Calling all AEFW rip and dip experts - logistics?

jd-woodlands · Apr 4, 2022

yesterday was week 4 of dipping, took the recommendations on Melafix and gave that a go.

so far, this was the worst dip as far as coral health goes. Have 5 pieces RTN after Melafix, they went crazy pale shortly after the dip and immediately started losing tissue.

dipped according to dosage instructions and timing - well post carnage later tonight.

I guess I won’t have to worry about AEFW if I don’t have any acros left at the end of this.

jd-woodlands · Apr 4, 2022

what the heck! Carnage today, melafix was not a good idea.

12 colonies RTN in 48 hours, water is cloudy now.

not going to have any acros left at this point if it keeps going this way.

jd-woodlands · Apr 4, 2022

Out of the tank…. 90% of these were somewhat healthy and had good color prior to the dip on Sunday. Some good pieces in here. Pink Floyd, tsa Dan akroid, Walt Disney, wwc Jell-O shot, and on and on…….

HudsonReefer2.0 · Apr 4, 2022

Sry for the losses. What brand of potassium chloride did u use?

jd-woodlands · Apr 4, 2022

HudsonReefer2.0 said:
Sry for the losses. What brand of potassium chloride did u use?

Have to check Amazon order, something from there. I switched to melafix on Sunday the this happened.

jd-woodlands · Apr 4, 2022

jd-woodlands said:
Have to check Amazon order, something from there. I switched to melafix on Sunday the this happened.

HudsonReefer2.0 · Apr 4, 2022

I use this. No issues.

HudsonReefer2.0 · Apr 4, 2022

jd-woodlands said:

Idk if that is the correct product.

HudsonReefer2.0 · Apr 4, 2022

HudsonReefer2.0 said:
Idk if that is the correct product.

What else is in that?

jd-woodlands · Apr 4, 2022

It’s USP 100% KCl.. same same.

HudsonReefer2.0 · Apr 4, 2022

jd-woodlands said:
It’s USP 100% KCl.. same same.

Yeah just chkd it out. Sry bro.

jd-woodlands · Apr 5, 2022

Another morning, another tray full of RTN Acros….. seriously getting down to the last handful of survivors.

at this rate I might be done dipping earlier than expected if nothing survives

Graffiti Spot · Apr 5, 2022

Not good news. Considering both dips most have good luck with in being very gentle on acros, maybe the corals were to weak to be dipped? Dips shouldn’t cause a coral to rtn like that, ime the dips will cause the coral to die with a clean skeleton and your pics look like an infection set in possibly. Maybe stop dipping and see if things stop dying overnight? Curious to the ratio of melafix you used though I forgot what was suggested.

jd-woodlands · Apr 5, 2022

Graffiti Spot said:
Not good news. Considering both dips most have good luck with in being very gentle on acros, maybe the corals were to weak to be dipped? Dips shouldn’t cause a coral to rtn like that, ime the dips will cause the coral to die with a clean skeleton and your pics look like an infection set in possibly. Maybe stop dipping and see if things stop dying overnight? Curious to the ratio of melafix you used though I forgot what was suggested.

followed directions on bottle, 20ml per 1/2 gallon for 3-5 minutes. Kinda over it at this point, at least I have a spare tank of non acros I can start over with.

HudsonReefer2.0 · Apr 5, 2022

jd-woodlands said:
followed directions on bottle, 20ml per 1/2 gallon for 3-5 minutes. Kinda over it at this point, at least I have a spare tank of non acros I can start over with.

Bro I lost 2/3 of an order recently w Bayer dip using a well known reefers method and followed the instructions to a T. Kinda made me question a lot. Sucked. Since then using KCL no ill effects. I can only imagine. If u were in NJ I’d hook ya up w some frags.

Ashish Patel · Apr 6, 2022

Wow, sorry for the carnage. I know its disheartening but you sharing your experience is great for the hobby. I had AEFW few year ago in my system for 3 months before i caught the colonie that had the flatworms. I wanted to learn about them and wanted to see if they had spread, surprisingly they did not leave the acro that they where feeding on - even when i made 5 frags when it was changing color and spreading them around the tank. I had a valida close by too and it never got flatworms. So I am on the mindset if you catch them early and dont mount your frags, chances are they will not spread. There lifecycle is short and they will not leave their feeding and breeding site unless that absolutely need too.

Maybe late but this is my plan or my thinking.

1. Large colonies are more likely to die when change in environment. So I expect I will end up killing majority them faster than flatworms. Moreover, Its easier to spot eggs and pest on a smaller frag than a large colonie.

2. I would take at least 5 frags of each colonies, Dip them, and put them in this separate QT. This frags will NOT have eggs on them, just live AEFW. Therefore, will be far easier to get pest free then a large colonies with eggs living on the base. Having multiple frags ensures survival of at least 1 of the 5 frags.

3. Remove all acros from the display and starve out the flatworms.

Its not too late to start making smaller frags. Good luck

jd-woodlands · Apr 6, 2022

Ashish Patel said:
Wow, sorry for the carnage. I know its disheartening but you sharing your experience is great for the hobby. I had AEFW few year ago in my system for 3 months before i caught the colonie that had the flatworms. I wanted to learn about them and wanted to see if they had spread, surprisingly they did not leave the acro that they where feeding on - even when i made 5 frags when it was changing color and spreading them around the tank. I had a valida close by too and it never got flatworms. So I am on the mindset if you catch them early and dont mount your frags, chances are they will not spread. There lifecycle is short and they will not leave their feeding and breeding site unless that absolutely need too.

Maybe late but this is my plan or my thinking.

1. Large colonies are more likely to die when change in environment. So I expect I will end up killing majority them faster than flatworms. Moreover, Its easier to spot eggs and pest on a smaller frag than a large colonie.

2. I would take at least 5 frags of each colonies, Dip them, and put them in this separate QT. This frags will NOT have eggs on them, just live AEFW. Therefore, will be far easier to get pest free then a large colonies with eggs living on the base. Having multiple frags ensures survival of at least 1 of the 5 frags.

3. Remove all acros from the display and starve out the flatworms.

Its not too late to start making smaller frags. Good luck

Oh it’s too late.

Here’s tonight’s RTN cleanup.

I now have exactly 2 frags left. 2 randoms, not even sure what they are at this point.

just to recap, here’s the post tear down ready to dip tank:

and here we are now…..

HuduVudu · Apr 6, 2022

This is the hard lesson reefers have to learn.

Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

Your lucky to still have fish. The silver lining I suppose.

jd-woodlands · Apr 7, 2022

HuduVudu said:
This is the hard lesson reefers have to learn.

Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

Your lucky to still have fish. The silver lining I suppose.

Agreed for the most part, but infestation was becoming unmanageable. Basting doesn’t seem to work well with a packed tank and mature colonies.

Pretty much just distributing the flatworms throughout the tank and it was a never ending cycle of baste, semi recover, baste, try some new product that is a miracle cure (which doesn’t work), baste, etc.

They were all slowly getting eaten alive, this process unfortunately just sped the process up and didn’t work for me.

Silver lining for me is fish are healthy, and it speeds up my upgrade timeline to a bigger tank to start over. Will be a LOT more careful introducing corals (especially Acros) in the future. Stay tuned for a new build thread, this thread is pretty much over now that I don’t have acros left to dip.