My own AEFW (Acro Eating Flatworms) images

It has been 6 weeks since treatment #1. No Flatworms or red bugs since the first dip. No coral losses at all so this has been a 110% effective treatment for me. I am moving a few frags back into the display today and I will be transfering the rest of my coral back into the display over the next two weeks. Before I start transfering corals, I am going to run one last fluke tab dip, but I am going to do it in the QT tank just to make sure there are not any nasties hiding in there.

I hope that EVERYONE at least gives this a try before they write it off and say that the treatment does'nt work, because it does. I have pictures, results and proof...if you need more than what is posted let me know. I have searched through the AEFW links and it is clear that I had a really bad infestation when comparing it to others that only ever saw a few eggs or fw's. I had egg clutches containing over 100 eggs and over 50 LARGE fw's fell off one single colony in the first dip. Infested to say the least. Well, that coral is now thriving and has repaired most of the damaged tissue.

I am at the point where I KNOW I have beaten them. There havent been any eggs or fw's for 6 weeks which is 2-3x the egg gestation period and WAY longer than any AEFW can survive without acro flesh. I also raised temps in the display to speed up their metabolism/life cycle. I will keep updating everyone and let you know if I have any problems in the future, but it seems like it's gonna be smooth sailing from here.

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!!

Melev- Did anyone mention Fluke Tabs at MACNA as a possible solution? Looking forward to hearing about the presentation! :)
 
Thanks!

Thanks!

Thank you for sharing your treatment for these nasty pests.
I beleive that everyone should feel free to post their treatments and results so we can all beat these pests. I do not care who was first to do what with what treatment. As many reefers who have lost many colonies to these things all I care about is a solution.

We all should be grateful for Stoney's documentation. While I believe that it is good to challenge theories and treatements, I think that overly zealous posts tend to hinder communication of ideas and treatments, which benefits no one. If you challenge a treatment then you should provide your own test data to suggest that the theory is wrong. Merely posting that "this was already tried and failed" communicates no useful information. We can all look up AEFWs and find those old posts and judge for ourselves.

Thanks again Stoney for posting the details of your treatment.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8215816#post8215816 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Stoney Mahony
It has been 6 weeks since treatment #1. No Flatworms or red bugs since the first dip. No coral losses at all so this has been a 110% effective treatment for me. I am moving a few frags back into the display today and I will be transfering the rest of my coral back into the display over the next two weeks. Before I start transfering corals, I am going to run one last fluke tab dip, but I am going to do it in the QT tank just to make sure there are not any nasties hiding in there.

I hope that EVERYONE at least gives this a try before they write it off and say that the treatment does'nt work, because it does. I have pictures, results and proof...if you need more than what is posted let me know. I have searched through the AEFW links and it is clear that I had a really bad infestation when comparing it to others that only ever saw a few eggs or fw's. I had egg clutches containing over 100 eggs and over 50 LARGE fw's fell off one single colony in the first dip. Infested to say the least. Well, that coral is now thriving and has repaired most of the damaged tissue.

I am at the point where I KNOW I have beaten them. There havent been any eggs or fw's for 6 weeks which is 2-3x the egg gestation period and WAY longer than any AEFW can survive without acro flesh. I also raised temps in the display to speed up their metabolism/life cycle. I will keep updating everyone and let you know if I have any problems in the future, but it seems like it's gonna be smooth sailing from here.

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!!

Melev- Did anyone mention Fluke Tabs at MACNA as a possible solution? Looking forward to hearing about the presentation! :)
Click to expand...
 
I know a new way to get rid of flat worms.....

WE MAKE A LIST OF VENDORS AND SOURCES OF THEM....DONT BUY FROM THEM UNTIL IT IS CLEANED UP...we dont trade or sell infected corals..


basically AEFWS and the others are like STDs... red bugs being like gonnorhea and AEFWS the HIV...if we treat them like STD's by abstaining from their sources and treating what we can without selling trading etc...then over a long period of time we wont have them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

besides obviously trying to find the best way to cure, treat and prophylactically screen we should also employ "abstaining" from trading and selling and also not buying from places that are known to have them or at the very least dont buy from places that show no interest in dealing with these issues!!!!!
 
i think more people need to be reminded because of all the great people in this hobby there are those who dont care, are in it for the buck, or other reasons other than providing hobbyists with the best and an honest deal.......

this needs to be beat over the head because along with people like stoney and their experiments this in addition can help all of use not have to deal with it ever again....

good work stoney....dont knock him for working to find new ways to deal with this ....and pass on the message not to peddle infected corals and also push for a proactive prevention by vendors and traders!!!!!!!
 
