Should I be worried? - AEFW sighting

[justinky]

So a week ago today I got new mari/wild pieces, took them off their bases and dipped in bayer at 6ml per 4oz of water. I have been procrastinating on placement a little bit and today doing my daily check on things after work I happened to notice bite marks on the bottom of the efflo piece that had encrusted around a rock and had a tiny sliver of rock left inside the acro at the end where I broke it off.

Needless to say on this spot I noticed AEFW eggs, so I used wire cutters to cut past the part where the eggs were on the efflo and then proceeded to do a 10ml bayer dip per 4oz of water. I saw one AEFW stunned or dead after rinsing and i'm not sure if any were in the bayer cup.

Let's say all the other colonies were fine and there was no AEFW on them at the point of introduction, do they spread that fast to other colonies or do they stick with one and go to the next piece? Basically should I be breaking down each colony in my tank, taking off their new bases and inspecting with my magnifying glass and possibly dipping them all again.

 

[bigzman]

Aefw

Aefw

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2412052

 

[justinky]

I've read many threads about people attempting to eradicate AEFW, but I am not going to go that far if I don't have to. Which is why I am asking. Also I should note I cannot even attempt in-tank treatment with my anemones.

 

[JPMagyar]

I was unsuccessful with the Levamisole treatment so I can say it is not 100% effective for everyone. Who knows why this is. Perhaps there are slightly different variants of AEFW or perhaps other factors are involved. In any case I did and continue to do lots of reading online trying to find answers since I found AEFWs in my reef. At first I read some posts from an old friend and RC TOTM, ReefBum, where he described battling the worms by simply using a turkey baster to clear the worms from his colonies so that's what I tried first, but I think this was a bad idea because not all the worms got eaten by my wrasse or damsels and I am convinced that turkey basting actually spread the worms to other colonies.

If you really feel it was only one colony that was infected then treat that colony with a Bayer dip 3 times and just keep a careful eye out for bite marks, or loss of color on other colonies. If you are lucky and it was just that one colony you may be ok. There is precious little scientific research that has been done, but the one actual research paper I read indicated that the worms prefer to hatch and stay where they are and they hatch small, but fully formed so it is not likely that they can survive a trip through a pump impeller. In other words unlike Red Bugs which can migrate throughout your sump or any other attached tank I have not seen any evidence AEFWs spread tank wide easily. In fact, I have a suspicion that I may have had them for years and didn't even know it because my colonies were so large and they were infecting only one at a time.

Anyways, the point is I think you will be fine if it was only the one colony, but I hope you will keep us posted so we can all learn a little more from your observations.

Thanks for sharing.

:thumbsup:

 

[Tweaked]

My experience. Saw them once years back and removed those corals completely and tossed in the trash. Year later, they were back. I then ripped my tank apart and dipped every 6 days for two months - every acro in double strength Bayer (even my 2 year old large hawkins colony). It was nice to see them squirm and suffer which was very satisfying due to the amount of work this took as I had roughly 50 acros to dip each week. Slowly the little f^$%&^ got smaller and smaller until I saw none coming off during the dips. I am now going on a year later and my acros have come back strong and look better than ever. Some people "live" with those vile creatures, but this was not for me. KILL EM ALL :uzi:

 

[justinky]

Thanks Joe, I will do as you suggested and continue to bayer dip the colony a few more times. Obviously I can't be sure it was the only colony infected but I'm pretty sure it was and to be honest I'm surprised I missed it. I will continue to monitor each acro in my tank like a hawk for at least the next 2 weeks. After noticing the AEFW on the efflo I combed through my tank looking everywhere I could to check for bite marks and so far unless I missed something again I'm okay.

If anything changes I'll be sure to record it as I know how it is with data in the hobby. Having a anemone dominated reef I've had to learn with very sparse information and every little bit of information put out helps.

 

[jda]

If you have small colonies or frags, then Chrysiptera damels, crabs and ornamental shrimp (peppermints or cleaners) that wander are very effective... not like 2 of each, but many so that every area of the tank is covered. If you have colonies, then it is hard for anything to get in there.

A good friend saw an arrow crab eating the eggs within hours after introduction, but arrow crabs could cause other issues.

I have not seen a single AEFW in the many months since the in-tank treatment that I wrote about. It does take many treatments, not just one - I did see a few larger ones survive the first treatment.

 

[sahin]

My experience. Saw them once years back and removed those corals completely and tossed in the trash. Year later, they were back. I then ripped my tank apart and dipped every 6 days for two months - every acro in double strength Bayer (even my 2 year old large hawkins colony). It was nice to see them squirm and suffer which was very satisfying due to the amount of work this took as I had roughly 50 acros to dip each week. Slowly the little f^$%&^ got smaller and smaller until I saw none coming off during the dips. I am now going on a year later and my acros have come back strong and look better than ever. Some people "live" with those vile creatures, but this was not for me. KILL EM ALL :uzi:

This.

