Is this AEFW? (acro eating flatworms)

[david p.]

Ha, where do you get these? I'd like to get some. [emoji3]

They are cousin to the Aptasia eating flat worm [emoji12]

Pretty sure he means acropora.

 

[gar732]

One of the best tanks I've ever seen had aefw, they can be lived with, however this particular tank was well established with very large colonies. I've beat them before but it involved dipping every sps weekly for a few months. Dipping corals is a great first step but no dip will kill the eggs. Your procedure will work well coupled with a QT, a QT is the only way to keep them out of your tank.

If I were you I'd dip what I could and blow off what I couldn't for your fish to pick off. None of the wrasses I've tried picked them off the coral, they always had to be in the water column before they'd eat them.

 

[david p.]

i was wondering if it could help if i frag my colony, as shown on the first picture, it grew on an hod shape, i have like 3-4'' from the rock to the top where part of the skeleton is dead, it is slowly recovering from when i purchased it, new tissu is slowly covering the dead tissu, but i doubt i will fully recuperate, no light there. all the top section has no bites or any signs of AEFW.

if i cut the top and keep it, with a couple of dips and the next couple months. dump the bottom part where i can see marks, would that help ? by removing the infected part, i dump potential egg cluster.
egg cluster are laid near dead tissu right ?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

You can dip all acros and return them to the tank afterwards. Try melafix for dipping for aefw. A qt tank will stress your acros unless you really make it like the display and hook it up to the system. The key to getting rid of them is keeping your acros happy and healthy while you have the aefw.
Start your dipping before the population explodes or baste with a power head every few days and make sure the fish eat them to keep them in check before you begin dips.
I tell people all the time the clip and dip method is not a surefire way to keep aefw out of a system. It does work well but not a sure bet like many think. I like to keep new acros in a different tank to observe before adding to my system. Good luck and keep us updated! Great pictures and beautiful tank as well.

 

[MichaelsReef]

I have been living with flatworms in my heavily stocked 180 gallon sps tank for several years. I found that dipping the corals constantly puts a ton of stress on corals. You almost have to assume that they are on other corals. Look at the base of the coral for the eggs..which look like tiny clusters of brown dots. I take a turkey Baster and blow off my corals once or twice a week. Most wrasses will gobble them up once they are in the water column. I have just added it as part of my weekly routine.. not the end of the world

 

[Heather w]

Indeed it is AEFW. Following...

I hope it is not something toxic. your tank is gorgeous and shows the love and care you invest in it. best of luck.

 

[david p.]

I have been living with flatworms in my heavily stocked 180 gallon sps tank for several years. I found that dipping the corals constantly puts a ton of stress on corals. You almost have to assume that they are on other corals. Look at the base of the coral for the eggs..which look like tiny clusters of brown dots. I take a turkey Baster and blow off my corals once or twice a week. Most wrasses will gobble them up once they are in the water column. I have just added it as part of my weekly routine.. not the end of the world

thx, that's encouraging. i looked for egg cluster, but no chance so far.

 

[anthonyroc]

I am currently dealing with them as well. They suck I dipped again all my sps in revive for the fourth time last night not one flat worm came off and seen no eggs. Will probably dip 1/2 more times. I pulled all sps off rocks and placed on frag racks I have been told they lay the eggs on the rocks and it's better to treat away from the rocks. I also thought they were only on one coral but I was wrong you just can't see them the eggs will be on the base of the coral.

 

[Ladysabertooth]

trade your algae eating flatworms for my red flatworms

 

[Ladysabertooth]

yeah I will be going Saturday to my LFS to look for a wrasse to see if it will eat the little buggers if now the next option will be flatworm exit

 

[jcdeng]

your best bet at this point would be interceptor. If not you can try to live with it, get some acro crabs, they might help. Best of luck!

 

[aaron23]

I think everyone is saying to dip all the acros but thats not necessary. AEFW don't crawl around looking for more acros they go from one to the next and they go for specific acros.

 

[aaron23]

your best bet at this point would be interceptor. If not you can try to live with it, get some acro crabs, they might help. Best of luck!

I think you may have aefw confused with red bugs

 

[dwref]

This is just my 2 cents worth, but I just went through a battle with the lovely AEFW's. It is a battle, what most people on here are saying about if you have them on one, then you have them all over. I used " Levamisole" it is a pig Dewormer, it is getting very hard to find. Almost to the point of having to have a prescription to get it. But by using this, you do not have to remove anything from the tank, you actually treat the whole tank. I must agree with whomever said they will be on your rock work also. So dipping will not kill them all, it will help, but you must also kill the eggs that are on the rocks. Wrasse's work, but once you feed him, he will back off the worms, at least that is what I found. I used the Levamisole 4 times, once a week, then 24 hrs later did a 25% water change, last time I used it, I went 36hrs & did a 50% water change, then added carbon as they are very poisonous & can crash your tank, that is why I used carbon, changed it every wk also. As I said, this is just what I did that seemed to have worked. I haven't lost anymore acros since, crossing my fingers as I say that. Hope this helps. you can Goggle the "Pig Dewormer" & find it on another forum. I just found it & followed what another guy did & as I said, so far so good. Best of Luck to ya

 

[david p.]

i'm confused.

i did turkey baster on monfay and yesterday in a white container in some tank water. Nothing fell off the colony. I assumed that no eggs hatched since last dip(sunday)

Tonight i decide to dip in Revive, still have nothing. not that i want to find them.. but... should they come off easily ?

 

[anthonyroc]

i'm confused.

i did turkey baster on monfay and yesterday in a white container in some tank water. Nothing fell off the colony. I assumed that no eggs hatched since last dip(sunday)

Tonight i decide to dip in Revive, still have nothing. not that i want to find them.. but... should they come off easily ?

When I started my first dip yes they came right off in the revive. Like I stated before though they will lay eggs on the rocks I dip once a week. And have removed all sps from the rock work for that reason.

 

[markalot]

Ah Canada, I was going to ask why you were dipping in Revive. So there's no way to get Bayer up there?

The problem I've seen with the dip routines is you can stress the corals and end up losing what you are trying to save. Blowing and inspecting can keep them in check, plus using a product like Flatworm Stop can help slow them down (but not stop them) by increasing tissue mucus.

Just my two cents, do whatever you feel most comfortable doing.

 

[cprice]

I'm starting to learn how to "live with" rather than "completely eradicate" AEFW. I have roughly 265g with SPS encrusting on every rock in the rank so remove and dip isn't an option for me.

Like david p. said, just find a routine that works for you and manage them if you can't get rid of them all.

 

[david p.]

ok... now i'm ticked.
the picture are pretty clear, right ?
could it be something else than AEFW ? not that i deny the problem, but i have dipped in Revive my 'initial' colony with most of the surrounding colonies and frags. All done in a white countainer every 3 days. i have not found any other of those brown critters... i don't see more bite marks. the ones i observed remains untouched.
i'm getting parnoid on losing my SPS on AEFW... and i can't find them... at least if i could get some it would mean i'm 'progressing'.

could it be something else ?!?!?! or just need to be patient ?

 

[sawdonkey]

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.