illumnae's SPS shallow reef
- Thread starter illumnae
- Start date
I'm using potassium chloride at 2tsp per gallon - it definitely kills aefw as I'm seeing dead bodies fly around the tub after every dip. The number of bodies flying around has dropped after every dip - after the first dip it was crazy alot, second dip about 1/3 the amount, third dip I had to look hard to find a couple.
Someone on the other forum did tell me though that eggs can take 3-4 weeks to hatch - given that first dip is on day 1, the 3rd dip is only day 15, so it's possible that what I saw were leftover eggs from before the first dip that hadn't hatched yet. Baby aefw are supposed to take 21 days to mature enough to lay eggs - so i shouldn't be seeing new eggs. That's supposed to be why 5 weekly dips are required - up to 4 weeks for the eggs to all hatch, then the 5th week to kill the aefw that hatched in the 4th week. Week 6 is to be extra sure to kill any that Week 5 may have missed. So long as they are killed before hitting the 21 day maturity date, the treatment should eradicate them all - so if you get to Week 7 without eradicating them, the cycle starts over because the Week 4 hatchlings would have matured enough to start laying eggs.
Does this sound accurate?
Someone on the other forum did tell me though that eggs can take 3-4 weeks to hatch - given that first dip is on day 1, the 3rd dip is only day 15, so it's possible that what I saw were leftover eggs from before the first dip that hadn't hatched yet. Baby aefw are supposed to take 21 days to mature enough to lay eggs - so i shouldn't be seeing new eggs. That's supposed to be why 5 weekly dips are required - up to 4 weeks for the eggs to all hatch, then the 5th week to kill the aefw that hatched in the 4th week. Week 6 is to be extra sure to kill any that Week 5 may have missed. So long as they are killed before hitting the 21 day maturity date, the treatment should eradicate them all - so if you get to Week 7 without eradicating them, the cycle starts over because the Week 4 hatchlings would have matured enough to start laying eggs.
Does this sound accurate?
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I have felt mentally exhausted after watching your video.
I will be even more careful from now on in order to keep my corals AEFW free. Prevention is better than cure as they say.
I hope your effort pays off eventually.
watchguy123
New member
WOW!!! undoubtedly worth the effort but the heartbreak to pull all those acros out
Thats because the flatworm stop by KZ doesnt kill flatworms. It does 2 things it causes the corals to increase its ability to heal itself, i have noticed that if the base gets irritated by fish or snails etc that the coral heals itself much much quicker, even after fragging it seems that the corals put on a base and heal much quicker. The other thing it does is change the mucus of the corals. It supposedly makes it less tasty to the bugs. They honestly should rename it to nudi stop. I had some monti nudis show up in my tank and have all but disappeared without me having to dip or introduce a predator to the tank. So either it works or peppermint shrimp eat Monti nudis. Even though I dont have flatworms to me the other noticeable effects make this product worth its weight.
Thank you. It was indeed quite an exhausting task. That 30 second sped up section was almost 2 hours of climbing up and down the ladder between the tank and the dipping tub. I was literally shaking after it was all done. Now weekly it takes an hour to transfer all the corals to the dipping tub, dip them and place them back on the egg-crate rack.
That said, it's also not an easy task preventing them from getting into your tank when your local reefing scene favours colonies over frags. It is almost impossible to be 100% thorough with wild colonies. Everything that went into my tank was dipped and inspected before going in, and still I ended up with the pest. The only 100% surefire way is to set up a QT and do the weekly dip for 6 weeks on every piece that you obtain - which also means you can't buy a gem that appears in the importer's place if you're midway through a dip session.
reefmutt
Active member
Ooooouuuuuuch!!!!
Brutal!!!
I hope this works for you. I just can not imagine doing this!!
Bulent is right, it's exhausting just watching you..
I did notice that somewhere in that video, you added the new diffusers to your lights. That's cool.
Look really closely for any bare patches in the body of the colonies where eggs could have been laid without you noticing.
Thanks! The diffusers were actually added prior to this video being filmed. I really like them - they give a much more even spread of light, allowing me to lower the lights from 16" to 12" above the tank and lowering the intensity of the Radions, resulting in some electricity savings.
In the latest dip I've actually inspected all the corals for any unhatched eggs and glued over everything I could find. If i find any more new ones it likely means that the dip isn't working... so fingers crossed!
In the latest dip I've actually inspected all the corals for any unhatched eggs and glued over everything I could find. If i find any more new ones it likely means that the dip isn't working... so fingers crossed!
shermanang
New member
You can get smaller quantities up to 1kg from Eco City Hydroponics. 50kg sacks also available at Tues industrial area but I'm not sure exactly where. The sacks are much more economical if you can find a group to share. Lifetime supply of potassium to dose your tank and use as a dip.
shermanang
New member
Thank You illumnae for sharing
So dip #5 is done and the good news is no new eggs found and no visible aefw in the dipping tub. Going to continue with 2 more dips to complete 6 weeks and I really hope this nightmare is over. I've also completed the new scape - will try to do a video of it before the final dip.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Keep up the good work.
quick question... do you think I need to pre-cycle my new scape?
My previous scape was made from a local brand of man made rock and of course they cycled with the tank through its infancy. I removed and gave that scape to a friend and my new scape is made from dry Real Reef Rock (the branded man made rock). In my sump I have about 15 litres of siporax and a refugium with chaeto and some Walt Smith rock for pods to hide in. Obviously the siporax is fully cycled as the tank is maintaining the fish and sps with stable parameters. No3 is 0.2 and po4 is 0.02 - identical as before tearing down the tank.
So do you think it's safe for the new scape to go straight in, or should I still cycle it with bottled bacteria in a tub for a couple of weeks first?
My previous scape was made from a local brand of man made rock and of course they cycled with the tank through its infancy. I removed and gave that scape to a friend and my new scape is made from dry Real Reef Rock (the branded man made rock). In my sump I have about 15 litres of siporax and a refugium with chaeto and some Walt Smith rock for pods to hide in. Obviously the siporax is fully cycled as the tank is maintaining the fish and sps with stable parameters. No3 is 0.2 and po4 is 0.02 - identical as before tearing down the tank.
So do you think it's safe for the new scape to go straight in, or should I still cycle it with bottled bacteria in a tub for a couple of weeks first?
reefmutt
Active member
Assuming it’s not going to leach anything like po4 or other trace metals or something.. and the ph of the stuff is close to natural sea water, I don’t see why you can’t just put it in..
.. Having said that, I don’t know a lot about the man made rock products but I assume they are often made with a cement base.. I think cement has a very high ph..
you may want to verify with the manufacturer if it will affect ph. Or leach anything.. I guess they will probably say no..
I guess the ‘better safe than sorry and it just can’t hurt’ answer is why not soak it for a while..
Maybe in ro water first and then in salt water...
.. Having said that, I don’t know a lot about the man made rock products but I assume they are often made with a cement base.. I think cement has a very high ph..
you may want to verify with the manufacturer if it will affect ph. Or leach anything.. I guess they will probably say no..
I guess the ‘better safe than sorry and it just can’t hurt’ answer is why not soak it for a while..
Maybe in ro water first and then in salt water...
And here's the new scape! Hope it looks good enough... I've set up 2 tubs and will start cycling the rocks in salt water with Fritz and Prodibio bacteria for 2 weeks. I may also dose some TM Reef Mud Vital into the tubs to hopefully seed some additional micro fauna into the rocks.
