My battle against AEFW

[Triggreef]

I can not comment on revive because I haven't used it. I did however use coral Rx. I used 8 caps full for 2 gallons of water.

I can confirm that a lot of aefw fell off the corals from dipping because when I finished I had a ton at the bottom. However I can't say how many didn't fall off that weren't effected from coral Rx.

Most of them were dead after the dipping was complete. That I can confirm because when I went to dump the water they were sloshing around in the water. The ones that were alive were clung tight to the bottom of the container and would not budge .

I plan on using BAYER the day after tomorrow on a second round in case the coral Rx didn't take care of some.

I don't think that coral rx does anything. Period. Harsh maybe but I've dipped things in coral rx with nothing coming off, followed by Bayer and tons of life comes off.

What I do with Bayer dip is afterward I put it all out slow until there is only enough left to leave the dead hitch hikers in. Then I refill with fresh water. Then dump most of that and then you can see where left in the container.

I have no experience with aefw but I do use Bayer for everything and suggest doing that maybe even at 5 day intervals. I've read many Bayer v aefw success stories.

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

I don't think that coral rx does anything. Period. Harsh maybe but I've dipped things in coral rx with nothing coming off, followed by Bayer and tons of life comes off.

What I do with Bayer dip is afterward I put it all out slow until there is only enough left to leave the dead hitch hikers in. Then I refill with fresh water. Then dump most of that and then you can see where left in the container.

I have no experience with aefw but I do use Bayer for everything and suggest doing that maybe even at 5 day intervals. I've read many Bayer v aefw success stories.

Hey Thanks for the advice
I agree that BAYER is very effective against aefw. I have always used BAYER as a precautionary dip prior to introducing corals. I believe an aefw eggs got into my system as a result of no QT'ing. The only issue I had with bayer was the dipping solution being to "milky" and not being able to view the contents that fall off. I haven't even previously thought about diluting the solution to see better.

I like coral Rx because it is a clear solution. I am not sure what experiences you had with it but I had some success last night. I am confident that it does kill AEFW because I witness first hand a lot of Aefw dying and coming off the coral. I think the aefw deaths have more to do with exposure time.

It took me about 3 hrs to dip all my sps

I realized the aefw that fell off corals earlier on in the dipping died before the aefws that fell off corals that were dipped later.

 

[Triggreef]

Yeah 3 hours, that's why I say why bother. Bayer's better, faster, and less stressful on the coral. That's why I stick with it.

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

The 3 hr timeframe occurred because I had to remove corals from rock and my container would only hold so many corals at a time . Bayer or coral Rx I think would haventaken the same time. Don't get me wrong though I'm still going to use Bayer.

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

Quick update on my progress.

I lost a few pieces to rtn. I think the coral RX dip might have been a little too harsh but I can't say for sure. It could have been the sudden change of lights or the move to a different tank. I tried to match the ph , salinity, ca and Alk between both tanks prior to moving them over.

Yesterday I did a second round of dipping using Bayer this time. I know it was only two days after my initial dip but I needed a little more security with additional Bayer dip in case any more hatched.

I cut my dipping time from 3 hrs to a little less than an hr using a longer shallow tote I had in storage. I was able to get all my sps dipped at once.

I will continue to dip from now on every 5 days.

 

[clownsrcool]

It didn't hurt most of the corals to leave them in there for 3 hours?? Are there a lot of people that leave theirs in there longer than 10 minutes or so? I usually just do 10 minutes... Should I be going longer?

 

[Triggreef]

His mixture is more diluted than mine, I can see the corals in his water. In mine it's so cloudy I can't tell where the coral is. I go 5 to 10 minutes.

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

It didn't hurt most of the corals to leave them in there for 3 hours?? Are there a lot of people that leave theirs in there longer than 10 minutes or so? I usually just do 10 minutes... Should I be going longer?

When I refer to the time that includes preparations also such as getting everything setup, removing water from the qt to the dipping container ,dipping,rinsing and refilling the qt up with freshly mixed water. I try to let the sps only sit in there for 10 minutes though

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

His mixture is more diluted than mine, I can see the corals in his water. In mine it's so cloudy I can't tell where the coral is. I go 5 to 10 minutes.

The corals you see are actually fairly large and are sticking out the water. I had to turn the colony a few times to make sure all of the colony got dipped. There are several other pieces that are fully submerged that you can not see.

 

[dh350twin]

The corals you see are actually fairly large and are sticking out the water. I had to turn the colony a few times to make sure all of the colony got dipped. There are several other pieces that are fully submerged that you can not see.

If you run a heater couldn't you use the same dip for more corals after you dip some already or do you think dip then replace then dip? I am getting ready to tackle the same problem as you somehow eggs made it in my 300gal even after bayer dips but no QT!

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

If you run a heater couldn't you use the same dip for more corals after you dip some already or do you think dip then replace then dip? I am getting ready to tackle the same problem as you somehow eggs made it in my 300gal even after bayer dips but no QT!

