off the coral (I left an AEFW in Lugol's for 2 days once before it died.)

I had AEFW in my QT - so I dipped every coral in CoralRx daily for a week, every other day the second week, every third day the third week, & so on and so forth for about 7 weeks. AEFW eliminated! But, that only works if you have corals you can remove easily.

 

[bourbeaue]

A few more questions:

1- If

Coral Rx does cause some smooth-skinned Acroporas to die (like the ORA Hawkin's Echinata) - there are several threads out there on this

is there another preferred treatment ?

2- What if you dip all your SPS and move them to a QT tank, continue dipping them until all AEFM are gone. How do you know there are no more in your display since you can't treat it ? Won't the problem just return when you bring the clean corals back in the display tank ?

3- I really can't see anything on my corals. Should I be able to see AEFMs ? Other than this staghorn looking abnormal, I notice that most of my SPS have tissue recess on their base. However, the top branches all look in good health. Is it possible the AEFMs would only target the base of the corals (except for the staghorn, of course), or is this some other disease ?

Thanks for your help !!!

E

 

[LifeAquatic]

aefw

aefw

A few more questions:

1- If


is there another preferred treatment ?

2- What if you dip all your SPS and move them to a QT tank, continue dipping them until all AEFM are gone. How do you know there are no more in your display since you can't treat it ? Won't the problem just return when you bring the clean corals back in the display tank ?

3- I really can't see anything on my corals. Should I be able to see AEFMs ? Other than this staghorn looking abnormal, I notice that most of my SPS have tissue recess on their base. However, the top branches all look in good health. Is it possible the AEFMs would only target the base of the corals (except for the staghorn, of course), or is this some other disease ?

Thanks for your help !!!

E

The idea is to remove acros from display tank for a month or two to starve the AEFW that are in the display tank. AEFW are masters of camouflage and you will most likely never see one on the coral. You can tell they are in the tank buy watching for signs of damage... Bite marks, loss of tissue, loss of color. Coral RX and Revive do not contain iodine and they are the preferred dips. Revive has been know to kill Hawkins.

 

[bourbeaue]

The idea is to remove acros from display tank for a month or two to starve the AEFW that are in the display tank. AEFW are masters of camouflage and you will most likely never see one on the coral. You can tell they are in the tank buy watching for signs of damage... Bite marks, loss of tissue, loss of color. Coral RX and Revive do not contain iodine and they are the preferred dips. Revive has been know to kill Hawkins.

While I am still trying to assess course of action, is it possible that I have a large Acro colony which appears completely unaffected or would all Acros be hit by AEFWs ?

E

 

[bourbeaue]

Trying to find a dealer that carries Coral Rx in Canada...

 

[poolkeeper1]

The Dead Tissue at the base of the Coral is most likely where the Flatworms have laid Eggs that are living on that coral tissue. I'm surprised no one has even mentioned the fact that they lay eggs all over your coral that must be dealt with or it's just a revolving door. You kill them then more hatch and you start all over again. You must also destroy the Eggs by scraping them off or the best way is to cut the part with the eggs off and discard if you ever want to beat these little nasty buggers.
Bill