Yup

Yup

I totally agree. Until the LFS and online people start aceepting some of the responsibility, AEFWs are here to stay. The shops that buy one day and sell the next must be forced to change their paradigm. They need to quarantine just as we do.

In the meantime it might be better to buy from coral farming operations like Live Aquaria where it is in their interest to keep AEFWs out of their systems. Also it would make sense to not buy from the "buy and sell" shops until they also accept some responsibility.

I am sick of the LFSs saying that it can't be done, it is too expensive...blah blah blah!!!!


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8220044#post8220044 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serioussnaps
I know a new way to get rid of flat worms.....

WE MAKE A LIST OF VENDORS AND SOURCES OF THEM....DONT BUY FROM THEM UNTIL IT IS CLEANED UP...we dont trade or sell infected corals..


basically AEFWS and the others are like STDs... red bugs being like gonnorhea and AEFWS the HIV...if we treat them like STD's by abstaining from their sources and treating what we can without selling trading etc...then over a long period of time we wont have them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

besides obviously trying to find the best way to cure, treat and prophylactically screen we should also employ "abstaining" from trading and selling and also not buying from places that are known to have them or at the very least dont buy from places that show no interest in dealing with these issues!!!!!
Click to expand...
 
It is given LFS and even some online stores aren't going to do it. IMO, buy some fluke tabs and do it yourself. Are you saying one day you will FULLY trust stores? I'm done stocking at the time, but if I add any more pieces, you better believe, interceptor and then fluke tabs. It's a cheap insurance.
 
My LFS quarantines and treats all acros for AEFW's, all montis for nudis, all zoa's for nudis, etc. I see no reason why other LFS's cannot do the same. In the end, it is the hobbyists responisibility to make sure all of their livestock is quarantined and treated before going into their display, but it would be nice if LFS's would start accepting some responsibility. I know I personally am willing to pay a little extra per coral to cover an LFS's costs of losses due to treatments, labor of treatments, quarantine time, quarantine setup and costs, etc.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8222304#post8222304 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis
My LFS quarantines and treats all acros for AEFW's, all montis for nudis, all zoa's for nudis, etc. I see no reason why other LFS's cannot do the same. In the end, it is the hobbyists responisibility to make sure all of their livestock is quarantined and treated before going into their display, but it would be nice if LFS's would start accepting some responsibility. I know I personally am willing to pay a little extra per coral to cover an LFS's costs of losses due to treatments, labor of treatments, quarantine time, quarantine setup and costs, etc.
Click to expand...
One of my LFS tried telling me a nudi chowing on a half dead monti was a berghia
 
there is overhead to treating and qting for the LFS. that is why a good percentage dont. also, to do it right the LFS has to keep the product they have paid for off the "sales floor" for a period of 4 to 6 weeks and has to wait to recoup their investment. and finally if a LFS quarantines for the 4 to 6 week period you have to bet they are going to lose a number of specimens and therefore wont be able to unload them quick before they do die. thats whay there are some stores that run livestock specials to unload the specimens asap.. It is up to us to make sure they dont contaminate their systems. you cant rely on the LFS. afterall its a business and unfortunately some LFS owners dont see it any other way.
 
Hello Flatworm Warriors,

I don't have the AEFWs (that I know about), but I sat in on the presentation at MACNA out of general interest as an avid SPS keeper. Fernando Nosratpour of the Birch Aquarium at Scripps talked about his experiences with the AEFWs. Some interesting things I got out of Fernando's talk:

1. He first ran across these #$% in 1995, so they're not new.
2. He had a video of the buggers moving around on a colony - they move fast!! At least I don't think it was a time-lapse video. . .
3. He showed that they are able to ingest zooxanthellae and hold them in their gut without damaging them.
4. He is looking for specimens to experiment on, so if you have an infected colony you'd be willing to send over try to get in touch with him. He may be in a better position to use his contacts and develop a treatment than most of us hobbyists.

