"Uh-Oh I have AEFW"

PolandSpring · May 12, 2012

My nightmare came true. I have AEFW. I have dreaded for this today since i started the hobby. I have a few questions

1. Which corals do AEFW affect... acroporas? Birdsnests? Millepora's? Digitata's?

2. How long does it take AEFW eggs to hatch?

3. What do i do with the encrusted base of the sps corals that are on the rock...how do i dip it..should i cut the sps off the base and did that?

4. How often should i dip the sps?

5. Do you recommend keeping the sps in a separate tank?

6. How long will this process take?

7. For pieces such as my Red Table which is encrusted entirely onto my rock, should i take the entire rock out and dip it?

8. What is the best dip to use to kill AEFW?

SteezySPS · May 12, 2012

welcome to the club. from my experiences, many wholesalers and lfs dont do enough to take preventive measures but the reasons for them are understandable. some reefers probably have it and dont know it yet. at least you know and knowledge is half the battle. LOL

PolandSpring · May 12, 2012

yea, i noticed loss of color on my sps about a month ago, and the other day i saw 5 big flatwroms on my ORA German Blue Polyp. I dipped it and 5 of them came off. Also, my red robin mini colony has lost a lot of color as well. I thought it wasnt getting enough flow because i moved my powerhead. but after 2 weeks it kept looking worse, so i dipped that as well. Nothing seemed to come off of it, but who knows, maybe they were on it.

I dip all my corals that come into my tank and i only buy my sps corals from vendors on this forum, not trying to bad mouth the vendors here, but just saying. Also, i haven't added any new sps in a few months, so i dont know how they could of got into my tank. Can they come in from a zoa or lps?

PolandSpring · May 12, 2012

To further add to my issue, is that I have read that amphipods eat AEFW. About 2 months ago i found Red Bugs on my sps. I just finished my red bug treatment by using Interceptor 2x recommended dose for 3 weeks once a week following with a 20g water change. I figured my sps would start looking better after but they havent and i thought that might of been because i was doing tooo many water changes and their weren't enough nutrients. After using Interceptor it wipes out my amphipod population which is why 3 weeks later i am starting to see my AEFW. I also found planeria which i believe the Interceptor killed also. I dip all my corals, so there must of been a bad frag that had the eggs of everything

:*(

SteezySPS · May 12, 2012

I just discovered aefw in my tank so i'm fairly new to this. I read somewhere on rc that a reefer got it from zoas. sadly aefw gets passed down the supply chain as each member shifts that responsibilty down to the next. I wouldnt be surprised and I'm pretty confident many vendors have it. it's just an unspoken awareness. Dipping isnt enough as in my case. You need to have a separate qt system. if you dont, then you have to buy small frags and cut off the bases and make sure they dont have any dead skin where they could lay eggs and bite marks before putting them in your main display. even then there's still a risk

PolandSpring · May 12, 2012

what about this new Flatwormstop from Zeovit? does it work?

PolandSpring · May 12, 2012

Steezy, how are you dealing with them? Are you using the FWS from Zeovit?

chort55 · May 12, 2012

Another thing to help keep them at bay atleast is to up your wrasse population. While this wont always work they are a cool addition anyways. Dipping doesn't always work as they dont affect the eggs as mentioned... which is why one of my friends actually throws away any frag that has AFEW come off it when he dips, or even if he suspects there might be some hiding on them!

PolandSpring · May 12, 2012

thanks to dnov and his help i will be getting rid of my acropora corals in my DT tank and change my frag tank into a QT tank for the next 6 weeks and dip all my acropora's once a week and have the AEFW starve in my DT

brahm · May 13, 2012

First thing I would do is start by blasting/basting your corals a few times a week. Just take an MJ1200, and blast all your corals at first some flesh my come off but it should grow back and they get used to it. It's good for your tank in general and helps keep the numbers in check. I lived with them for almost a year doing just this alone withouth loosing a piece by being eaten by AEFW. Some people have lucked out and been rid of them all together with this alone.

If you have stuff you can easily remove dip that. Becarefull though some acrpora (mostly deep waters) do not like dips. You can use Revive, Bayer, or a few others lots of options in the dipping route. Some people have dipping regements. I just dip when I start to see bites again.

As far as the pods, etc eating AEFW I WISH. I have a frag tank that was infected with AEFW it had no fish in it. It was POD heaven. Didn't matter.

As far as flatworm stop it's to early to tell. A few us having been running it for almost 2 months now but I don't believe many if anybody has hit the recommended 3 month period. If you do run it, use it with K+ as per Thomas Phols instructions why he only informs people of this when you ask him I'm not sure, but it isn't in any of the colletiral. Supposedly it helps it work better. Like I said in the PM. To me it's a 50$ gamble, depending on how much you have in your tank it may or may not be worth it to you. The only thing I can say with 100% certianty is. Flatworm stop will momentarly increase you PE, and doesn't harm anything.

In regards to the responsiblity discussion. Wholesalers aren't going to do ANYTHING to help with AEFW or ANY other pests for that matter bet it Mantis shrimps in the rock, hitch hiking octopus or Aefw. They have the corals in there systems most of the time for a matter of minutes (for the good stuff) to a couple days tops (for the ugly stuff) before they are shipped back out to the stores. The best stuff gets picked RIGHT away and goes straight out the door again. The business is about volume. Stores, depending on where you buy them from may or may bother. Most of them again, try to get the corals as quickly to the consumer as possible the longer they have them the more chance they will brown and loose value, or die on them. Maybe there are a few stores that dip everything before they put it away but that is doubtfull, when you get in 100-200+ pieces a week that's a lot of dipping. We the consumer need to be resposible for what we put in our tanks, or pay higher costs for our corals to have somebody QT, and dip it for us. It's unfortune but just how it is.

