What does AEFW damage look like?

[asylumdown]

I've got one acro that's never done well, but I'm pretty sure it's an oregon tort, and they're known to grow really slowly, but I started noticing what looks like a mottling to the colour of it's tissue a few weeks ago, and I just noticed what looks like a patch of the encrusted base of a nearby coral that's missing polyps. I'm not sure if it was always like that and I just noticed, but I'm paranoid.

What does the damage from AEFW look like? If I break off the tort, should I be able to see them with my naked eye if I look at it close up?

[Proteus]

I'm not sure exactly what the look like but on a few frags I dipped there was brownish flat worms that were about 1/2 mm. Hard to see but I did manage to see

[Chowder]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/mc/

[Chowder]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...8&pp=25&page=1

[asylumdown]

Thanks for that link. And it's confirmed. I have AEFW I broke the coral that wasn't doing well off the rock and put it in a small dish with about 35X the recommended dose of flatworm exit. 6 of them immediately curled up and fell off. Looking closely, there's hundreds of eggs along where the coral met the rock.

*sigh*. Expletive expletive expletive.

OK, so now it's time for a treatment plan. Do these guys eat all kinds of SPS, or are they specific to Acropora? I think I can get all my acroporids out for treatment pretty easily, but getting the encrusted montiporas will involve a lot more effort.

[Aquattro]

Just acropora, so if you can remove them, you should be ok. Talk to Wayne (Rice Reef) about the process, he's just gone through it.

[asylumdown]

Ok, I'll pm him. I've now dipped the 4 closest Acro colonies to the one that was infested and nothing happened, no flatworms came off anything except the first piece that made me thing I might have it. Is there a possibility that it was just this one coral?

[aqua80]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Is there a possibility that it was just this one coral?

no...

there are 2 options for you :

- live with them
- eradicate them (ie removing all acros and dipping for 6-8 weeks)

[ckmullin]

I've sucessfully treated FW tanks with Fenbendazole to kill flatworms. I'd be curious if It's used for SW tanks as well.

[Rice Reef]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Ok, I'll pm him. I've now dipped the 4 closest Acro colonies to the one that was infested and nothing happened, no flatworms came off anything except the first piece that made me thing I might have it. Is there a possibility that it was just this one coral?

Received your pm. Feel free to call me tonight and I can share with you of my experience. Dipping the neighbouring colonies may not solve your problem and it is encouraged to remove all your acros and keep them in another tank. You will need to starve the AEFW in your main tank while dipping and monitoring all your acros in the other tank. Starving out the AEFW will take at least 8 weeks and for assurance do so for 12 weeks. This is probably the better method somit does not stress your fish and other corals and critters. As for the existing acros cut them off any existing plugs and bases and discard them ( plugs and bases). For any encrusted parts cover the areas with kalk paste. Continue to monitor them for dulling of the colours and loss of PE. And if need to dip again. Flatworm exit does not work for AEFW and nothing is really proven on the market that will destroy the eggs ( or prevent them from hatching) however RPS all out is said to be able to take care of this. There is a thread on RC and the individual there is sharing of his experience with the product.

AEFW is serious and can cost dearly... I have just recently threw out 10 plus pounds of corals and will have to start from scratch again. Good luck and hope you will not get discouraged.