My own AEFW (Acro Eating Flatworms) images

[Rogger Castells]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8119047#post8119047 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Eric, here's what I bought. It comes in a flat pack.

http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Products-AQPROD-FLUKE-10TAB/dp/B0002ARP9W

Is this correct, you paid $48 bucks for the 10pk fluke tabs, I thought they were way cheaper than that? Is there any difference with the ones posted in the page before sold at Dr, Foster & Smith??
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1
Let me know please

 

[Stoney Mahony]

I am not sure where your getting $48 bucks from? The link you posted says $20.99 and that for 100 not 10. The 10 packs run 2-3 bucks. Heres a link to what the 10ct looks like: http://www.dtpetsupplies.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3653

 

[spazz]

melve I feel your off to a good start. I have not read all the thread but I have some experience with these AEFW. I beat them once already. I didn't have to remove all my corals from the tank. only the affected sps corals. but I do recommend removing ALL sps and putting them in a q tank. then treat with the fluke tablets you got. a friend of mine has done lots of experiments with colonies in a Q tank and got great results with the fluke tablets. he said you can nuke them pretty good and not kill the corals. the levemisol work to a point. but I think the AEFW are not affected as much by it as the corals are. they don't do well at high dosages. I lost over 40 frags using levemisol treatments. i have a Q tank now and im also reading a lot about what people have done to there tanks prior to having the AEFW outbreaks. i feel the redbug treatments are killing off the predators that eat the flat worms. the ACRO CRABS! I use to have about 10 of them in my tank. then I did a red bug treatment and that was the end of my acro crabs. 4 months later I had the acro flat worms. the black banded acro crabs are the ones I had the most of in my colonies. i use to buy colonies just for the acro crabs in them. my wife love them little guys.
so now I have a 2 fold treatment for any coral I plan to implement now that my Q tank is set up. first and foremost is getting enough corals at one time to make it worth while setting up the Q tank. if you have corals from friends, ask them to hold a frag until you have enough to set up the Q tank. that way your not running 40-60 gallons of water for 1 frag. if there your friends they will understand. second remove all acro crabs from colonies and place them right in your tank inside a bigger colony.then preceded to treat for red flat worms, red bugs, and acro flat worms. DON'T TREAT EVERYTHING AT ONCE!. you will kill everything for sure.do one treatment at a time for the full treatment then do a massive water change. wait 1 week and do the next set of treatments for the next pest. this will insure the corals don't get too stressed out and start dying on you. treat for the acro flat worms last. if you see any signs of acro flat worms do a dip on them once a week while maintaining the other treatments. that coral has a 50/50 chance of making it anyway if it does have the AEFW's. scrape any eggs off or just frag the colony out in multiple pieces. this is the best way to rid the base of eggs. if you clip the frag above any damaged areas then it should be free from the worm eggs. then treat the frag with the fluke tablets. another way to remove the flat worm in a hurry is to cold salt water dip them. take 1 gallon of tank water and put it in the fridge for 1 hr. take the suspect coral and dip for NO LONGER THAN 10 SECONDS. place suspect coral in the tank to warm the tissue back up. this works well if done properly.the AEFW's fly off the coral and die from the temp shock. this can be done once a day to remove any newly hatched eggs. no one has a hatch cycle figured out that I know of. so you have to keep up on the treatments what ever they are so you make sure to rid the coral of all eggs and live flat worms. JMO

here is some pics of my Larry Jackson that was completely eaten away by these little suckers. I removed this coral because it was so far gone. I let it dry out and snapped these pics of the egg patches. our club has a lot of experience with these flat worms. there tough to beat. but it can be done. good luck and if you need any help just pm me.

 

[Stoney Mahony]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8120020#post8120020 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spazz

wait 1 week and do the next set of treatments for the next pest. this will insure the corals don't get too stressed out and start dying on you.

The fluke tabs show no stress on the corals

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8120020#post8120020 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spazz

if you see any signs of acro flat worms do a dip on them once a week while maintaining the other treatments. that coral has a 50/50 chance of making it anyway if it does have the AEFW's.

Not true. I have had nearly 100% sucess rate and was fully infested. Don't think 1/2 your corals have to die b/c they don't .

 

[spazz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8120050#post8120050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Stoney Mahony
The fluke tabs show no stress on the corals

i agree that the fluke tabs are the way to go. zero stress.
but are you dosing everything at the same time. flat worm exit for red flat worms, interceptor for red bugs, and fluke tabs for acro flat worms. this is what i mean. not to treat with all 3 types at the same time. it could have very bad results mixing all 3 treatments together. better to be safe that sorry.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8120050#post8120050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Stoney Mahony

Not true. I have had nearly 100% sucess rate and was fully infested. Don't think 1/2 your corals have to die b/c they don't .

alot has to do with how soon you notice the flat worms and how far gone the corals are. most people dont notice them until its really bad. this is why i said 50/50 chance. with the proper treatments and Q tank it can be done with 100% sucess. but most dont go that far. every one has different ways of looking at these problems. and dealing with them. i was just shairing my experiences with them and how i plan to deal with new corals in the future. stress has alot to do with a corals ability to heal and recover from these pests. i prefer to go the less stress route. but this is my way and may not be everyones way. JUST MY OPINION.

