QT tank for AEFW...input please
- Thread starter SDguy
- Start date
poknsnok
New member
makes me wonder about Sanjay, Weatherson etc that did milder treatments or no treatments. before I get flamed, look at these pics of a tank with AEFW.. Oh, and the current TOTM. Please dont flame me too much
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12677157#post12677157
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12677157#post12677157
I'm not going to flame you. 
I do, however, for the sake of people possibly reading this thread for ideas, want to be sure we are comparing apples to apples here.
My situation: My tank is less than two years old. Corals were almost all grown from small frags. While some are good size at this point, most are not what I would call large by any means. Coincidentally (or perhaps not?) my smaller corals were attacked by the AEFW more than the large ones. In fact, my largest colonies didn't have a single worm
The AEFW were literally eating my corals before my eyes. This is what they looked like:
So, while those pcitures in that thread are pretty, unfortunately my AEFW experience was not like his. Many of my corals literally had half their total flesh eaten away, and progressing quickly. My tank contains NO pest eating fish (wrasses for example). My corals are also all glued in place. Once dislodged, they can not be replaced without being glued again (tall tank - 30" x 18"). Therefore, simply blowing the worms off the coral and hoping fish will eat them was not an option. Removing the coral and blowing them off in a remote container was no an option, as I'm not going to remove and reglue every coral, every few days. Lugols/TMPCC does not dislodge every worm at recommended dose/time (I tried).
So feel free to suggest a better option for my situation. My corals are being eaten alive, daily....quickly...by a pest that is difficult to even dislodge from the coral, much less actually kill. I have nothing in my tank to keep them in check, even if I could get them off the coral.
And a final point....I'm REALLY not a fan of simply keeping pests in check. Unless you plan to NEVER frag corals to other hobbyists, I'm not sure why you would want to keep a tank full of corals that could transfer these suckers to another tank. That's just gross
I do, however, for the sake of people possibly reading this thread for ideas, want to be sure we are comparing apples to apples here.My situation: My tank is less than two years old. Corals were almost all grown from small frags. While some are good size at this point, most are not what I would call large by any means. Coincidentally (or perhaps not?) my smaller corals were attacked by the AEFW more than the large ones. In fact, my largest colonies didn't have a single worm
The AEFW were literally eating my corals before my eyes. This is what they looked like:
So, while those pcitures in that thread are pretty, unfortunately my AEFW experience was not like his. Many of my corals literally had half their total flesh eaten away, and progressing quickly. My tank contains NO pest eating fish (wrasses for example). My corals are also all glued in place. Once dislodged, they can not be replaced without being glued again (tall tank - 30" x 18"). Therefore, simply blowing the worms off the coral and hoping fish will eat them was not an option. Removing the coral and blowing them off in a remote container was no an option, as I'm not going to remove and reglue every coral, every few days. Lugols/TMPCC does not dislodge every worm at recommended dose/time (I tried).
So feel free to suggest a better option for my situation. My corals are being eaten alive, daily....quickly...by a pest that is difficult to even dislodge from the coral, much less actually kill. I have nothing in my tank to keep them in check, even if I could get them off the coral.
And a final point....I'm REALLY not a fan of simply keeping pests in check. Unless you plan to NEVER frag corals to other hobbyists, I'm not sure why you would want to keep a tank full of corals that could transfer these suckers to another tank. That's just gross
My point exactly. Higher than recommended dose needed. I did the same. Worked well. I don't think treatment with levimasol has been any worse. I just think the trauma of being half eaten, then QT'ed in a new tank (lights, filtration, flow), and treated to boot, with whatever, is the killer for some sensitive acros. No surprises so far, frankly.
CleveYank
20 Years and Over
Drop the soaking routine
Drop the soaking routine
Betadine at 6 ml for 1000ml of tank water and a turkey baster to blast at the flesh for getting rid of acro eating FLUKES that for some reason are misnamed as flatworms. Blast them and then shake and rinse in a non-dosed bucket full of tank water before putting them back into the tank. Total time each frag/coral is even in solution is maybe 2 minutes tops. (I did a couple large colonies attached to rock this way as well...not easy, but it can be done.) This soaking business in levasole or other is just too stressful. Quick dip and hit and get them back in the tank after a careful inspection and manual removal of all eggs. Then since you have not soaked and stressed the coral it can rebound and be redipped in 2 to 5 days. Then let it growout and heal and then frag the good stuff off of the damaged pieces after it's rebounded. At least this is by far the best method I have found so far. Even my fragile acros have minimal color loss and regain full polyp extension in 1 to 2 days after the quick method. This due to a recent discovery of the nasty things in one of my tanks was what worked. And I did not lose even one coral.
