I just picked up a really nice Rommel Rainbow acro colony and a huge green slimmer colony (at least I thought they were). Once I got them home I prepared it for dipping by cutting the base off the colonies because they were attached to a piece of live rock. After closely inspecting them I think I found what I think are AEFW eggs on the base of the Rommel acro.
Please help me identify these eggs, I think it's AEFW but since I have never had them I'm not 100% sure. The two colonies are in my QT setup right now after doing a dip with CoralRx. I will monitor them for a few weeks and do a dip every week till I'm confident there are no pest that can infect my other SPS colonies.
Sorry for the poor iPhone picture but the colors are very bright and there is not any dead area as this picture would make you think there are on the green slimmer.
The rommel acro is very nice color wise and I saw no real issues on the branches of the colony. The only place I was able to see an issue was on the base that I cut off.
Here are the eggs I was talking about. Note there are two clusters I could see otherwise no others were found.
Unfortunately yes, those are aefw eggs. Good news is you have them in QT. I would begin a dipping regiment using bayer instead of coral rx. You might be able to keep the color on the corals as it is much more gentle and just as effective if not more IMO.
Ughhhhhhh........ I couldn't sleep last night stressed over this. I did cut the base off of the coral where the eggs were found. I guess I'll have to go pick up some bayer to start a dipping regimen for it and hope for the best! I didn't see any evidence of aefw on the green slimmer. Do they go after this coral too?
Yes they will still go for green slimers. Just dip your corals once a week for a couple months and they'll be OK. Inspect frequently for eggs, if no eggs appear after a couple months of dipping they should be OK.
Slimers are a little more resistant to AEFW than most acros, but they can definitely have them. It takes longer for slimers to show signs of AEFW when they are infested, so be careful. They can look perfect and still have plenty of the little pests.
Thanks everyone. I'll be stopping by the hardware store to get some Bayer tonight after work and will keep them in the QT for a couple months to make sure they are all gone before putting them into my system. Would doing a dip once a week be enough to treat them?
I never saw any bite marks on the green slimmer or any eggs on the base of it but still cut all the branches from the colony and glued them to a clean rock either way. I figure better safe than sorry I guess. That colony was about a third larger than the picture shows it before the trimming!
I had to learn this the hard way that every coral should be inspected. Before I took my old system down I had red bugs, monti eating nudibranch, and planaria worms! Me being a noob, I ignored the recommendations and just added corals into my tank and never thought twice to make sure they were not infected with anything...needless to say I paid for it royally! I changed my coral introduction/acclimation habits to making sure I inspect every coral I get and to dip no matter what. The crazy thing is these two pieces were going to be the first SPS I was going to put in my new 120g! Right out the door I would have been going down the wrong path if I hand't checked thoroughly!