 

[melev]

I got the Fluke Tabs from my LFS. I bought two packages for under $10.

Thanks Scott, I appreciate the additional input.

 

[Rogger Castells]

Thanks Marc, I bought mine today from a local store, I have been using the levamisol for dippings but it is strong on corals, I am going to give this a shot. Please keep up this great thread and good luck to you all!

 

[Lunchbucket]

i bought 100tabs from Dr F&S today. should be here by the weekend maybe? i'll be busy all weekend but i hope to check some of my corals that are light to see if i do have them at all??

i'm getting ready just in case.

i'd like to get some feedback on my QT set up i'm thinking of using but i'll start a new thread on it

Lunchbucket

 

[impur]

Looks like some good progress is being made on these buggers. I finish my treatment today with TMPCC, one final dip then acclimate and back to the display. I had 1 coral RTN on me during the 5 week process and i attribute that to the difficulties keeping SG, alk, calcium stable in a small tank ~8gal.

Good luck everyone!

 

[Stoney Mahony]

Glad you beat um impur! I just finished week4(dip 5) Monday and eveythings doing awesome. I would think that any left in my display would be dead by now, but im gonna stick it out for 8 weeks. I don't ever want to do this again so im making myself wait, just to be sure. No signs of aefw's since dip 1. Awesome.

On a side note, I forgot to add in here earlier that I raised the temp in my display to 81 for the qt period. The tanks metabolic processes should speed up so all aefw's will have a shorter lifecycle and the eggs will hatch sooner. The tank does not seem to be affected by the higher temps.

 

[melev]

impur, FYI we aren't allowed to have IMGs or URLs in our signature lines. That is why it doesn't work.

Congrats on your successful treatment! That's awesome. :thumbsup:

 

[impur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8137073#post8137073 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
impur, FYI we aren't allowed to have IMGs or URLs in our signature lines. That is why it doesn't work.

Congrats on your successful treatment! That's awesome. :thumbsup:

Yah i fixed it. Worth a shot.

Thanks! Now its time to upgrade the tank!! LOL

 

[jay24k]

This stuff just scares me. What is the best way to dip corals coming in? I bought interceptor so I plan on doing a 6 hr dip with an airstone and then I was curious on if it is wise to do the fluke tabs for the AEFWs seperate or during the same.

I wonder if it would be feasible for vendors to ship corals dipped in interceptor since long term exposure doesn't seem to cause any issues.

 

[Lunchbucket]

jay24k - yeah i'm scared too.

why an airstone in teh 6hr dip? just use a powerhead and a heater in the treatment tub for the interceptor

cool idea on the interceptor in bags when they ship. not sure what 12-24hr of exposure would do or what if it killed some worms or pods in teh bags if that would foul the water?

Lunchbucket

 

[Downdraft]

thanks Jay

thanks Jay

thx

 

[Stoney Mahony]

Hey Jay, I did a different dip and my acros were fully infested with redbugs(overnight it seemed). I used 1/4 tab interceptor in 5g bucket for 20 minutes. It killed them all. It has been over four weeks and I havent seen one since. Just a thought instead of 6 hours wich could stress the acro even more.

As far as using the fluke tabs directly after the interceptor, I havent had any issues. They seem to be safe to use one after the other but I have never tried to combine them in the same bucket for a "all in one" dip. I wouldnt be so worried guys, these dips work really good and if your pest free, it should be pretty easy to dip a new addition once in a while and inspect for eggs(there really easy to spot when your looking for them )

 

[jay24k]

Well that definetly helps. I want to treat all incoming corals although I don't think I have room for any but just in case. I heard an airstone works well and I can't imagine a 6 hr dip would be that stressful. Perhaps from a online place but not local. I figured I'd toss it in a gallon bucket with interceptor and treat it for 6 hrs before I even put it in my tank.

Looks like I'll have to get fluke tabs too cause I know I do not want AEFW in my tank ever.

 

[melev]

I wouldn't mix the meds in a single cocktail dip. Who knows what kind of chemical reaction you might cause.

If the Interceptor dip can work in an hour or less, I don't see the reason to leave the coral in for 6 hours. The one I treated and documented on my site was redbug free an hour later. I've checked the coral again just yesterday, and not a redbug in sight.

 

[jay24k]

Sounds like a plan. I read the redbug treatment and it said 6 hrs total. Did you up the doseage? Stoney, feel free to pm me, but if you have any ideas where these suckers came from, please let me know. I think I know of one who recently broke down their large tank that luckily I did not get anything from.

 

[melev]

I crushed a tablet to fine powder. It appears to equal about 8 heaping salifert spoons' worth. I put three heaping spoons in 1.5g of water, and treated the coral for an hour.

Afterwards, I blew off the coral with a turkey baster, pulled it out of the little tank and placed it on the counter while I washed out the tank. It was refilled with another 1.5g of water from my reef, and the coral soaked or rinsed off in that water for another hour.

After that, I put it back in the system. It looks perfectly healthy to me.