What I thought was STN from an alk swing is aefw

[FiReC]

OH man to my surprise .. I had an alk swing to 14 and a CA dip to 330 about 2 month ago.. started losing a few sps frags to what I thought was STN from the swing. Started investigating a little more and holy *$%& ... the flat worms are huge on a few of these pieces. What I thought was algae on the skeleton, is actually clusters of eggs.

I'm so f'd.. I have no QT my tank is in my office. I can't really do a QT tank. Anybody want to QT some pieces for me

I can't believe how fast (after my six line wrasse jumped out and died) these things are eating my sps.

 

[aquainas]

That's tough man, really wish I could help...hopefully someone else can house and QT for you ...though I suspect you'll get more advise on how to begin an attempt to eradicate these bastards.

 

[FiReC]

for now i'm chucking coral in the garbage.. never thought i'd do that.

I'm scared what pieces they are going to hit next...

getting a wrasse tomorrow too.

it's funny cause I thought redbugs were my problem... just treated for them last week.

and for future reference... base up its probably AEFW ... tips down its probably alk

 

[UberNoober]

u should post some pics of the worms...

 

[poolkeeper1]

What are you tossing stuff for??? You can treat the Whole tank with Flatworm Exit! It is harmless If used correctly and you Siphon out as many as you can see first and after they die. Read up on It and save your Coral.
Bill

 

[crsaz]

FW exit does not kill aefw even at 50x the reccomended dosage, you will need to set up a qt(maybe at home) and do weekly dips with tmpcc or coralrx.

On the stn'ing I doubt it was because aefw(atleast not 100%) It was more likley the combination of the alk swing, having red bugs(+ treating for RB) and ontop of all of that the aefw.

 

[FiReC]

wish i had my camera on me at the office... some were the size of thumbtack heads especially on the valida. the 'stn' parts of the bases were covered in eggs.

last week i was looking at the valida and saw a smooth bluish/purple hue patch on the skin thinking oh a nice patch is coming back to life... it was the smooth skin of a giant flat worm ! lol

i have one tricolor colony where inside the branches is eaten out and covered in eggs left in the tank ill dip it and take pics tomorrow.

do they go after milis? my blue mili is looking brown im worried.

 

[aquainas]

I wouldn't worry about millepora...Honestly I would get rid of it all if you have no quarantine plan for the infected pieces as AEFW are very difficult to get rid of. They are very attracted to smooth skin SPS like A.Valida and A.Nana.
Wish it was as easy as flatworm exit at 50x.

 

[FiReC]

here is my tank in jan

and 8 days ago

you can kinda see the inside eaten out here:

more damage:

browning mili behind the pink scripps:

please don't eat me:

 

[crsaz]

by the looks of it I would say your bet bet is to trash everything. and stay acro free for 2 months(and in the meantime setup a qt tank even a small 2.5-5 gal with a hob and maybe a PAR 38 type led light) since you have no qt I would also suggest checking for other pests, especially monti eating nudis, chances are you've got them considering most stores in the state either have them or have had them in the past.

 

[FiReC]

I'll probably just bail on acro's all together once they are all eaten up... acan , scoly , chalice time!

I dipped my caps and digis in tmpcc before adding to the tank (like everything else) .. i think i'm nudi free I don't see any damage on the underside of the caps.

ice fire frag browned out too... better test nitrates tomorrow that interceptor killiing all the pods prolly spiked my trates with all the dead stuff in there, might be why the mili is brown too.

im curious when the aefw hatch.. do they crawl to other pieces? or if i chuck all the infected pieces could i potentially break the life cycle?

 

[aquainas]

If you're gonna go that route, just throw out whichever corals you see bite marks and eggs on and keep watch. You COULD get lucky and not have infected other colonies.

 

[FiReC]

If you're gonna go that route, just throw out whichever corals you see bite marks and eggs on and keep watch. You COULD get lucky and not have infected other colonies.

right on thats the plan... + wrasse + get a turkey baster

 

[evsalty]

Sorry to see this Troy. If you do keep acros in the future you can come by and get some frags as needed. I have valida and nana well you have seen it all. Just hit me up when ready.

 

[FiReC]

thanks Robert , appreciate it. I'm really pulling for the blue tort and green mille , some of my favorite frags.

 

[evsalty]

thanks Robert , appreciate it. I'm really pulling for the blue tort and green mille , some of my favorite frags.

I am pulling for all of your stuff. I still have more of both so we can get you squared away if pulling turns to throwing. Hang in there Troy.

 

[FiReC]

Blue mille is infested for sure ... now I know why it browned out.
The IceFire had them too, chopped and remounted.

Right now I'm chopping bases off, dipping the frags and remounting everything that is infested.

Picked up a six line at pets inc this morning... thanks to Kirsten for the info!

The blue mille base had like 5 visible big guys.. six line swam right by

 

[evsalty]

I have heard mixed responses when it comes to if wrasses that eat red planaria also eat aefw's but I do not see why they wouldn't other then size itself of the aefw's. I know that my cryptic wrasse in the frag tank has finally knocked back the red planaria in the frag tank to where I can no longer ever see a single one anywhere. That might also be do to the Tunze that is now in there as well. But the wrasse is very fat these days. He paruses the tank and picks at frag mounts and the racks all the time just like Spot my sixline in the display.

 

[Philwd]

Here's a pic of what mine looked like. And if you had worms that big they are in every corner of your tank. Sorry. The brown blurry mess at bottom are the huge clusters of eggs.

[/IMG]

 

[Philwd]

BTW wrasses WILL NOT pick them off the corals although they will eat them if blown off into the water column. This is not a cure but "may" serve as a level of control.