Should I restart my AEFW fallow period?

happyhourhero · Oct 10, 2016

So a month ago, I pulled all my acros and got the paint scraper out and scraped off all encrusting bits and even closely examined the scraped rocks, up close and under the blues to make sure I got all pieces. Well, as luck would have it, I look into my tank yesterday when just the blues were on and sure enough, there is a tiny patch of an acro that has regrown onto the rock. I am going to cover it with putty.

Should I restart my fallow period?

Funny how such "difficult" corals grow back after taking a paint scraper to them....

happyhourhero · Oct 11, 2016

Anyone?

justingraham · Oct 11, 2016

Why are u going fallow?

luke33 · Oct 11, 2016

Well, tough question. AEFW suck so i would hate to see you go through treatment again. But on the flipside i really doubt they can survive on a tiny growth, and if it made it through the AEFW and a scraper i would imagine your fine. How long has your tank been fallow? Have you thought about using Flatworm Stop and coral growth moving fwd for a few months just in case?

happyhourhero · Oct 11, 2016

luke33 said:
Well, tough question. AEFW suck so i would hate to see you go through treatment again. But on the flipside i really doubt they can survive on a tiny growth, and if it made it through the AEFW and a scraper i would imagine your fine. How long has your tank been fallow? Have you thought about using Flatworm Stop and coral growth moving fwd for a few months just in case?

My tank has been fallow for about a month so far. I was originally planning on 2.5 months fallow. Somehow my acros are all doing ok in the hospital.

luke33 · Oct 12, 2016

Maybe give it 2-3 more weeks to make sure you don't see another outbreak. But i would imagine your in the clear if none of your acro's are showing signs of AEFW in the hospital tank. I would feed your sps pretty heavy once they are back in the display, maybe some amino's or something like acropower to kick start the growth and healing process.

fragit · Apr 4, 2017

@happyhourhero did you end up going fallow for 2.5 months? I am 99% certain I DON'T have aefw, but have been struggling to keep sps. My system is still pretty young(less than a year old). I've decided not to add anymore sps and work on my fish load. I have a baby, and don't have tons of money to throw at the tank all the time. At any rate, just wanting to rule that out. So is the recommended acro fallow period 2.5 months, and was it successful for you?

happyhourhero · Apr 4, 2017

I went fallow for 8 weeks. Have some new frags in there now and am super paranoid about the worms coming back.

fragit · Apr 4, 2017

happyhourhero said:
I went fallow for 8 weeks. Have some new frags in there now and am super paranoid about the worms coming back.

I get that completely. Thanks for the response, and keep us posted if you see any signs. I don't know if I can wait 8 weeks. I have to wait for a month any way to add my new fish that are going to be starting QT this weekend. Thanks again!

Scorpius · Apr 5, 2017

8 weeks of fallow is more than enough to kill off any AEFW if their food source is removed. I only did 5 weeks, but my infestation was caught very early. The key is to not have any food source available so any eggs that hatch starve to death.

happyhourhero · Apr 5, 2017

Scorpius said:
8 weeks of fallow is more than enough to kill off any AEFW if their food source is removed. I only did 5 weeks, but my infestation was caught very early. The key is to not have any food source available so any eggs that hatch starve to death.

Yeah. Pulling out my rocks and scraping encrusted acro off with a putty knife was a smelly good time.