Is this AEFW? (acro eating flatworms)

[david p.]

I'd say with near certainty that you have aefw. The worm looks a bit weird, but the bit marks are pretty obvious. What is the worm on in the pic? It looks damaged. Blast your colonies with a turkey baster and you'll likely see worms fly off.

i do use a turkey baster while i dip, also i used it on the colonies i don't want to remove from the scape. and i have not seen them floating around.

the worm on the picture, is what i found initially after dipping my colony once i discovered the small white marks, from my search it looked pretty much like AEFW.

i guess i will keep diping but i will spread the dip to once a week to avoid stressing more my colonies/frags.

 

[sawdonkey]

i do use a turkey baster while i dip, also i used it on the colonies i don't want to remove from the scape. and i have not seen them floating around.

the worm on the picture, is what i found initially after dipping my colony once i discovered the small white marks, from my search it looked pretty much like AEFW.

i guess i will keep diping but i will spread the dip to once a week to avoid stressing more my colonies/frags.

Well, if you don't remove your colonies from the rocks, your chance of ridding your tank of aefw is approximately zero. You could choose to live with the worms in your tank, but you just have to be diligent about blowing them off of your corals and would need to get some wrasses that are known to eat them. You'd never be able to sell/give away frags with a good conscience.

You're better off QT'ing and Bayer dipping, but the risk is high of losing your coral and it is a ton of work.

I feel for you. I went through this a few years ago. I tried to QT and dip, but had to leave town with an undersized QT tank. SPS sucked the alk out of the water and everything died. Lost every single acro in my tank. Good luck!

 

[david p.]

ok, first observation was on Nov-19. 18days have passed.
since then, i have found no other AEFW or eggs.
I have dipped about 70% of my SPS, some i can't (or idon't want to) remove from rock scape without damaging significantly the colonies.
I have used a turkey baster every other day, nothing. i put a filter sox on my overflow to capture any free floating, nothing
i keep inspecting all my SPS, no signs of bites.
Even the white bite marks are gone now, see evolution since the Nov-19th

i'm starting to doubt the 'AEFW' picture, could it be something else ? i'm lost. some detritus that once zoomed in looks like this ? some other inhabitant of the reef, but inofensive ?
i will stop the dipping, i can see stress signs on many of my colonies.

 

[anthonyroc]

I dipped 1 time in Bayer and 4 times in revive it's been 3 weeks since the last dip. the last two dips I had nothing come off. I have find inspecting them and have seen nothing at all but it's been around seven weeks total after all the dips and everything else

 

[anthonyroc]

But my acro's looked like the picture they had a little bite marks on them

 

[sawdonkey]

Hmmmm. With those bite marks and that thing that looks like AEFW, I'm still pretty sure that's what you've got. Without dipping everything and QT'ing, you chances of eradicating the is slim.

 

[david p.]

Finally got some AEFW!!! lol...
Find bites on one other colony, turkey baster then 1 AEFW went free floating... within second my clown ate it.

I ended the QT for my 6 line and now in DT, did the TTM stayed a bit more than 3weeks. I KNOW THERE IS A RISK, but.. it is what it is..
I don'T know what the 6line is doing, but he seems to be looking around colonies all the time.

Other than that, i'm still turkey baster daily before feeding time. i also feed frozen food with hte turkey baster so fish associate the baster with food. so i they get in feeding mode when looking for AEFW.
i have not dip any coral since a week.

I have been watching more youtube on AEFW... i'm far far far from the infestation we can find there.

My initial colony is now top shape, found bites on one other colony (the one mentionned above), no other sign so far.

I'm thinking about Flatworm exit since i'm so early in the 'infestation'... still not sure about it since i seem 'in control' of the pest ... so far..

 

[jolt]

I'm not sure, but I don't think Flatworm exit works for AEFW ...

 

[dbassan09]

I've read conflicting reports on fwe, some say that it doesn't work at all for aefw, but some have said that in high doses 5x it does kill them but expensive treatment... If someone knows the truth about this would be appreciated because of tank is not that big should help... I once had zoa eating nudis which I got rid of with a crazy dose of sfe#

 

[Elementalj]

I've read conflicting reports on fwe, some say that it doesn't work at all for aefw, but some have said that in high doses 5x it does kill them but expensive treatment... If someone knows the truth about this would be appreciated because of tank is not that big should help... I once had zoa eating nudis which I got rid of with a crazy dose of sfe#

If you dose that much you'll end up killing everything along with the AEFW in my opinion. It'll rapidly deplete the O2 from what I've seen.

