so, i would like to ask or confirm the effects of bayer on fish/nems. my tank so far has only 4 nems, 4 fish (2 clowns, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 6-line wrasse), and pods here and there. what would happen to them should i dip the rocks bayer solution? of course, i plan on rinse the rocks/frags after the bayer-dip. just want to plan for the worst case scenario.
The above method is a a very poor plan of attack for AEFW... you will start a new cycle every time you dip the rocks and will have to deal with die off and on top of it, you will not kill the AEFW eggs...
There is no dip which works against the eggs, so meanwhile you might kill the traveling FW, you will not kill the eggs meaning multiple rock dippings will be needed creating die off and ammonia spikes which will affect your tank inhabitants.
The only proven method to eradicate AEFW is to remove all acros from the system for a minimum of 5 weeks and starve them in the DT(I suggest 5-8 weeks free of acros)... I am not sure how many acros you currently have, however I used a 20g long tank which was 20$ + a aquaclear, Ecotech and heater which I had sitting around and removed some rubble from my main tank and stuffed in the aquaclear along with some filter floss... My tank is a 120g with a 36g sump and I had quite the SPS collection. As long as your DT doesn't have any acros for the 5 week period, the cycle breaks and the worms will die without any source of food.
Setup a 20g QT tank and do a 20g water-change in the QT tank(make sure the hose is suspended in the column to avoid sucking any fw, although it doesn't matter if you do as we expect the coral to have AEFW and eggs)
Now, you need to dip/treat the removed coral every 5 days to a week as typically the eggs will be on the base of coral and often enough under the skin of the coral... by weekly dipping the coral you will eradicate the FW before they reach sexual maturity and wont reproduce and you will notice less and less in your dip water - I suggest using Coral RX or Revive to kill the AEFW or bayer solution
You will need a separate light to keep the corals happy and you might get some color loss due to tank switch. If you don't have a extra light I suggest borrowing one or just plain out purchasing something cheap and used (I use a Radion 1st gen with lens for this purpose and i like it as it doesn't create much heat - my qt tank is besides my sump in the stand)
I know setting up a QT is a drag and added cost to the hobby, but you need to ask yourself a few questions, how much do you have invested in coral+fish? are you ready to lose all and start fresh? or would you rather drop 100-200$, setup a QT tank and treat the problem along with ability to treat any other incoming frags... and fish for that matter. I hated the idea of starting a QT tank, but trust me, you cant put a price on a QT tank as it will be the best investment you can possibly make, the last thing you will want is to add a sick coral/fish to a established tank and get a complete wipe out or deal with pests on colonies...
Any other new frags/corals go in the QT acclimation/observation and any new fish go in the QT for acclimation/observation/feedings and after the treatment/observation/acclimation period you know any additions to the DT is pest free and healthy. In this QT i suggest getting a ammonia stick on meter and doing a minimum of 2gal water change a week; I suggest 5g weekly water changes and that way you will replenish most nutrients, although you will need to monitor the ALK/Ca levels in this tank.
Another method which I believe will work long term is to keep dipping all acros every 5 days for 10 weeks+ with the hopes to eventually kill every single living fw before it reaches sexual maturity. Melev did this for his tank and seemed to work
, here is a very detailed blog of his encounters.
I've setup my 120 in December of last year and ever since I've had this tank I've treated acropora eating flatworks, flat worms, monti eating nudibrances and zoa eating nudibranches... some of the frags came from reputable stores and some came from members on our local forum and claim they never knew they had pests.
Also what I've noticed is that some reefers will dip the coral before selling, and that way they ensure there is no visible pests on their stuff, however that doesn't kill the eggs. Then you get home with the frag and dip it without any pests showing up, so the frag goes in the DT... Then if you're lucky, in three weeks later you will be find AEFW (usually takes 3-5 weeks as they need to reach their sexual prime
Last point is to get some fish which hunt these pests down, like a melanrus wrasse, choris/banana wrasse and pipe fish. These guys will not eradicate the FW's but will keep them to a minimum if you happen to contact them again. Six line will get very aggressive so you might want to reconsider that fish.
Moral of the story is to ALWAYS, ALWAYS QT any coral/fish for a minimum of 3 weeks.
