Need help sorting out serious problem...

[Jan]

Hi folks, please help me figure out the best plan of action.

I have a shipment of 10 new, really nice corals arriving tomorrow; the shipment has already left and I can not cancel it.

Last night I pulled a large acro (samoensis) frag out of my display to frag it; it's had STN over the past 2 weeks which I thought was due to my recent Alk spike. When I looked at the dead part I saw a little tan worm gliding along, ~1mm wide by 2.5mm long. It was not translucent or wide looking, like some photos of AEFW I have seen recently. However, what else could it be? I dipped the fragged parts, and put them back in my display.

This morning I removed a second coral, a monti-cap with a touch of TN on one edge. I examined it and found a couple more little tan worms on the dead part, plus what I think was a small planaria. Big, fat, sinking feeling. I didn't see anything that looked like eggs, but I'm not sure I would have identified eggs correctly even if they were there.

I dipped the monti-cap and put both it and the samoensis frag in my little QT tank. This tank has no decent light fixture on it but I put it near a window to get sunlight.

Here are my options as I see them. Please chime in with your input/advice.

1. Dip new corals from tomorrow's shipment and place them in my 10 gallon QT, along with the two possibly-infected ones. Buy or borrow a halide for this tank and keep everything in there for 4-6 weeks.

2. Dip new corals and put them in someone else's tank until I have treated my display with flatworm exit. Could be a few weeks to do multiple treatments. This is a sticky one because it puts a lot of risk/stress on the other person in case the corals don't do well in their tank.

3. Dip new corals and put them in my display, treat the whole tank with flatworm exit. Treat the QT separately (?)

4. Other good ideas?

Thanks in advance...I really appreciate any help you can give.

Jan

 

[Herefishyfishy]

were they flatworms?

 

[Jan]

I just reread a couple of threads on AEFW's. The little worms I found did not look like the pics of AEFW's. They were not oval, thin, and translucent. They were thin like worms, tan, with clearly-defined borders.

The effected corals, a samoensis and a monti-cap, did not lose color. They lost tissue, totally bare spots without flesh, and the rest of the coral was unaffected.

Does anyone know what AEFW's look like as juveniles? If they're the same shape as the adults except smaller, then these may not be AEFWs after all. But they certainly do eat coral flesh. What else does that besides AEFW's?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

As best I have read, Flatworms almost always look like flatworms. Either from sexual reproduction or fission. These sound more like opportunistic feeders eating dead tissue: tank vultures. Hope somebody more informed than myself answers up... Nicki?

 

[Jan]

You know, it crossed my mind that maybe these could be lil' worm buggers attracted to the dying tissue, caused by the alkalinity spike. If only that were true...(making a deal with God to always QT everything for the rest of my life).

All the other corals in my tank look fine--no TN, no color loss, but the ones that I can remove I will pull out and examine with the magnifying glass.

 

[ReefferMan]

Your QT should best mimic your deplay. The lights, flow, alk and Ca. Hard to do i know, take every piece of equiptment X 2 lol....

Oh also! the flatworm exit will not kill the AEFW, it will kill the red one's tho. From lots of reading, IMHO i would use fluke tabs and a turkey baster.

Best of luck to ya.

 

[class clown]

Jan - what's you're alk at now in your big display? we're you able to get it down to within safe parameters?

I'll offer up my tank as a holding ground, but as you alluded to earlier, I'd be absolutely heart broken, guilt ridden, and crushed if for some reason they didn't do well in my system. If you're ok with it, and see this as the best option, I'll leave that offer on the table.

Back to what you've spotted in the tank --There is probably no good way to get a good picture of those fw/buggers/vultures and post them up here is there? My guess is you can't view them without a magnifying glass, yes? Maybe a good macro closeup of a camera would pick them up.

if you're water parameters are all good now and we can get a positive id that the bugs aren't AEFW's, maybe you just add them to your tank, keep a very very close eye on them and if you start to have trouble, then pull them out and go to option B (QT).

pheeww - boy. This is a tuffy Jan.

 

[Jan]

My alk has been at 6.25 dhk the last couple of days,
CA at 425
Mg at 1300
K+ at 320

I'm oh so gradually bumping up my CA reactor and retesting Alk daily.

I am starting to feel more comfortable that this may be an AEFW false alarm and that I can dip the new corals, put them in my tank and watch them. I will look over some more frags with a magnifying glass tonight to see if I see anything.

The thing about the little tan worms that I saw is that they are now gone from the affected corals, after dipping. You're right that they can't be seen without a magnifying glass.

Ben and everyone, do you use iodine based dips with new corals? The one I have is Seachem Coral Dip and it is iodine based. I've been reading that it can brown out your corals.

 

[class clown]

Jan - I've just recently started dipping my corals - I know a crime right? shame on me. But i do now and I've been using Loguls (iodine based), but just placed an order for the tropic Marine Pro Coral cure (also iodine based) b/c I've heard it's a better product although I have nothing to base that on besides the opinions of fellow reefers on the forums.

I think you are right on with the Seachem Coral Dip. Others have posted that they've noticed browning out and color loss with a dip, but personally I've not experieienced this and through talking with Duane (trido), he has experienced maybe some slight vivrant color loss, but not the browning either. Both of us have used some pretty heavy doses too and havne't noticed this browning.

Based on the info provided, I'm also leaning towards the option as you've described below as the best option given you're scenario as described. You're parameters now seem to check out, you know you're lighting and flow are good, it's just those darn non-identfiable bugs that seem to be the biggest concern, yes?

My alk has been at 6.25 dhk the last couple of days,
CA at 425
Mg at 1300
K+ at 320

I'm oh so gradually bumping up my CA reactor and retesting Alk daily.

I am starting to feel more comfortable that this may be an AEFW false alarm and that I can dip the new corals, put them in my tank and watch them. I will look over some more frags with a magnifying glass tonight to see if I see anything.

The thing about the little tan worms that I saw is that they are now gone from the affected corals, after dipping. You're right that they can't be seen without a magnifying glass.

Ben and everyone, do you use iodine based dips with new corals? The one I have is Seachem Coral Dip and it is iodine based. I've been reading that it can brown out your corals.

 

[Jan]

Yep, it's just those little worms that freaked me out, after reading about people's AEFW issues lately.

 

[class clown]

I know. I too have been super paranoid lately, they are definately something that you need to be careful about. The good news is that they won't destroy a full colony overnight. In reality, it takes time. You'll see the sick symptoms and can treat/diagnose them if need be. That said, my advice would be to treat when they come in, put them in your tank where they have good light, good water paramaters and good flow, keep a watchful eye over them, and then if necessary treat, treat, treat again.