Acro Eating Flatworms (AEFW)

[triggerhappy8]

Has anyone ever had a problem with AEFW in their tank before? I had a problem with a bonsai that I bought from another reefer recently and was thinking that my lighting was insufficient. AJ (showtime) looked at it and let me know that it was infested with AEFW.

Does anyone have any good remedies that they would like to share? Any experience out there at all? I know this isn't going to be easy, but I would like to protect my frags I just got from Scientific Coral last night.

I have heard that they tend to gravitate toward tricolor acropora first and tend to leave alone species like the Bali Slimer. Is this true? Is the only solution really to take out all acropora, put them in a QT, scrape away all eggs, FW with medication dips until all parasites are gone, then leave in QT for 6 weeks? That sounds crazy. Please Help...

 

[glxtrix]

yup, use to have them. Check out this site:

http://www.melevsreef.com/aefw.html">http://www.melevsreef.com/aefw.html</a>

Buy some fluke tabs and treat ALL acros no matter what they are.

 

[schwaggs]

Yikes, they look like a pain... GOOD LUCK!

 

[triggerhappy8]

Thanks. I set up my QT today so I can start my treatment. Here is fingers crossed. I dont want to lose all my nice new acros. I got a Starry Night and Bali Slimer from Scientific Coral and a huuuuuge Blue Tortuosa for $12 on the sale rack at Marine Fish. They are all awesome and there are no signs of infestation yet but I am going to QT and treat them just to be sure.

 

[showtime305]

Man I forgot all about the acros that you picked up that night. It's good to know you are treating for them now and not waiting to see if they are still there. I'm glad you brought that frag to the meeting because you could infected your new frags also. Most of the tissue on that bonsai is gone except for a small amount around the base. I think a combination of the dips and be scraping off eggs stressed it out pretty bad. I wish I had a better camera so I could have taken some pictures of the infection.

 

[triggerhappy8]

I am so glad I ended up giving you that bonsai too. It can be a gorgeous coral and I spent a pretty penny on it, but it was better to lose that and find the source of my problems than lose tons of money down the road. Once again thank you a ton for the awesome call. I would have never known even to look for that. Maybe you should just snip the entire top off and try to salvage what is left of the base? Better to have a small frag to start with than nothing at all I suppose.

 

[casper75]

I had them over a year ago. I got them from an online site wont say any names.I ended up taking all my corals out and letting my tank set empty for 6 mths. It realy sucked but what can you do

 

[triggerhappy8]

Quick question... Is a blue millepora considered an acro. I want to be safe.

 

[cameron]

Try that Salifert Flatworm Exit... this thing is a miracle worker on every flatworm-esk critter I have tested it with and no coral has been harmed in my tests (which includes several acro colonies). Test in a QT environment first for obvious reasons, but I think it ultimately can go in your main tank if you follow the directions very closely.

 

[casper75]

it doesnt work on AEFW though

 

[triggerhappy8]

Casper, I have heard the same thing also unfortunately. I have heard that the random Fluke stuff works well, and on occasions, Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure and Lugols solution have worked also. I am going to try the Fluke stuff first but have the others in my mind as a backup if it doesn't go how I hope.

 

[showtime305]

I used the Seachem coral dip before I noticed the eggs. The AEFW were so small that I barely noticed them in the bucket. Unfortunately nothing treats eggs so you will have to leave those corals in QT for weeks to make sure your tank is AEFW free.

 

[cameron]

casper75;88972 wrote: it doesnt work on AEFW though

Someone got a thread on that? I haven't seen a worm yet this stuff doesn't work on... my dusters even hate this stuff.

 

[showtime305]

It says that they were not affected until the dosage was raised to 30x the amount needed to kill normal flatworms.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/mc/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/mc/index.php</a>

It's on the bottom half of the page.

 

[cameron]

From what I have seen of Exit you dont' want those concentrations anyway. This stuff pisses of inverts at recommended dosages from my observations much less at 30x. Just suprised given its effectiveness on other flatworm and flatwormesk creatures.

 

[casper75]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=899108">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=899108</a>
[IMG]http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1000257">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1000257</a>

 

[glxtrix]

just do the fluke tab stuff I posted about. It will work w/o wondering if you got them or not, you DONT want to mess around with these things.