Acro eating flat worms

fishoholic · #1 02-21-2008, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishmaster

If they are AEFW's and you don't have any acro's, they will just die off on their own. AEFW's are tranparent, and hard to see. The regular kind are usually red in coulour and harmless. They can infest your tank and look unsightly, but I don't think they hurt anything. I also wouln't recomend a freshwater dip on LPS. You should to an Iodine dip in Tankwater.

Happy to say that even though we knew it might be a bad idea to fresh water dip lps (thought it would be better then flat worms) the lps is doing fine. The worms that came off were red in colour, so maybe we'll be ok, I hope.

super7 · #2 02-22-2008, 05:48 AM

thanks for the link andresont

Delphinus · #3 12-01-2008, 07:35 PM

Reviving this old thread (well, 10 months, could be worse I suppose)

For those that were certain they had AEFW, what was the damage like to the corals? I've seen the pictures at melevsreef but I'm curious if anyone noticed, specifically, tip burning that in the end proved to be AEFW?

More to the point, in the last 10 months since this thread, have you overcome AEFW?

Chaloupa · #4 12-01-2008, 07:41 PM

I had areas of flesh that were noticeably bare of polyps...it is a strange look. I had areas that were dying off and stressed. This was almost a year ago for me and now I have no AEFW. I know I had them as I found them. I can say I am AEFW free now.....wouldn't wish them on anyone. I threw out many colonies that weren't worth trying to save, as did a couple of friends that also bought into a group of corals that were for sale. They lost almost everything....and I lost a good portion of what we bought. It was sad.

tang daddy · #5 12-01-2008, 08:05 PM

Ah the million dollar question......

If there was a hundred percent cure to rid aefw I would love to know.

"tip burning that in the end proved to be AEFW?"

usually aefw eat the coral from the bottom up, never really seen them start eating at the tips. I find that they like dark shaded areas also low flow areas on a coral.

Burning tips usually points me toward alk issues only going by what I seen and heard in the past never experienced it, however I could be wrong.

It seems that everyone gets it one time or another when keeping sps even the most experienced on RC, However many have overcame this minor setback and go on to grow the most amazing colonies.

For every coral out there there is a predator I wish more research could be done for these particular pest to find a cure. They found one for red bugs, monti nudi's so why not aefw?

Delphinus · #6 12-01-2008, 09:21 PM

Yeah the more I look at pictures of AEFW damage the more I am convinced my tip burning is likely not AEFW. While relieved at that, it still leaves me wondering what is the cause. I agree - it ought to be alkalinity burn but my Alk is testing at 8dKH. (Two different test kits confirm the #'s but they are both Elos - so unless there's something causing interference I am inclined to believe the number is correct). Other params are also suitably within normal tolerances (Ca=390, Mg=1200, NO3=2). Anyhow, sort of a good news/bad news scenario. I think I'm happy that at least it doesn't appear to be AEFW though.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #7 12-01-2008, 11:00 PM

My Arrow crab eats Red Bugs...I didn't have too many but he cleared the tank out in a day. Actually he eats anything he can find...slugs, bugs, snails, other crabs

He is about 7" though. I don't know if smaller ones are aggressive as mine.

I bet he would eat the flat worms if they were big enough. Or even small maybe. I have seen him eating pods as well. Best scavenger I have ever had. He keeps the tank spotless.

He eats small fish too.