I tink I got flat worms

[Anonymous]

My green milli is not looking to hot and I think I see the bite marks. I have seen a flat worm or two, but did not hink I had them in mass. What is the cource of treatment for the whole tank. I have many of my acros are encrusted on big rocks so I really do not want to pull them out if I can help it.

 

[Unarce]

Sorry to hear that, Mark I've been lucky enough to avoid AEFWs, so I don't have an advice to give. I see that you've gotten plenty of help on the other side, though

 

[Anonymous]

sorry Wazz! I haven't a clue how to deal with those things.

 

[Anonymous]

FWIU, they usually don't go on Millies. Where do you see bite marks?
Have you seen them on the coral? You usually cannot see them at all until you do a dip that makes them release form the coral.
I have not heard of anyone that has come up with a full tank treatment for AEFW'S.


Pics would help.

 

[Anonymous]

It is deff the AEFW on my millie, unless it is not really a milli. I see all the little circle bite marks. I have tried to take a pic, but I am not getting anything but a blury pic of my coral.

 

[Anonymous]

I would pull the millie and do a 25 minute dip in Povidone-Iodine that you should be able to pick up at the drugstore. 1 mil of 10% Povidone per cup of water. 10 minutes into the dip, I would use a turkey baster and see if you can get the flatworms to come off the coral. If that doesn't happen at 10 minutes, try again every 5 minutes. If you see the FW's you have them, if not, you don't.
You could also use Iodine, but it seems to be harsher, or Betadine with seems harsh as well.

When I had them I dipped with Lugols because I wanted to be sure to get the FW's, but Povidone seems to work just as well and is easier on the corals.

If it really is AEFW, you don't want to mess around. Remove sacrifice the whole colony and after dipping either put it back into the tank or frag it up and start again.

It sucks. I got hit with monti nudis and then with AEFW. The lesson I took away was not to let anything grow onto the main rockwork and to dip everything coming in. All corals in my system are glued to rocks that are then glued to the rock work.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Rich. I'm going to give it a try and see what happens.

 

[Anonymous]

Let me know. Feel free to pm me for phone numbers if you think that would be more effective in treating the problem.

 

[Anonymous]

I ran the first dip and ended up with just a few flatworms. Should I dip again in a few days? Should I dip other corals that do not appear to be infested? The milli does not look to bad. The polyps are starting to come back. Hopefull I caught this a the onset. I also picked up a 6-line wrasse. I head antidoal testomony that they eat flat worm so I figured why not. I have seen it eat the regular flat worm I have already. So I guess I got a flatworm eater.

 

[Mr_Ugly]

Watch out for flatworm eggs on the mille.

I was just talking to a vendor this week that had been having good success with Povidone dips. One of the dipped corals started showing flatworm damage some time after the initial dipping. He re-dipped it and found another 30+ flatworms. Turns out that a batch of eggs on the coral hatched after the adults had been removed.

 

[Anonymous]

Watch out for flatworm eggs on the mille.

I was just talking to a vendor this week that had been having good success with Povidone dips. One of the dipped corals started showing flatworm damage some time after the initial dipping. He re-dipped it and found another 30+ flatworms. Turns out that a batch of eggs on the coral hatched after the adults had been removed.

Wazz, I was reading that sticky-d thread at the other place, this was an issue that people were discussing-the uncertainty of the gestation/life cycle. Seems to me that they were advocating a series of dips to try and interupt it as no one seems to know how long it takes for the eggs to hatch, and the dips do not seem to effect eggs at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Watch out for flatworm eggs on the mille.

I was just talking to a vendor this week that had been having good success with Povidone dips. One of the dipped corals started showing flatworm damage some time after the initial dipping. He re-dipped it and found another 30+ flatworms. Turns out that a batch of eggs on the coral hatched after the adults had been removed.

I think I got the eggs. There was a mystrie mass on one of the branches so I fragged it and tossed it. I also scrubbed the rock the coral used to be on with a chissel. I wanted to get part of the bas that stayed behind off and remove any eggs that were there.

 

[Anonymous]

Watch out for flatworm eggs on the mille.

I was just talking to a vendor this week that had been having good success with Povidone dips. One of the dipped corals started showing flatworm damage some time after the initial dipping. He re-dipped it and found another 30+ flatworms. Turns out that a batch of eggs on the coral hatched after the adults had been removed.

Wazz, I was reading that sticky-d thread at the other place, this was an issue that people were discussing-the uncertainty of the gestation/life cycle. Seems to me that they were advocating a series of dips to try and interupt it as no one seems to know how long it takes for the eggs to hatch, and the dips do not seem to effect eggs at all.

I've been readding all of those also. They also rec qting sps frag for 3-6 months. If I have to go through all that I may just re think what I am going to keep. I really need to find just a few local reefers that have noninvested tanks that I can buy stuff from. I think I got this batch from a LFS.

 

[Anonymous]

the only reason I know about that discussion is that I was considering keeping a SPS BB nano and was reading up on the subject. It put me right off the idea in fact.

 

[Anonymous]

IF you can get your frag from someone who has not added anything for a few months and does not have the buggers you should be fine. I really should do what I had planned and follow that advce myself. I've gotten a few nasty things in the past from LFS. I know two guys that live less than 5 miles from me that have nice tanks and have not added anything in a long time. I was supposed to get a few frags from one of them yesterday, but when I say the bugs I did not want to risk what I was geting and called off the deal. Real shame too. I was getting a good deal on a purple monster. One of the few expensive corals I want.

 

[Anonymous]

OK big question is how long should I wait before adding another coral? Should I deal with the other flat worm issue before adding more corals?

 

[Anonymous]

You should be on hold until you see if the AEFW are anywhere else in the tank. No reason to buy something if it might get eaten.

Everyone everywhere should be at the very least dipping and scrubbing where possible every new coral, at the very most dipping, scrubbing and qt'ing every new coral.

You might want to remove everything you can and dip that. You might not. Its a hard decision.

 

[Anonymous]

You should be on hold until you see if the AEFW are anywhere else in the tank. No reason to buy something if it might get eaten.

Everyone everywhere should be at the very least dipping and scrubbing where possible every new coral, at the very most dipping, scrubbing and qt'ing every new coral.

You might want to remove everything you can and dip that. You might not. Its a hard decision.

I agree with the first statement, but how long should that be? I'm not going to add anything until I know for sure, but when should I know?

I am deffinately going to dip all new corals. As funds permit I am going to finish putting together a q tank. After that I am going to qt them for a few weeks.

If I would have seen tons of AEFW's on the coral I would have pulled all the frags already and dipped them. Since I only saw a few I am a little reluctant to put the frags through that.