 

[dbassan09]

If you dose that much you'll end up killing everything along with the AEFW in my opinion. It'll rapidly deplete the O2 from what I've seen.

Before treating my tank the consensus was that what made people lose what they had in their tanks was the poison from the fws but if you siphon them prior or in my case that I basically had none that wouldn't be a problem even in high doses... And after going through with it, that seemed to be my experience # I dosed three times over three weeks to get rid of the zoa eating nudis changing water after 12hrs and applying carbon without losing any corals...

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Dbassan09, thoes are red planaria your talking about. Aefw are different.

There is a lot of confusion in this thread and also people giving advice while being confused.

Birdsnest, stylos, montipora and pocillopora are NOT acropora and do not need to be dipped.

Flatworm exit is pointless for use against aefw, period.

If you want to try dipping again when a colony is infected try using melafix marine. Very gentle. In the mean time keep turkey basting everything. I guarantee you the worms are hiding behind those colonies your not wanting to rip off the rocks and can't see behind, they are sneaky demons.
Dip all acros once a week for 5+ weeks to irradiate them. No need for a qt tank. Although you would have to take all acros off the rocks it's worth it to do it before you get lax and they become rampant. Use melafix for this too and the across will become used to the weekly routine, after the third dip things look better. Or live with them while basting and buy a bunch of peppermint shrimp to help eat egg clusters. I think you know what your doing now and either way if your going to dip to get rid of them you could do an Interceptor treatment first just to make sure. Red bugs go hand in hand with aefw and getting rid of small numbers can make a big difference in the look of your acropora and also help your acros recover better from the aefw and dipping process.
Any questions you have ask because we are all here to help each other.

By the way great attitude towards pests!! Props!! When you do everything possible to keep pests out you can't be mad when you get them. Anyways getting mad about pests just ruins the hobby, understanding and dealing with pests is part of the hobby and if you are always worrying about getting them your not enjoying it

 

[david p.]

Dbassan09, thoes are red planaria your talking about. Aefw are different.

There is a lot of confusion in this thread and also people giving advice while being confused.

Birdsnest, stylos, montipora and pocillopora are NOT acropora and do not need to be dipped.

Flatworm exit is pointless for use against aefw, period.

If you want to try dipping again when a colony is infected try using melafix marine. Very gentle. In the mean time keep turkey basting everything. I guarantee you the worms are hiding behind those colonies your not wanting to rip off the rocks and can't see behind, they are sneaky demons.
Dip all acros once a week for 5+ weeks to irradiate them. No need for a qt tank. Although you would have to take all acros off the rocks it's worth it to do it before you get lax and they become rampant. Use melafix for this too and the across will become used to the weekly routine, after the third dip things look better. Or live with them while basting and buy a bunch of peppermint shrimp to help eat egg clusters. I think you know what your doing now and either way if your going to dip to get rid of them you could do an Interceptor treatment first just to make sure. Red bugs go hand in hand with aefw and getting rid of small numbers can make a big difference in the look of your acropora and also help your acros recover better from the aefw and dipping process.
Any questions you have ask because we are all here to help each other.

By the way great attitude towards pests!! Props!! When you do everything possible to keep pests out you can't be mad when you get them. Anyways getting mad about pests just ruins the hobby, understanding and dealing with pests is part of the hobby and if you are always worrying about getting them your not enjoying it

thanks... i guess i won't use FE. anyway never like dropping chemical in my tank.
Still turkey basting... without any AEFW in sight. i guess i'm far from an infestation... will take my time and if needed will proceed with diping 100% of SPS... but i'm not there yet.. some nice one are well encrusted.. we will see how it goes.

 

[david p.]

thought i would update... no other signs of AEFW or whatever it was.... been turkey baster daily and dipped many corals over the past 3 weeks... nothing.
i'm kinda... lost. don't want to stop turkey baster or dipping in case it was AEFW... but i feel... that i'm chasing something that is not there...

is there other criter that can do bite marks ?
could the worm i saw be jsut flat worm or planaria ?

 

[davilahope]

Unforunantly it looks like one =(. If your not able to dip all the corals frequently, try a predator

Which fish will eat aefw?

 

[Sabellafella]

Which fish will eat aefw?

Melanuris wrasse, Springeri damsels (along with some other damsels) some pipefish, 6 line wrasse, seen some people with other wrasses like leopords, tamarin, possums, coris that have eaten flatworms.

 

[davilahope]

Ty as far as I know I've never had them but I'm afraid i will