SteezySPS · May 13, 2012

sounds like a much better plan than using fws. FWS didnt prevent aefw from laying eggs underneath one of my acros. I have been using it for a month and I dont see any change. one of my frags lost color, so i dipped it and a huge aefw fell off of it. I noticed I get that thin algae that grows on the glass every 4 or 5 days appears much more frequently and thicker since I started using fws. I heard a month is what it takes for aefw eggs to hatch. Good luck.

Big E · May 13, 2012

This isn't the end of the world. I had them years ago when they first showed up. I dipped the infected corals 3 times at one week apart & they were gone for good.

I didn't lose any corals & don't have any wrasses or any other fish that eat the flatworms.

Do it the right way & you'll be fine..............so what if you break off colonies or trash your aquascape.

1. Dip with a reliable medicine
2. Throw out any acros that have dead areas you can't reach.............they will have eggs 90% of the time.

FaviaFreak · May 13, 2012

it sucks but it's not the end of the world...dip what corals you can (I think melafix works wonders for coral dips) and inspect for eggs, that is the most crucial part

PolandSpring · May 13, 2012

well i just found about 100 eggs beneath my red table which actually has been growing like crazy and has great color! So i can only imagine what it would look like without AEFW!

PolandSpring · May 13, 2012

let me know if these steps sound good.

Starting May 13th, 2012.

1. 5/13/12 - Switch my frag tank over to a QT tank. I just finished transfering all my corals in my DT and boy is it crowded! I am beginning to drain my frag tank and keep it empty for an entire day without water to kill off anything in it. I will be adding a Hang-on skimmer as well.

2. 5/15/12 - Transfer 30gallon of water from my DT to my QT tank to not shock the sps anymore than i have to. Then add 30 gallons of new water to my DT.

3. 5/15/12 - Start cutting off all the bases of my sps and moving my big pieces of rock that my red table and other large colonies are on. ( All my rock are drilled with acrylic tubes so i can just pop the rock of and when my tank is finished with the process pop the rock back in). In addition, I will kalk any of the bases of sps that are left in my DT to kill it off in order to starve the AEFW.

4. 5/15/12 - Dip all SPS in a clear bucket with CoralRX for 10-15minutes and carefully inspect each coral for eggs. For all my frags i will be cutting off the bases and glueing them onto new frag plugs.

5. Every 2 days i will be using an MJ1200 pump and blow all the sps in my QT and all the rocks in my DT. I will be adding a 6 line wrasse to my QT to eat any AEFW it see's as well as a nicer looking wrasse to my DT to do the same.

6. I will be doing a 5gallon water change every week to my QT and a 15g WC to my DT (90 gallon DT)

7. Dip all sps once a week for the next 6 weeks. Keep my DT free of acropora's for the next 6 weeks to starve the AEFW.

8. 6/24/12 - Be AEFW Free and put my sps back into my DT. change my QT back into my frag tank and do a large WC along with using an MJ1200 once a week for another 2 months after to just be safe.

How does that sound? am i forgetting anything?

myzislow · May 13, 2012

PolandSpring said:
thanks to dnov and his help i will be getting rid of my acropora corals in my DT tank and change my frag tank into a QT tank for the next 6 weeks and dip all my acropora's once a week and have the AEFW starve in my DT

While I have never in all of my years in the hobby experienced AEFW firsthand, I have had a few friends go through it and have read more than enough about them online to know this is the best route man, no other question. Some reefers in denial will tell you to just baste your corals and increase your wrasse population ETC...This is just a big band aid and will never guarantee yourself to be completely rid of them. The only way to do that is the method Dvov recommended, and if you have the means and the time to do so it's a no brainer.

Good luck man!

Scoly · May 13, 2012

I agree!! Take the time and do everything u can!
What is this k+ stuff? My buddy is using fws, didnt hear anything about that!

brahm · May 14, 2012

myzislow said:
While I have never in all of my years in the hobby experienced AEFW firsthand, I have had a few friends go through it and have read more than enough about them online to know this is the best route man, no other question. Some reefers in denial will tell you to just baste your corals and increase your wrasse population ETC...This is just a big band aid and will never guarantee yourself to be completely rid of them. The only way to do that is the method Dvov recommended, and if you have the means and the time to do so it's a no brainer.

Good luck man!

Disagree. I know a few people who managed to remove them with just blasting/basting, and my tank has been living with them for over a year doing just that without ever loosing a single piece to being over by AEFW. (anything I lost was due to dipping, and or over reacting to the flatworms)

brahm · May 14, 2012

Scoly said:
I agree!! Take the time and do everything u can!
What is this k+ stuff? My buddy is using fws, didnt hear anything about that!

For some reason it's not in any of the material, but if you ask Thomas Phol he recommends you add K+ in equal parts as FWS. It appears the only people who claimed this product works are those running Zeo Tanks so when I asked him if there was some missing key that us non zeo users need to get it to work, that is kinda how he replied. Here is the thread on the zeo forum. As far as what K+ is . It's a potasium supplement. (er sorry he calls it K Balance, I'm using K+ which is what I already happened to have on hand. I will switch to K Balance when I'm out of K+)

Flatworm stop ?! - zeovit.com

Big E · May 14, 2012

brahm said:
Disagree. I know a few people who managed to remove them with just blasting/basting, and my tank has been living with them for over a year doing just that without ever loosing a single piece to being over by AEFW. (anything I lost was due to dipping, and or over reacting to the flatworms)

The only problem with this is you're a "carrier". Are you prepared to never sell, trade, or give anything out of your tank to other hobbyists.