It CAN Happen to you

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

I've got some reading to do to come up with a treatment plan. I am hoping i can avoid the "move all my acros route and separate qt them for more than a month". As it stands they seem to only be located in a very small area of the tank. And initially i am going to work on the hope/assumption that they have no spread to far. I am going to grab some betadine on the way home from the airport sunday night and start dipping all colonies and frags immediately to drop down the numbers.

Has anyone found any predators for these yet? Green madarin? some kinda wrasse?

Apparently 6 line wrasse will eat them...sometimes.

There was a guy on the ZEO forum who added 6 six lines and they put a dent in the numbers but never got rid of all of them and he still had to QT I think. From all the reading I have done on RC, they spread and you might need to take all acros out

[Delphinus]

Any pictures of the damage? Have you seen any flatworms yourself? Just wondering what they look like, because I had a couple frags do well for about 2 months then all of a sudden bam, splotchy and patchy damage (and fairly severe although the impacted corals are not yet total losses - although they may be in time, I don't know). But I don't see flatworms. And I did dip new arrivals so not really sure what to make of things at the moment.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Any pictures of the damage? Have you seen any flatworms yourself? Just wondering what they look like, because I had a couple frags do well for about 2 months then all of a sudden bam, splotchy and patchy damage (and fairly severe although the impacted corals are not yet total losses - although they may be in time, I don't know). But I don't see flatworms. And I did dip new arrivals so not really sure what to make of things at the moment.

I don`t have pictures and the ones I found were too small to really see without a magnifying glass. I could see one of them without but most were tiny. They come off right away when you dip in Revive.

They are kind of a clear flat worm that takes on the color of the coral which makes them hard to see. I guess they have a slight tint to them but I dont know how to describe it.

[Ephraim]

i'd like to add a six line to also keep spaghetti worms in check too but i have a magenta dottyback in there that keeps killing them. Gotta catch him out first. Off the get go i am going to try a dipping approach and try to get the dottyback out and into one of my other tanks so i can get a sixline. Basically make it as hard as possible for these damn things to live in the tank. If i see more spreading then i will have to go the QT route.

I would like to avoid tossing the affected peices, a tri color nana(super sweet), a dark purple valida that grows like a beast, and a nice deepwater white and purple. They are all some of my favorites, i'd like to save them if at all possible.

I have not seen the worms themselves, from what i understand it is next to impossible to see them unless they are off the coral in a white bowl. But the white spots i am seeing on the coral definately matches pictures i have seen of other people's issues.

What dips can people reccomend that will be both effective but not stress the acros too much.

[Delphinus]

Ok so you can't see them at all on the coral without redipping?

Hmmmmm. Ok, I'll redip and see what comes off. Unfortunately this mini colony has a really pretty acro crab so I guess I'll have to chase him out first before dipping.

Thanks.

And Mark, I know it sucks and I'm sorry, but could you still post a picture of your coral with the damage? It would be good to have a photographic record for reference..

Good luck..

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

i'd like to add a six line to also keep spaghetti worms in check too but i have a magenta dottyback in there that keeps killing them. Gotta catch him out first. Off the get go i am going to try a dipping approach and try to get the dottyback out and into one of my other tanks so i can get a sixline. Basically make it as hard as possible for these damn things to live in the tank. If i see more spreading then i will have to go the QT route.

I would like to avoid tossing the affected peices, a tri color nana(super sweet), a dark purple valida that grows like a beast, and a nice deepwater white and purple. They are all some of my favorites, i'd like to save them if at all possible.

I have not seen the worms themselves, from what i understand it is next to impossible to see them unless they are off the coral in a white bowl. But the white spots i am seeing on the coral definately matches pictures i have seen of other people's issues.

What dips can people reccomend that will be both effective but not stress the acros too much.

Revive is the best IMO, never stresses the corals at all.

FWIW when the guy was using six lines to help with AEFW, he had to blow them off the corals with a turkey baster so they would float around the tank and the six lines would eat them. Otherwise he said they wouldn`t go near them on the actual corals.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Ok so you can't see them at all on the coral without redipping?

Hmmmmm. Ok, I'll redip and see what comes off. Unfortunately this mini colony has a really pretty acro crab so I guess I'll have to chase him out first before dipping.

Thanks.

And Mark, I know it sucks and I'm sorry, but could you still post a picture of your coral with the damage? It would be good to have a photographic record for reference..

Good luck..

In my experience you can only see them after dipping.

Yeah get that acro crab off! That`s kind of the pain of dipping...getting them out. I use a thin screw driver to chase them out.

[Ephraim]

hmmm interesting, maybe i will hold off on the six line then. I dont like the idea of blasting them off the corals at this point as it seems pretty localized. Blasting them off would prob worsen the problem from this point.

[my2rotties]

Can you take a couple of pictures of the affected corals by any chance? I don't know what kind of bites to be looking for? I always dips all my corals, but it is always good to know what to look for.

Do they look like fish bites? Are they in the same area, and are being eaten in that area, or is it all over the place?

[Drock169]

http://www.weatherson.com/photos/672_aefl_stretched.jpg

that should have a good picture
signs of infestation:
browning of the coral, little polyp extension, slow tissue death at the base, yellow egg mashes near the base, square bite marks around or near the base.