My own AEFW (Acro Eating Flatworms) images

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8265581#post8265581 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tutmos
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.
Click to expand...

I knew that question was going to come up, and I stared at the ones tumbling around in the dip tank. They didn't dissolve / vanish like they have in Betadine. I turned off the pump, and checked on them a few hours later. I couldn't find any in the 2g of water.

I believe it is important to have good flow in the dip container, because the fluke powder wants to settle. The tiny powerhead I used for red bug treatment was fine, but with Fluke I needed something stronger. I used a turkey baster to get any piles of 'snow' back into the water so it would swirl around.
 
Its pretty amazing to me that the "snow" doesnt hurt the corals... right? When I did it for the first time I thought for sure it was going to nuke the coral but it didnt. I had a few valida frags get completely buried in the powder during the first dips when I didnt use a small powerhead and it had no ill effect. When I added the power head, I put it in the bottom of the 5g bucket and to one side. It makes a sort of whirlpool effect in the bucket and keeps the tabs in suspension pretty good :).
 
Yes, that is exactly how I did it in my dip tank. I had the powerhead blowing at the base to keep the powder back up in the water.

You are right that it didn't burn the coral whatsoever. I saw it on top of the second piece (pictured above with the flatworms), but it didn't lose any color at all.
 
I knew that question was going to come up, and I stared at the ones tumbling around in the dip tank. They didn't dissolve / vanish like they have in Betadine. I turned off the pump, and checked on them a few hours later. I couldn't find any in the 2g of water.
Click to expand...
You think they dissolve ? or camouflage them self?
 
Just got threw reading this thread.. Great info! So I was wondering who is now using fluke on new corals? As I will be stocking my 225, in about a month or so, and am now thinking of dipping everything in Fluke first before I add it to my system.
 
Marc,

I just had an idea. I came up with this idea in an attempt to possibly find these guys when adding new corals into a tank, but I'm not sure if it will work. It certainly won't work everytime.

First, of all did you pick up the actinic key chain light from Boston Reefers? If so, try to see if the worms will or will not fluoresce. (I have one if you don't.) Since they are eating the zooxanthellae, they may not.

Shine the light at the base of the coral. (The coral has to fluoresce) If the coral fluoresces and the worms do not, it may be a way to see if a coral is infected. You may be able to detect the worms as small patches or even see them move easier. Try it and LMK what happens.
 
Well I'm cutting my treatment short. Elapsed time will now be 1 month in quarantine with 3 dip sessions for everything, 2 tabs 2 gallons 50-60min. I'm just having too hard of a time keeping conditions stable in the little 20 gallon Q tank I'm using with a 400w MH over it. It's in my office so I don't have room or power to setup anything elaborate.

If I have to do it again I think I'll pump water out of the display through a micron filter and allow it to drain back into the main display sump from an overflow in the 20g to keep conditions stable and eliminate the temp shifts etc.

I'll post updates as things acclimate back to the display tank.
 
Fluorescence

Fluorescence

I tried this a while back and could not get them to flouresce. Someone should definitely try it again to corroborate this observation.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8279195#post8279195 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SERVO
Marc,

I just had an idea. I came up with this idea in an attempt to possibly find these guys when adding new corals into a tank, but I'm not sure if it will work. It certainly won't work everytime.

First, of all did you pick up the actinic key chain light from Boston Reefers? If so, try to see if the worms will or will not fluoresce. (I have one if you don't.) Since they are eating the zooxanthellae, they may not.

Shine the light at the base of the coral. (The coral has to fluoresce) If the coral fluoresces and the worms do not, it may be a way to see if a coral is infected. You may be able to detect the worms as small patches or even see them move easier. Try it and LMK what happens.
Click to expand...
 
AEFW?

These guys are pretty big and move like the dickens when I turned the rock over. I have not seen any real damage but a couple colonies lack polyp extension. I did not find any on the coral itself. I dunno they look more like snails to me......

topost2.jpg


topost1.jpg


topost.jpg
 
Reef Daddy- Those look like stomatellas to me, but they are kinda blurry pics. They look like a snail with a little trunk, antenna, and have a slipper shaped shell. They are quick as crap too! They pretty much hide during the day and come out at night and graze algae. I have them breeding in my sps tank, I love them :).

Well....Monday will be then end of week 8. I have move two or three small corals into the display this week but have been too busy to take any pics so I figured I would just wait till this weekend. I noticed quite a few pods running around in the QT tank today which tells me that they can definately come back from the one time, strong interceptor dip and plenty of fluke tab dips.

I will post pics tommorrow and show how they are looking. The Azurea colony was pretty much dead/bare on the inside/center b/c of all the scraping of eggs I did but it is encrusting back together so pretty soon you wont even be able to tell anything happened. I cant wait to get those puppys back in the display!
 
Yes they are stomatellas Reef Daddy.
Stoney are you going to dip them one more time just before you put them in your main tank ? just to be sure is no more AEFW. or you are 100% sure they are all dead.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8265581#post8265581 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tutmos
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.
Click to expand...

In my one experience the fluke tabs did not killed the flatworms, but then again, I only mixed the solution and placed the flatworms in it, if Melev used a pump in the water while treating them, I suppose it is possible that they were thorn to little pieces as they are very fragile.
The pictures melev shows of the frag appear to be adult size AEFW, unless they dissolved or were liquify he should have been able to spot them in the bottom of the container after the treatment.
I am in no way trying to discredit stoney's findings, I really would like to know if someone else have seen this results and try to figure out what I did wrong, or why I can't duplicate those results.

Rogger
 
Reef Daddy - How large are those things that they are calling stomatellas? I can't tell the size from your photo as I don't know if you have magnified them at all. How many centimeters?

Sara
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8295850#post8295850 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by REEF-DADDY
AEFW?

These guys are pretty big and move like the dickens when I turned the rock over. I have not seen any real damage but a couple colonies lack polyp extension. I did not find any on the coral itself. I dunno they look more like snails to me......

topost2.jpg


topost1.jpg


topost.jpg
Click to expand...

They look like chitons
 
I treated my A. secale today for AEFW, using Fluke tabs in a 2g dip tank.

treatment_tank.jpg


coral_dipped.jpg


The coral was left in the tank with a powerhead for about 1.5 hours. It is back in my reef now, and the polyps are extended on part of the coral.

The flatworms I found in the dip were motionless. When I 'poked them with a stick' (toothpick), there was zero response.
 
Hands down I think Stoney's Methods works great! Killed my FW's and did not stress the corals! Good to see others are having the same experience with this treatment...
 
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