I've got AEFW!!!

That is crazy. That whole section is a flatworm?!?


Here's the bugger
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422234762.637054.jpg
That spot moves between the 2pics
 
I've got AEFW!!!

Still don't see them. I guess it takes a trained eye. I hope I never get these buggers. These are probably the worst reef pests in the hobby. I'll take red bugs over these things any day. In fact I'll take red bugs over just about any other reef pests and that includes aiptasia, valonia, monti nudis, hair algae, bryopsis, majanos, and cyano. What did I miss?

By the way, thanks for documenting this. Good luck with the fight.
 
Still don't see them. I guess it takes a trained eye. I hope I never get these buggers. These are probably the worst reef pests in the hobby. I'll take red bugs over these things any day. In fact I'll take red bugs over just about any other reef pests and that includes aiptasia, valonia, monti nudis, hair algae, bryopsis, majanos, and cyano. What did I miss?

By the way, thanks for documenting this. Good luck with the fight.


I am currently dealing with aefw in my tank. Out of all the pests I've dealt with there not the worst. The worst pest I've ever dealt with were polyclad flatworms
http://youtu.be/seNa2SwLnFY
They pray on crustaceans like snails, crabs, shrimp, and clams. They r impossible to get rid in a reef tank.
 
Difficult to say the least. I dealt with this years ago.....Tried the dipping thing for 6 months in a qt tank....IMO I didn't think it worked. Only way to completely rid of them was to completely remove all sps for me. It was sad but since then I have learned and haven't had a pest since but also know who and what to look out for now.

I will tell you this though....some people live with them and their tanks looks awesome.
 
My first real dip of the corals!

My first real dip of the corals!

Man it was quite a lot of work. What a pain! This is like a 2 man job, lol. I didn't even get to dip all of the corals due to time and water was starting to get too cold. I think I probably only dipped 50% of them. I guess I should have been more prepared with heaters. Here's a couple of shots I took last night:
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3DF38D9B-2249-4238-AA6E-2D678AF7B15F_zps4totoqtx.jpg

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these are resilient bastards and your dip might not kill them... so you should also blast with a baster to remove any that don't fall off on their own. You should also look for and scrape off any eggs. this will limit the life cycle of these little sheits and reduce stress on the corals during treatment. hopefully you have a QT setup...it's much easier to treat and inspect. Otherwise, as Scott noted...you'll just prolong the issue.
 
So I didn't like all those tanks for dipping my corals. It was too bulky and not as efficient. So I saw RRUSA use these bins for dipping their corals. So I asked where they got it and they said probably Walmart. So I went out the pick up 2 from Walmart. I think this will be more neat and clean. They hold 28 Quarts = 7 gallons and they were like $6 each. Still going to use a 5 gallon tank for pre-rinse. I have a tunze 6045 in each of the bins.
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Just did another weekly dip and it doesn't look like I see anymore flatworms after the dip, but I still have a few more dips to go.
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Bottom right of the frag you can see a big worm, very camoflaged! That is a big adult worm and the bite marks are big, Mostly you will see smaller bite marks.

Good luck getting rid of them, in my opinion the only way is no Acros in your tank for 3 months and all your frags in a quarantine dipped once a week until you move them into the bug free tank.

Any other way just drags it out. I have read a few full tank treatment threads and until it is proven they can still come back. In three months you will be past it and can rebuild the fallow way.

Any of your corals that are still healthy you could pass on some fresh cut frags to friends to hold until you are free of the plague. I tried to get on top of them in the past and the best way is to not give them anything to eat!

+1 billion..

Always thought it was clean but a few months later it would just "magically" show up again.
 
+1 billion..

Always thought it was clean but a few months later it would just "magically" show up again.

That's what I'm worried about. It's like I don't want to dip for 3 hours for the rest of my life. HAHA I would just quit the hobby if that's the case.
 
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