AEFW Issue

[rdriggett]

I wholeheartedly agree! BAR is by far the best reef place to be.

I thought R2R was the pinnacle of online reefing until I learned about the owner's anti-equality stances. Promptly deleted my account and have never looked back. BAR is amazing!

 

[Qwiv]

Hi all,

I have a bit of a problem in the 69g tank with aefw. The 75g seems like maybe I don't. I've only had Acro's in there since the last frag swap. All my frag swap acquisitions were dipped, examined and put into the 75g as I found out the day of the swap. My problem is this.. I'll be moving coral out of the 69g into the 75g in preparation to move the 112g in. I obviously do not want to transfer aefw to the new tank. Short of killing all sps in the 69g when I break it down, what are my best options? I don't have a quarantine tank for coral and don't really have room for one.

My initial plan is...

Remove all non sps first and dip like crazy in a small tank with a power head before moving to the 75g. Also look over with a magnifying glass.

Then...

A: Frag the sps into 1" frags, dip, blow off & examine. Mount duplicates on 2-3" discs
Or
B: Remove the colonies, dip, blow off with power head, examine for eggs. Then transfer.
Or
C: Junk all sps and start over

I know there's risk both ways but it would be sad to have to destroy the sps I've been growing for the last 1.5 years. Are there better options out there? I assume all the live rock in there should be sterilized vs reused? I do have some live rock in the 69g refugium I wanted to use for the 112g.

Acro's would be the preferred meal and egg laying choice of the aefw but are millie's and other sps as riskyto move?


Idea's are welcome before I get this started in June!

If you are re-using the rock/substrate I don't think you can "eradicate" them as eggs could be somewhere next to a coral in the LR. I think the best you can do is cut the corals off the bases, dip and remount and not reuse any bases. If you know what colony has the issue, take extra precaution on those.

 

[richiev]

here are the dipping frag trays. I had @ashburn2k 3D print them for me. I'll have to look, but I might have 2 containers that fits these trays that I used to dip and then rinse with as well. can lend u a stand as well.

View attachment 38518

Is this a file you folks are willing to share? I was just about to print myself some more frag racks, and this is definitely superior to the one I designed.

 

[Coral2Coral]

Couldn’t you add a six line or melanurus wrasse to help?

 

[Da_Neefer]

Couldn’t you add a six line or melanurus wrasse to help?

I’ve added a melanurus wrasse, yellowtail blue damsels, and camel shrimp to both tanks. I’d just prefer to start the new tank without AEFW.

 

[Coral2Coral]

I’ve added a melanurus wrasse, yellowtail blue damsels, and camel shrimp to both tanks. I’d just prefer to start the new tank without AEFW.

Totally understand! But it’s nearly impossible to avoid pest completely, I think it’s more on managing it.

 

[RandyC]

Totally understand! But it’s nearly impossible to avoid pest completely, I think it’s more on managing it.

It is very much possible. It’s just a matter of how much effort and time you want to invest into QTing anything wet (fish, corals, inverts, rocks, plugs, etc.) that goes into your tank. Many find the amount of effort isn’t worth the reward.

 

[Coral2Coral]

Very true! The amount of effort and work is not feasible ATM for me.

 

[Qwiv]

It is very much possible. It’s just a matter of how much effort and time you want to invest into QTing anything wet (fish, corals, inverts, rocks, plugs, etc.) that goes into your tank. Many find the amount of effort isn’t worth the reward.

It isn't possible if you want all the good critters in the tank. The best aquariums with the best QT protocols all have pests. You can decrease your odds against some of the more understood pests, but another pest will come along that gets through protocol.

 

[RandyC]

It isn't possible if you want all the good critters in the tank. The best aquariums with the best QT protocols all have pests. You can decrease your odds against some of the more understood pests, but another pest will come along that gets through protocol.

Good critters such as? You can pretty much selectively add copepods, amphipods, brittle stars, bacteria as you please and still keep out most if not all pests.

It’s not easy by any means and requires strict discipline to do it (resisting the urge to put it in too early or skip a step), but it can be done.

 

[Qwiv]

There is always be a non-zero percent change a pest will get through QT no matter how good, so you can only stack the odds. Your effort will follow the rule of diminishing returns and will never reach 0 despite your best efforts. "it’s impossible to avoid pest completely" is a very true statement on a long enough timeline.

