AEFW marks?

[krak256]

I noticed a few small colonies in my tank have the tell tale AEFW circular bite marks and have dipped and removed them. However I have this colony that seems to have something going on but I can’t tell if it’s AEFW related.

The skin seems a bit thin and mottled. I did have an alk swing recently and was wondering if it’s related to that.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ReefingDreams]

Definitely looks stressed. Could be that the AEFW have just infected it. Consider a KCl dip.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Traditionally, aefw bite marks look like little circles of exposed skeleton. I can't see that from the photo.

Another sign is tiny orange eggs at the base of exposed skeleton. Do you see any eggs?

 

[krak256]

Definitely looks stressed. Could be that the AEFW have just infected it. Consider a KCl dip.

KCI potassium chloride?

 

[krak256]

Traditionally, aefw bite marks look like little circles of exposed skeleton. I can't see that from the photo.

Another sign is tiny orange eggs at the base of exposed skeleton. Do you see any eggs?

Not on this colony but yes to others. Here is an example:

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Yep... Definitely aefw.

Depending on the size of your tank and how many acros you have will determine how tedious and difficult the road ahead is for you.

I had this a few years back and I opted to remove all acros from my tank and place them into a frag tank.

I dipped the corals in potassium chloride every 6 days for 6 weeks to kill off all the worms and then the newly hatched offspring.

I'm pretty sure I documented it somewhere. I'll search for it.

After about week 2 I didn't see any large worms coming off anymore, buy don't let that be the sign to stop. KCI is cloudy which makes it hard to see the little guys.

Plus you need to remove the food source from your display by allowing them to starve for 6 weeks.

 

[krak256]

Yep... Definitely aefw.

Depending on the size of your tank and how many acros you have will determine how tedious and difficult the road ahead is for you.

I had this a few years back and I opted to remove all acros from my tank and place them into a frag tank.

I dipped the corals in potassium chloride every 6 days for 6 weeks to kill off all the worms and then the newly hatched offspring.

I'm pretty sure I documented it somewhere. I'll search for it.

After about week 2 I didn't see any large worms coming off anymore, buy don't let that be the sign to stop. KCI is cloudy which makes it hard to see the little guys.

Plus you need to remove the food source from your display by allowing them to starve for 6 weeks.

Unfortunately that is going to be difficult as I have a number of large encrusted colonies. Oddly enough, it appears that the AEFW have attacked the smaller colonies/frags rather than the large ones

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Unfortunately that is going to be difficult as I have a number of large encrusted colonies. Oddly enough, it appears that the AEFW have attacked the smaller colonies/frags rather than the large ones

My colonies were large as well, and it was a chore to do. I basically cut 3" ceramic squares and glued the corals to them and placed them in a frag tank. There were a lot of obstacles with hair algae and preventing that from growing out of control.

There were a lot of peroxide dips and manual removal.

My thought was that this was necessary to achieve the best outcome. I didn't want to see my corals slowly die from an ever increasing population of aefw.

They were only on a handful of corals for me as well.

I'm sure there are other options, to where you can increase your wrasse population and commit to routinely blowing your corals with a turkey baster. I'm not sure if that is sustainable, maybe it is, everybodies commitment level is different.

I just know that if you leave it alone, you're going to lose everything.

Not to discouraged you, but let me tell you this. At the beginning I hated the idea of doing all that work, and it took hours to dip all those corals every 6 days, not to mention the algae control as well.

I hated every moment of it, from staring at an empty 4 year old tank to summoning up the motivation to do the work. However, looking back at it, I'm glad that I put in the effort.

2 years later it has bounced back.

 

[PeterErc]

My colonies were large as well, and it was a chore to do. I basically cut 3" ceramic squares and glued the corals to them and placed them in a frag tank. There were a lot of obstacles with hair algae and preventing that from growing out of control.

There were a lot of peroxide dips and manual removal.

My thought was that this was necessary to achieve the best outcome. I didn't want to see my corals slowly die from an ever increasing population of aefw.

They were only on a handful of corals for me as well.

I'm sure there are other options, to where you can increase your wrasse population and commit to routinely blowing your corals with a turkey baster. I'm not sure if that is sustainable, maybe it is, everybodies commitment level is different.

I just know that if you leave it alone, you're going to lose everything.

Not to discouraged you, but let me tell you this. At the beginning I hated the idea of doing all that work, and it took hours to dip all those corals every 6 days, not to mention the algae control as well.

I hated every moment of it, from staring at an empty 4 year old tank to summoning up the motivation to do the work. However, looking back at it, I'm glad that I put in the effort.

2 years later it has bounced back.

That’s some seriously good info. I feel your pain. This is my experience with them.
I lost the battle to them twice. First time I treated the acro in the display. Took out all the mini colonies and encrusted rock. Set egg crate in the tank for the coral to sit on a dipped every week. I ended up at 8 weeks because I was still finding babies before 6 weeks. I put the rock in a bin of saltwater and cooked it on the porch. Set tank back up.
Second time the tank was coming down anyway. Set up a frag system and moved everything over. Later found out had monti nudi’s as well once some frags were put in a part of the frag system with wrasse. Again reset the tank after renovations were done, and then again affter that on a new run now.

Quarantine, quarantine, quarantine.

Cry once and do what ya have to do is my recommendation. The feeling of victory, the peace of mind knowing your sticks are clean. Being able to cut a piece and offer it to a buddy. Polyp extension and happy acro are the pros.
The wasted hours of thinking about it, turkey basting, buying wrasse that die and potentially wipe other fish out. Walking around kicking the dog, yelling at the wife(kidding about the dog lol).

And on another note, may want to look closely for white bugs as well. I do not know if routine dipping will eradicate them or not.

Wish ya the best