Marc will probably have more to add when he gets back, but I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in for discussion.

-- Les
 
LFSs

LFSs

No, I will never trust the stores totally and will take the necessary steps to treat and quarantine all corals. However, this does not excuse the LFs to at least try to do the best that they can to sell healthy, pest-free corals.


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8222238#post8222238 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jay24k
It is given LFS and even some online stores aren't going to do it. IMO, buy some fluke tabs and do it yourself. Are you saying one day you will FULLY trust stores? I'm done stocking at the time, but if I add any more pieces, you better believe, interceptor and then fluke tabs. It's a cheap insurance.
Click to expand...
 
I agree completely. There is always some lazy person who is infected who won't protect themselves from infecting others. Sounds like another part of the real world too!

I guess we could all practice SPS celibacy right?
 
Today I noticed one of my frags in the prop section looked like it was in bad shape. I pulled it out of the water to see if anything would - ahem - stand out. And this is what I saw, after the coral dried off somewhat.

aefw_0930.jpg


So it was treated with 2g of water and 2 crushed Fluke tabs, along with a pump to keep the water circulating for 60 minutes. At the same time, I treated my Tyree frag since I wanted to know if it had any pests on it. It hadn't been treated in about two weeks, I believe.

tyree_0930.jpg


As you can see, it was happy to polyp out as soon as it was back in the tank. The hitchhiker serpent starfish were unaffected by the meds.
 
Stoney-

In the presentation at MACNA I was hoping there would be mention of Fluke Tabs because I had seen you and Melev's posts about successes with them. Fluke Tabs were not on the list of possible treatments. I am getting ready to give the Tabs another try later this week and this time I will use a pump to keep the med in suspension better. I hope it works this time.
 
Rock Candy, I'm not sure since I treated two corals at the same time. When I was done with the dip, I didn't see any on the coral at all, which is good. On top of that, the entire coral looked healthy even though the color is way off from what it was originally. I'm hoping time will let it heal completely.

Barrierreefcf - I too was at that presentation, keenly anticipating sage advice. I enjoyed his video showing excellent imagery of them in motion, but was disappointed that he too didn't have an answer for us at this time.
 
Marc,

Did you see dead flatworms on the bottom after the fluke tab treatment? I've been looking for someone with large enough FW's to see and verify Stoney's results. I can verify how innocuous it seems to be towards the corals. Did you just not seem them on the coral afterward and assumed they were dead?

I've been doing the fluke tab dips and keeping everything in a QT tank but I'm getting a bit concerned that nobody has been able to verify the lethality of it. I can't find anyone local that's infested with anything visable to confirm the results.

Kevin W.
 
Awesome to hear Melev! Cool to hear the starfish was unaffected. I have dipped about 50 different stometellas and it had no effect on them. I also dipped some turbos and they were fine.
Just an update..... yesterday was the end of week seven of my quarentine/dipping regiment. Still no signs of RB's, AEFW's, or color loss since the first dip. I have moved 3 small corals back into the display and they had FPE about 30 minutes after reintroduction. I am confident that there gone, and will be moving corals back into the display over the week. For me, the results speak for themselves. I will post a few more pics when I get home.

One of my large colonies(A. Azurea) lost most of it's color and had severe damage when I first noticed the fw's on it. It was so bad I was going to just frag it up and hope for the best. After the first fluke tab dip I was just amazed. So amazed that it gave me hope that I might actually be able to save the colony. The colony had at some eggs deep within the center that I could see but it was so dense I couldn't reach them with a large tooth pick. I decided to keep it in the Display for another week to see if I could get the eggs to hatch and then I would just dip the coral again and put it in the QT. Within the week, the eggs turned sort of brownish so I figured they either hatched or were killed off by the first dip but they definately didn't look like the same little gold eggs. I dipped them again and the eggs just blew off in the direct flow of the pump. I then moved it into the QT tank. Since then it has colored back up and is healing awesome. The bite marks have healed but the part that I had to scrub the eggs off of has not.

Good luck everybody!
 
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