Could this Damage be caused by AEFW

[aarbutina]

So long story short, I have been battling a small case of AEFW for a couple months now. I have also been experiencing some STN on some of my acros that I havent been attributing to the FWs since the particular corals haven’t been displaying any of the traditional “bite” marks. In most cases the STN will continue of a few days or weeks then then seemingly resolve itself and new growth starts to cove where the STN was.

Here is an example or what I have seen...

This was is a BattleCorals AquaticMan Table. It have been in the tank for quite a while almost a year. It took some time of it to start growing but once it did I felt like it was going at a pretty decent clip.

The recession seen here has happened over the past couple of weeks. So the question is does that look like damage that FWs could cause?

I have also been dosing RedSea AB+ since it was release at the end of March and FWStop of the last three weeks.

Those were the most major changes I have made in my tank since I started seeing issues with various corals (other than vote marks). I’ll also say that the waves of recession started before I was regularly dosing the FWStop. I just keep going back to the AB+ and wondering if this screwed something up since I was really starting to see some positive results prior to using it. But like all reefers I thought maybe I can make it better.

i should also note that I do have other acros that that are actively growing and showing no signs of stress. That’s whathas me leaning to a more localized cause and less overall water chemistry. Would love to hear some thoughts. And would be happy to answer any questions.

 

[MelReefer]

Bump #reefsquad

 

[aarbutina]

Thanks for the bump @MelReefer

 

[Crabs McJones]

Doesn't look like it. Usually AEFW is random, this appears to only be happening on the encrusting part of the coral. Have you physically seen AEFW on or around it?

 

[MelReefer]

Thanks for the bump @MelReefer

Np I hate seeing posts that haven’t been answered in days. Makes me feel sad that no one helped. Personally I have no experience with your problem so I shouldn’t be offering advice.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

No but it doesn’t mean they aren’t somewhere else hiding. They are sneaky. That has a clean line of tissue loss and aefw makes the acros look patchy or just all around pale and sick when really bad.

 

[aarbutina]

Doesn't look like it. Usually AEFW is random, this appears to only be happening on the encrusting part of the coral. Have you physically seen AEFW on or around it?

Yeah that’s what I was thinking. I have seen the FWs around just not in this coral specifically. Right not they are trying to have their way with a piece of Pink Cadillac which has the typical patchiness from bite marks

 

[aarbutina]

No but it doesn’t mean they aren’t somewhere else hiding. They are sneaky. That has a clean line of tissue loss and aefw makes the acros look patchy or just all around pale and sick when really bad.

Yeah, honestly I was just kinda hoping it was AEFW (said no one ever) so it wasn’t another unknown issue at the same time. Any thoughts on what could cause this type of damage?

 

[LARedstickreefer]

It’s probably a water quality issue...Low nutrients/high alkalinity maybe?

 

[aarbutina]

It’s probably a water quality issue...Low nutrients/high alkalinity maybe?

It could be... but this only seems to be specific acros and not all. The recession goes for a bit then stops.

alk has been steady around 7.6 for months (Trident controlled dosing).

Havent tested nitrate recently but probably should. My last phosphate result was at 0.01ppm(Hanna low range phosphorous checker). I did have a spike when I first started dosing AB+ to 0.06 ppm but that was back in mid April (he says knowing that sometimes acros show signs of stress from months before).

 

[LARedstickreefer]

It could be... but this only seems to be specific acros and not all. The recession goes for a bit then stops.

alk has been steady around 7.6 for months (Trident controlled dosing).

Havent tested nitrate recently but probably should. My last phosphate result was at 0.01ppm(Hanna low range phosphorous checker). I did have a spike when I first started dosing AB+ to 0.06 ppm but that was back in mid April (he says knowing that sometimes acros show signs of stress from months before).

Thats a pretty low phosphate level...

Each coral will have it’s own threshold before a water quality issue starts to affect it. I’d feed more and keep things stable. I’ve seen my Acroporas do that and then recover, from time to time.

Edit: Some corals are just fopdoodles and die no matter what you do.

 

[kireek]

Do you have a full tank shot available? I see what might be a vertimid snail tube up front.That may be irritating this particular coral.It's kinda hard to tell though.

 

[jsvand5]

Just a theory of mine but one of my tanks when I was younger had AEFW and even corals that dipped clean always looked bad and had STN. Then when I finally broke down and dipped every coral weekly for six weeks and killed the flatworms all the corals turned around and started growing great. I almost wonder if the flatworms excrete something that weakens even the corals that aren’t yet affected and show no bites or worms in dips. I was dipping corals in a very strong Bayer dip and the ones showing STN like in your pic never had worms pop off but continued to slowly die until the worms were gone.

 

[ScottB]

Go after that vermetid snail with some needle nose pliers. All the way back to the base. Stab it with a paper clip then cover it with epoxy or super glue. They are evil.