lanman October 17, 2009 Share October 17, 2009 As I'm sure everyone is aware - I have had a small problem with AEFW's. I have been pulling all of the acro's out of my 240G and dipping and putting them in isolation. Starting a couple of weeks ago, all of the corals I've pulled out have been AEFW free. Tonight I cut off a rather large frag of Leishman's red tabling acro - which is the closest coral to where the original infestation broke out. I expected to find AEFW all over it. Found none. Dipped it - none came off. Only three acro's left in there. I am going to take a frag from one of them (purple nana) and check it - but if I don't find any there, I will begin to think they just all died off! In particular because a frag of that same nana taken a month ago had a heavy infestation. I've been watching it, looking for signs of color loss, etc - and it just hasn't happened. In your various reading and searching - have you ever run across a case of AEFW just 'going away'??? bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoutlaw October 17, 2009 Share October 17, 2009 I've never heard of an infestation running it's course. Usually, once the discovery is made, there is a panicked attempt at a chemical solution (and with good reason). I wonder if they can go dormant or lay eggs and die off until the next infestation is born. Or, it could be like the cicadas and only come once every 17 years!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman October 17, 2009 Author Share October 17, 2009 I've never heard of an infestation running it's course. Usually, once the discovery is made, there is a panicked attempt at a chemical solution (and with good reason). I wonder if they can go dormant or lay eggs and die off until the next infestation is born. Or, it could be like the cicadas and only come once every 17 years!! No panic here... I've been leisurely pulling corals out and dipping them for about a month. I have shipped frags with flatworms to Eric Borneman twice. The sensitive little things just don't make it! They die and dissolve on the way to Houston. So - I am going to 'fix' some specimens for DNA and cell studies. But I have to be careful not to kill off the last of them, if they're all gone from the display tank. And I just killed one tonight that was on a frag. Nice big one, too - with eggs in her ovaries! Only a few minutes before Eric called. Don't get me wrong - on the corals that had bad infestations - they lay hundreds of eggs, and could easily overwhelm a coral. But so far, they haven't been the horrible plague I was expecting, and the corals recover fast after I remove the worms. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLazar October 17, 2009 Share October 17, 2009 Bob, The adults don't make it to Houston, but I bet the eggs would. So let an adult lay some eggs and ship those instead. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman October 17, 2009 Author Share October 17, 2009 Bob, The adults don't make it to Houston, but I bet the eggs would. So let an adult lay some eggs and ship those instead. Jon One of the frags I shipped yesterday has a nice cluster of eggs on the bottom. He will try to hatch them out. The coral frags are doing well, by the way - good polyp extension, etc. Not much doubt the flatworms WERE there - he says the bite marks look great. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman October 17, 2009 Author Share October 17, 2009 I just took a frag off my acropora nana - as close as possible to where I took a frag that had dozens of AEFW's on it a month ago. No bite marks, no AEFW. Now I think I will NOT remove anything else from the DT until/unless it starts to show signs of being damaged. Perhaps all of the adults grow up, lay eggs, and die - and there will be a huge infestation coming in a week or so from the eggs. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar October 17, 2009 Share October 17, 2009 Bob, If you've been dipping ALL your acros once a week for a month, you've probably eliminated all the AEFW. The weekly dips knock off all the motile AEFWs, and the next week's dip knocks off any newborn AEFW that were eggs during the previous month's dip. If you haven't been dipping every acro though, I wouldn't be so sure you've got all the AEFW. Probably most of them, but all it takes is one to start nibbling away at a coral undetected, and by the time you see the effects you're back to epidemic levels. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman October 17, 2009 Author Share October 17, 2009 Bob, If you've been dipping ALL your acros once a week for a month, you've probably eliminated all the AEFW. The weekly dips knock off all the motile AEFWs, and the next week's dip knocks off any newborn AEFW that were eggs during the previous month's dip. If you haven't been dipping every acro though, I wouldn't be so sure you've got all the AEFW. Probably most of them, but all it takes is one to start nibbling away at a coral undetected, and by the time you see the effects you're back to epidemic levels. Jon No... maybe I wasn't clear - there are 4 acro's still left in the display tank; they have never been dipped. But they have no AEFW right now. The last several acro's that I 'made room for' in my other tanks did not have any AEFW when I pulled them out of the display tank. None of the corals currently in the display are showing any sign of AEFW depredation. The reason I cut a huge frag off of the red table acro was to make it small enough to fit in the isolation ward. But I didn't find anything at all on that piece. i.e. - it appears that currently my untreated display tank has no adult AEFW in it. I will keep observing, but if after a few weeks I don't see any indication of AEFW activity - I will start putting the display tank back together. Now that I know exactly what to look for - I don't think they will be able to 'sneak up on me' again. The loss of color on casual examination, and the bite marks on closer examination, are very noticeable indicators. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore October 17, 2009 Share October 17, 2009 Bob, If you've been dipping ALL your acros once a week for a month, you've probably eliminated all the AEFW. The weekly dips knock off all the motile AEFWs, and the next week's dip knocks off any newborn AEFW that were eggs during the previous month's dip. If you haven't been dipping every acro though, I wouldn't be so sure you've got all the AEFW. Probably most of them, but all it takes is one to start nibbling away at a coral undetected, and by the time you see the effects you're back to epidemic levels. Jon I agree. It's just wishful thinking to say that they've just "gone away". There are definitely preferential acros, and I believe the red table and green slimers are the least palatable to the flatworms, but I have seen aefw on both of those corals before. If you want to be sure to be rid of them, you need to treat every single bit of acro tissue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman October 17, 2009 Author Share October 17, 2009 I agree. It's just wishful thinking to say that they've just "gone away". There are definitely preferential acros, and I believe the red table and green slimers are the least palatable to the flatworms, but I have seen aefw on both of those corals before. If you want to be sure to be rid of them, you need to treat every single bit of acro tissue. I found a few (very few) on the first green slimer I removed from the DT. Obviously not one of their preferences, but agree - they will attack them. On the other hand - the acropora nana frag had dozens of them a month ago - obviously an AEFW 'treat'. Now - I can't find any evidence of them on the nana, either. As much as I would like to hope they have just gone away forever - I consider that pretty unlikely. I will be watching, while I treat and re-treat the ones that are in my isolation tank. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve175 October 18, 2009 Share October 18, 2009 Perhaps it is time now to switch from chemical to biologic weapons of mass AEFW destruction: perhaps the addition of a 6 line wrasse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman October 18, 2009 Author Share October 18, 2009 Actually, my leopard wrasse seemed to be more interested in the infested corals than usual for a while. Normally he spends his time in the back-left corner swimming in loops and circles. But even if he was eating them; he wouldn't be able to get 'inside' the colonies - especially the tightly-packed branches of the nana. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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