I am on half through the 2nd month of dipping. I am not seeing ANY eggs or AEFW's. I intend to dip like this for upto 3 months. I am dipping almost 30 frags/small colonies.

I dont even have access to Bayer and am using Revive; its working well so far.

Some people choose to live with them...I dont.

 

[Piper27]

I would do weekly dips on all the new maricultured colonies for 5 or 6 weeks, while at the same time making sure no new eggs are hatched. This is only going to prevent them if none of the worms made it to your other acros by either floating or being hatched by the eggs you found a week after your purchase. I would do this while keeping an eye on all colonies in your tank for signs of them. Keep an eye out for a few months because they don't spread too quickly. They will hide in places you can't see or get too, like they know your unable to reach the spot, evil little worms... Good luck!

 

[ReefBum]

I was unsuccessful with the Levamisole treatment so I can say it is not 100% effective for everyone. Who knows why this is. Perhaps there are slightly different variants of AEFW or perhaps other factors are involved. In any case I did and continue to do lots of reading online trying to find answers since I found AEFWs in my reef. At first I read some posts from an old friend and RC TOTM, ReefBum, where he described battling the worms by simply using a turkey baster to clear the worms from his colonies so that's what I tried first, but I think this was a bad idea because not all the worms got eaten by my wrasse or damsels and I am convinced that turkey basting actually spread the worms to other colonies.

If you really feel it was only one colony that was infected then treat that colony with a Bayer dip 3 times and just keep a careful eye out for bite marks, or loss of color on other colonies. If you are lucky and it was just that one colony you may be ok. There is precious little scientific research that has been done, but the one actual research paper I read indicated that the worms prefer to hatch and stay where they are and they hatch small, but fully formed so it is not likely that they can survive a trip through a pump impeller. In other words unlike Red Bugs which can migrate throughout your sump or any other attached tank I have not seen any evidence AEFWs spread tank wide easily. In fact, I have a suspicion that I may have had them for years and didn't even know it because my colonies were so large and they were infecting only one at a time.

Anyways, the point is I think you will be fine if it was only the one colony, but I hope you will keep us posted so we can all learn a little more from your observations.

Thanks for sharing.

:thumbsup:

Joe, sorry to hear you have the little buggers. When I had them I would blow them off with the turkey baster and then "suck" them in out of the water column with the baster. Some fish would eat them but I pulled most out with the baster. My wrasses did not eat them while I basted but I assume they picked some off when I wasn't looking.

I never got close to eliminating them with this method but it did seem to keep things in check. My theory was that the larger AEFW were doing the most damage and those seemed easier to dislodge (I didn't see as many small ones). Certain colonies of mine were more prone to attack and were not savable (tricolors, some milies) but most held up fine while I basted. It's a pain to do but again it seemed to keep the problem in check.....at least for me.

 

[justinky]

So upon getting the colonies in I saw 2 different bases of colonies with AEFW eggs, after removing the bases and dipping in bayer I have not spot any signs of AEFW on either colony. Then I had the one colony of A. Efflorescens make its way into my tank with no eggs but apparently at least one AEFW as I found eggs later on, on the very tiny rock inside the efflo it encrust around. I ended up doing 2 10 ml per 4oz dips on it and only found 1 adult AEFW (no idea what was in bayer dip cup).

It's been 12 days since my last sighting of AEFW eggs and 18 days since I added those colonies to my tank and I haven't seen anymore damage. I will still be keeping an eye out but I believe I got lucky on catching it early enough before there was a large infestation. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[nogascans]

I have been having similar issues. I believe that a frag I received from a fellow reefer (dipped with Bayer) had come in with eggs. It took quite a while to see any damaged, but slowly some of the localized frags started showing reduced color and PE, bite marks, and tissue recession from base.

I did a test using 1/2 my frag rack pieces with Bayer, the other with FLatworm Exit at 3x strength (1 gallon tub). I noted even amounts of AEFW from each test group. I also double dipped the FE rags with new Bayer, and I did not notice any additional AEFW.

I have started a regimen of FE (IN TANK) at a strength of 3x 4 drops per 5 gallons (12/ 5 gallons). On initial dose, I noticed approximately 10-15 large AEFW from colony/rock areas. I siphoned as much as I could and dosed carbon after 1 hour., and did a 25% water change. All livestock made it thriu without any stress noted ( I do have one Sebae Anemone).

i have now performed two weekly doses. I did not perform any water changes after 2nd week. I intend to repeat dosage each week for a minimum of 5 weeks.

My concern is not completely knowing the actual initial egg laying sequences, and wanting to eliminate any live AEFW during dose, and not having another egg cycle hatch until close to next dose date. Does this make any sense?

Open to thoughts..

Sincerely,

David