Hey Bud sorry to hear about your aefw infestation. I will never make the same mistake not qting corals ever again.

As per your question I reuse the same dip for multiple sets of corals. I don't even use a heater. The water stays consistent at room temp and for me that is around 75 degrees. From my experience I think re using the dip for multiple corals is fine as long as your not saving the dip to use the next day.

Some reefers might disagree with me become there is the chance the water potentially becoming toxic from all the die off. I have never had issues though.

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

I resumed dipping yesterday.

I have lost some coral to stn since I started this thread. I think it was the stress from aefw and the move to a qt that stressed my corals causing the losses.

I don't have much more to report other than still having flatworms. There are still a lot falling off after I dip and They are in abundance.

My display tank is full of lps and some non acropora sps. I miss having sps in it. I just recently got some orange gel filters and a cheapo macro lenses for my iPhone off eBay. Got some photos of my acro less dt to share. Hope y'all enjoy.

 

[Rasengan]

can you possibly share some of the pictures you sent to Diesel that lead you both to believe you did have an infestation? whenever anything happens to any of my acros, whether it be STN/RTN or paling i immediately look for AEFW...thankfully it's always been something else, usually water quality issue but i'm deathly afraid of AEFW and would like to know exactly what it is i need to look for other than the round bite marks and orange egg sacs, decreased polyp extension, pale sps

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

can you possibly share some of the pictures you sent to Diesel that lead you both to believe you did have an infestation? whenever anything happens to any of my acros, whether it be STN/RTN or paling i immediately look for AEFW...thankfully it's always been something else, usually water quality issue but i'm deathly afraid of AEFW and would like to know exactly what it is i need to look for other than the round bite marks and orange egg sacs, decreased polyp extension, pale sps

These were the original photos I sent to him.

 

[BrotherSheepDog]

I did another round of dipping last night with bayer. When it was all said and done I saw some larger dead aefw.

Am I suppose to still see larger Adult aefw at this stage.?I have been dipping every 5 days or less since I started this thread.

For those who have eradicated aefw previously at what point should I stop seeing aefw adults?

 

[dh350twin]

Sorry for your loss. I to am at week 2 of this process and I have lost some nice acros. I am still losing some I believe from the stress of moving to Qt tank. My question to Op or anyone with experience setting up and maintaining a SPS QT TANK. Please chime in or start another thread and link it with details of how you did it. It's hard enough to keep acros happy in the main tank how can we do this in a qt tank?

 

[bairdimusprime]

such a gorgeous tank, sorry you have to go through this nightmare!

 

[jolt]

My eyes are not picking out what allowed Diesel to confirm AEFW in your pictures in post 74. What am I missing?

 

[Sabellafella]

My eyes are not picking out what allowed Diesel to confirm AEFW in your pictures in post 74. What am I missing?

Look for bald spots.

 

[Peng]

I fought the same battle and just read about this on Facebook and I registered on this forum just to answer your question.

The Coral RX works so does Bayer. For RX you need 20mL per 3.8L for 5 mins. For Bayer there is no standard regarding how much you put in but generally people go for about 5 to 10 mL per cup for 5 - 10 mins. More is not better. I got shocked reading that you did dipping for 3 hours. All you need for dipping is to knock AEFWs off and check the eggs. You do not need to kill them because that will seriously damage the coral in the same time which is why your corals have been dying.

I did dipping for 2 month, once every weekend, so eight times in total. If you use a QT you need to make sure the tank is cycled and is stable. Most importantly you need to make sure that the light is good for them (T5, MH, high-quality LEDs). I dipped non-smoothskin in RX, 10mins first time and then 5 mins since the 2nd time. For smoothskin I dipped in Bayer (RX tends to be quite harsh for some smooth skin corals) for about 5mL per cup.

I've been AEFW free ever since. After the first 2 dips I never found any more AEFW. But I had the same situation with you, my corals were dying fast and browning out horribly. Most of the corals survived the dipping actually fairly well. They didn't even seem to be quite bothered by RX/Bayer after a few weeks. PEs were great & colors got back after a month or so. You can use a small pump/powerhead while running the RX or Bayer. Long-time exposure in Bayer tends to burn off corals tips and their slime. Again, the goal is not to kill AEFWs but to knock them off. For RX I direct a small powerhead at infected corals and at round 2mins AEFWs fall off and usually no more AEFWs fall off at around 4mins into dipping. No you are not supposed to see large AWEFs falling off after several dipping. There must be something wrong with your previous dipping. You probably did not blow off all the AEFWs.

As for the fallow period, according to limited research people & I did recently, AEFW cannot survive more than 2 weeks in a tank with no AEFW. Their eggs hatch in a few days. AEFWs just hatched die without food in 48hrs. Therefore there is no point to wait for more than 3 weeks.

You really need to be patient and not to fall into that "more is better" / ''longer is better" logic. One dipping per week gives your corals more time to recover.