Is this bite marks of AEFW

[eniram78]

Can anyone confirm if this is done by an AEFW?

Found these on my digitata and did a 5 mins coral rx dip with a turkey blaster but no AEFW were found.

Any advice? will a 6 line clear this pest?

 

[Whisperer]

Does not look like it. Not sure if montis are in their menu. AEFW leaves no living tissue in it's track.

 

[eniram78]

Thank god it ain't AEFW, so what could be the cause of this?

When you say leaves no tissue in its track does it mean no polyp extensions?

 

[Whisperer]

More like bare skeleton.

 

[Logzor]

Hard to say but I don't think it is AEFW. In the first picture your water is looking fluorescent orange and soupy, might want to check into that! :lol2:

 

[RRaider]

Does not look like it. Not sure if montis are in their menu. AEFW leaves no living tissue in it's track.

That's not exactly true. They don't consume the tissue. However if the problem isn't corrected the tissue will die. It's more like they suck the zooxanthellae and pigment out of the flesh, however the flesh is still there.

 

[Whisperer]

That's not exactly true. They don't consume the tissue. However if the problem isn't corrected the tissue will die. It's more like they suck the zooxanthellae and pigment out of the flesh, however the flesh is still there.

Do you even know what you're talking about?
Here is the beginning of AEFW, the coral was half dead before I got some praziquantel.

 

[RRaider]

Do you even know what you're talking about?
Here is the beginning of AEFW, the coral was half dead before I got some praziquantel.

That's not even close to the beginning of AEFW. Pull up the threads on AEFW and check out the coral with "bite marks". The flesh is still there, it's just very pale. If they aren't caught the flesh eventually dies and you end up with what is in your picture. If caught in time the flesh will often color back up and growth resume like normal.

 

[RRaider]

Here is an example of what the beginning of AEFW looks like. The flesh is still there, it's just very pale to white but will color back up if the damage is stopped at this point.

 

[Whisperer]

I take it you do not have a first hand experience with AEFW.

 

[SDguy]

That's not exactly true. They don't consume the tissue. However if the problem isn't corrected the tissue will die. It's more like they suck the zooxanthellae and pigment out of the flesh, however the flesh is still there.

Do you know that to be fact? That's interesting if it is. I'm pretty sure they eat the flesh, though. Here's my experience in the picture below.... so you're saying that each white dot is just bleached tissue, and not bare skeleton? I'm not even sure how to prove/disprove that. Plus, seeing as they need bare skeleton to lay their eggs on, I would think they would eat so as to provide this for their eggs.

 

[gofor100]

I've had something similar happen to one of my Acros... I dipped it in Revive once a week for 3 weeks, and it seems to be getting a lot better (I haven't dipped it for about a month now).

Not sure what it is, but dip it ASAP... good luck!

 

[Whisperer]

Thanks Peter. As much as I hate AEFW, I have to know what I am talking about.

 

[SDguy]

I'm not super familiar with coral tissue structure, but perhaps only the top layers are eaten, leaving an underlying layer, that if immediately cleared of AEFW, would recover and grow to its full thickness? Maybe that's what RRaider means?

 

[Whisperer]

The bare areas will never grow back unless the AEFW is eradicated then the remaining living tissues at the margins will encrust on the bare areas.

 

[SPSEMPIRE]

That's not exactly true. They don't consume the tissue. However if the problem isn't corrected the tissue will die. It's more like they suck the zooxanthellae and pigment out of the flesh, however the flesh is still there.

That's correct. AEFW will attach only to certain types of acros and will cause overall discoloration to the acro, mostly soft tissue acros. These will bite marks show up. When you see the eggs is usually when you realize that you have a problem.

 

[Whisperer]

Do you have proof of this?

 

[SPSEMPIRE]

yes, sadly from first hand experience.

 

[Whisperer]

Proof as in pictures like me and SDguy have.

 

[RRaider]

It could possibly just be the top layers of flesh that contain the color that are eaten first. I've had two bouts with AEFW so I do know what I'm talking about. The acros that just had bite marks and weren't missing flesh colored back up, they didn't reincrust, I watched them closely with a strong magnifying glass during this process because I was checking for more flatworms. If they were completely missing the tissue many people would see algae growing on the bitemarks pretty quickly just like many do when a branch breaks off or you get burnt tips from an alk spike. Also, I have asterinas that love freshly exposed coral skeleton but I never found them on an acro with bite marks, only on those with exposed skeletons.