Aefw...why not just dip a plug less frag and be done?

David3147

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New coral has AEFW on initial potassium dip. Why would I not be able to just snap it off the plug crazy glue any dead bits, and drop right into a DT.

Can any aefw survive the dip? Can eggs be on live tissue ?
 
You certainly could do this, but it is worth mentioning that you may not be able to destroy all of the eggs and risk infecting your entire system.
Depending on how you administered your KCl dip some aefw might survive it. I have done 10g KCl/liter of tank water for 12 minutes with no issues. KCl is a pretty gentle dip for acros, they’ll slime up a lot but recover fast if your system is stable.
AEFW only lay their eggs on coral skeleton or rocks but not live acropora tissue. The adults and hatchlings will be found on the acropora tissue.
In my opinion, if you encounter aefw on an acro you should immediately debase the coral from whatever it is attached on. Then keenly inspect the coral for eggs with a magnifying glass or microscope. If you see any, destroy them! You can get a toothpick and just smash all of them. Afterwards, if possible isolate the infected coral and observe it. If the coral is 100% covered with live tissue there is a low likelihood that there are any surviving adults on the coral if the KCl dip was done properly. If there is any exposed skeleton or dead areas there is higher chance of eggs being present.

AEFW has got to be one of the biggest annoyances and pains in this hobby, so it is best to take as many precautions as possible to avoid introducing them to an established system. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy dipping your entire acro collection every week for 2 months straight!
 

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