Drop the soaking routine
Betadine at 6 ml for 1000ml of tank water and a turkey baster to blast at the flesh for getting rid of acro eating FLUKES that for some reason are misnamed as flatworms. Blast them and then shake and rinse in a non-dosed bucket full of tank water before putting them back into the tank. Total time each frag/coral is even in solution is maybe 2 minutes tops. (I did a couple large colonies attached to rock this way as well...not easy, but it can be done.) This soaking business in levasole or other is just too stressful. Quick dip and hit and get them back in the tank after a careful inspection and manual removal of all eggs. Then since you have not soaked and stressed the coral it can rebound and be redipped in 2 to 5 days. Then let it growout and heal and then frag the good stuff off of the damaged pieces after it's rebounded. At least this is by far the best method I have found so far. Even my fragile acros have minimal color loss and regain full polyp extension in 1 to 2 days after the quick method. This due to a recent discovery of the nasty things in one of my tanks was what worked. And I did not lose even one coral.
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FYI, betadine is an iodine based solution, just like TMPCC or Lugol's. Furthermore, did you even read my post about the impossibility of dipping corals and returning them to the main display? Glad things worked out for you.
Honestly, I don't think the levimasol has done much to the coral. If I had put some of these half dead corals into QT, with no med dips at all, I think they still would have kicked it.....and since anything other than total removal to QT IMO is out of the question for reasons previously stated, I think it's a moot point. I feel one can never be sure they are rid of them if you have acros in the main display, regardless of how many times you dip.
Honestly, I don't think the levimasol has done much to the coral. If I had put some of these half dead corals into QT, with no med dips at all, I think they still would have kicked it.....and since anything other than total removal to QT IMO is out of the question for reasons previously stated, I think it's a moot point. I feel one can never be sure they are rid of them if you have acros in the main display, regardless of how many times you dip.
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The general consensus is around 6 weeks being pretty safe and 4 weeks being a minimum.
As far as whether or not to treat and tanks doing well with them I agree that some can do quite well. For me it came down to wanting to be able to trade/sell frags again.
Another thing to keep in mind is there are over 3000 different kinds of coral eating flatworms in the wild and it is a common notion that all AEFW's we are seeing in our tanks aren't the same. It's very possible some are less destructive than others. That might explain why some are devastated while others seem to do just fine managing them.
Chris
That's interesting Chris, I didn't consider that. It has been bugging me to think some people can have AEFW with minimal problems, while I watched them eat my acros in a matter of weeks.
CMcNeil - I kalk pasted every last centimeter of tissue in the main display...not fun or easy...but doable.
CMcNeil - I kalk pasted every last centimeter of tissue in the main display...not fun or easy...but doable.
CMcNeil
New member
i just setup a QT tank for my acros tonight.i plan on nuking all of them for 4-6weeks,only good thing is most of my acros are still frags so it wont be hard to get them out of the display.i already tossed 2 colonies that i found them on.what if any filtration should i go with?right now i just have an overflow box to the sump and a modded mj 1200 in the 20g QT for flow.i assume i will need a skimmer,but what about bioload?
People have been asking, so I finally shot some pics this morning....sorry for the quality. They are top downs with a slight ripple on the water surface. As soon as I clean the glass, I'll take some better ones through it, but you get the idea. Also, colors may be a bit off since I'm not used to photographing under these 12K ATI T5's.
Anywho, here are the survivors!.
I managed to save all of my big blue tip stag, just not all in one piece. Oh well....
Before:
Now:
In this pic, we've got the OT just barely in the pic on the left, some Nathan's green mille (actually saved the whole colony), ORA turquoise stag, ORA echinata, some other randon corals, and the most miraculous recovery, just upper right of center, ORA blue polyped green acro.
Some before shots of those corals:
Anywho, here are the survivors!.
I managed to save all of my big blue tip stag, just not all in one piece. Oh well....
Before:
Now:
In this pic, we've got the OT just barely in the pic on the left, some Nathan's green mille (actually saved the whole colony), ORA turquoise stag, ORA echinata, some other randon corals, and the most miraculous recovery, just upper right of center, ORA blue polyped green acro.
Some before shots of those corals:
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