AEFW (Acro Eating Flat Worms) Start of Quaratine :(

Oh crap Otty sorry to hear. I don't have a Q tank but you got me thinking.

What I have done in the past is to have some Flat worm Exit on hand and add a drop to the frag when you get it home. In the water it came from. Then continue with your acclimation (I don't acclimate SPS but to temp)
Red bugs on the other hand is a tough one.

I think I found some the other day.


J

 

Then i guess you'll be getting one. Hope that is not what u have, but make sure u check them good.
I have a couple of frags that dont look good after the treatment. Hopefully I'll only loose a few instead of all of them. Tank looks pretty bare now. At least I have a running Q-tank now.
Dont wait too long like I did, may have had less casualities.

 

I've never known Red bugs to kill a coral.
in my experience (and I've heard different form 100s of people) thay only seem to be attracted to one or two of my pieces. I pull them out and interceptor just them and it's been over. I guess in the past I've been lucky

J

 

I have heard the same. I heard they seem to like the multi-color acros better then others. Is that the ones that are getting attacked in your tank? I was worried so I just dipped them all, I read that 30 page thread on RC and no one really has a for-sure cure on these guys. Just was trying to play it safe and dip for all since I was in the process anyway. The next 7 dips will just be with the Fluke Tabs unless I see more Red Bugs.

 

Jason get it set up asap all my life i have been in this hobby and I have never had one still would not have one for fish they can be cured, But get some of those montipora eating Nudi's and kiss your system good by Period! No cure no magic bullet just devastation and death to them all one by one . Same for the acro bugs

 

I have a frag tank. I might plumb a little 10G under it then when I get a new coral I could just shut the valves off and house the coral in there for investigation and treatment. Onces I'm done just dump the water and open the valves. What do you think, or would there be residue left over?

J

 

I'd rather have it totally segregated from the main system myself .. Sharing anything could get you a simple splash of water could be all it takes And the larva of the stuff is so small it can't be seen. I just built a mobile system with dual 100 W U/V's and Dell Ozone and dual 50 gallon acrylic tanks that I made custom to fit the stand rack and we are going to totally quarantine every thing we get in from now on for 90 days.. Thats why we have not ordered any live stock I just finished it last Friday.. now its in the cycling process . Hexk it was not to long ago a large retailer of corals and dry good had a ad picture of an Acro on the cover of their Cataloge that was covered in the acro eating flatworms ... so it can get in to your tanks from anywhere..

 

If I'm not mistaken, it was Marine Depot and the cover showed an acro covered in red bugs. According to this thread on Reef Central, it was a photo that was provided by an independent photographer, not a photo of a coral in their systems. Regardless, it shows that these bugs are affecting everybody everywhere in the hobby

Reef Central Online Community - 2007 MarineDepot catalog pic with redbugs?

 

Well as of tonight (wednesday) three days after the first dip, my corals don't look so hot. I may be loosing more then just two, it is looking more like about 40% so far. I will start fragging the tips if they get too looking any worse. I done a 30% water change tonight because the water was getting cloudy.
I think there is light at the end of the tunnel, I just don't see it yet. :-/

 

Well that is almost a total loss. I fragged what I could tonight but I think i will loose the hole batch of Acros. I could almost kill a certain person right now..
I should know better then to trust someone that doesn't even test their water. :-/
Talk about an expensive lesson learned, one that I won't forget anytime soon. I will just keep the tank acro free for 4 to 6 months to make sure they are all dead.
At least out of all of this I finally got a quarantine tank up and running. :-[