Interested in your method. If you have a protocol that kills everything except the thing you want alive 100% of the time, including all know and unknown pests and only want to replace everything you killed with what you can buy, sure.... maybe. Is there a 100% protocol for ALL pests? Can you buy every good organism you killed from a supplier that does the same 100% eradication. Where can I get peanut worms, mini fan worms, small sponges all the cool life you use to get on real live rock, all the bacteria and what are they even called and which do I need? We don't even know what all the good things are. Not knocking QT and Observation as I am doing it, but it isn't 100% foolproof so @Coral2Coral is correct and we will all need to know how to deal with pests when they come, thank the people who figure out want to deal with them and support the folks who got the short end of the stick and got some pest.

Pests can get through dips and a fallow period unless that fallow period 100% breaks the life cycle of everything minus only what you want to stay alive. If every coral/invert (even the micro) went through every protocol for every pest or their fallow periods in isolation from other organisms then you got a chance, but if you only have one QT tank, eventually it will be cross contaminated and allow the possibility for a life cycle to exist. That means you would need a QT tank for every type of invert you bring in so they don't cross contaminate each other while holding them for the fallow period of every pest you can't directly treat for. That is a tank for every coral/invert treatment type you want to stock sitting in isolation for 2-5 months in a condition all pest can not sustain itself, yet the animal being QT'd can. How many QT tanks would you need to stock a tank to a reasonable level in 2 years? You can't cross contaminate the tanks so you better not have them next to each other. Bacteria can Aerosol so now you need to move them apart, but how far? Ridiculous = impossible at some point.

 

[RandyC]

There is always be a non-zero percent change a pest will get through QT no matter how good, so you can only stack the odds. Your effort will follow the rule of diminishing returns and will never reach 0 despite your best efforts. "it’s impossible to avoid pest completely" is a very true statement on a long enough timeline.

Interested in your method. If you have a protocol that kills everything except the thing you want alive 100% of the time, including all know and unknown pests and only want to replace everything you killed with what you can buy, sure.... maybe. Is there a 100% protocol for ALL pests? Can you buy every good organism you killed from a supplier that does the same 100% eradication. Where can I get peanut worms, mini fan worms, small sponges all the cool life you use to get on real live rock, all the bacteria and what are they even called and which do I need? We don't even know what all the good things are. Not knocking QT and Observation as I am doing it, but it isn't 100% foolproof so @Coral2Coral is correct and we will all need to know how to deal with pests when they come, thank the people who figure out want to deal with them and support the folks who got the short end of the stick and got some pest.

Pests can get through dips and a fallow period unless that fallow period 100% breaks the life cycle of everything minus only what you want to stay alive. If every coral/invert (even the micro) went through every protocol for every pest or their fallow periods in isolation from other organisms then you got a chance, but if you only have one QT tank, eventually it will be cross contaminated and allow the possibility for a life cycle to exist. That means you would need a QT tank for every type of invert you bring in so they don't cross contaminate each other while holding them for the fallow period of every pest you can't directly treat for. That is a tank for every coral/invert treatment type you want to stock sitting in isolation for 2-5 months in a condition all pest can not sustain itself, yet the animal being QT'd can. How many QT tanks would you need to stock a tank to a reasonable level in 2 years? You can't cross contaminate the tanks so you better not have them next to each other. Bacteria can Aerosol so now you need to move them apart, but how far? Ridiculous = impossible at some point.

Okay, I stated my point a little too strongly. of course nothing is 100% fool proof. I just don’t like the doom and gloom of people stating that you’ll get it eventually and you’ll just have to manage it.

The things that we know are bad - Aiptasia, aefw, red/black bugs, polyclad flatworms, red planaria, ich, velvet, flukes - a good number of these pests, if not all, can very likely be avoided with stringent QT protocols. It’s just people don’t think the hard effort is worth the reward. QT isn’t for everyone.

 

[Meshmez]

You can 100% prevent pests from making it to your display, if your corals never make it out of QT..

 

[Qwiv]

Love to see how to nuke aptasia without constantly nuking a QT tank and redoing a reset. You miss one and now it is just in the QT tank. Maybe With 100% sticks or softies no substrate. Those bastards are just to good at living.

Hate to seeing people with bomber tanks reset them because of a pest. A lot of people reset when red bugs came around. The old tanks that held out got more flow and interceptor plus a multi year head start on all the tanks that got nuked. At some point the time and effort invested in a setup means something. If we tore down cities every time we found a problem there would be no landmarks to visit. Looks like @Da_Neefer has a pretty bomber tank. A full reset means you start over which can also be an opportunity. I would still hate to be in that position (sorry dude), but every problem is the solution if you look at it carefully enough.

Been reading that people have been basting corals to knock off AEWF and using local RO water baths. Wonder if a maxijet aimed at your effected coral with your ATO line connected to the Venturi input on the power head, apex command - ATO on, maxijet on would be a good way to knock them back. Little fresh water blast every so often. Just need to address back siphon with a check valve or a dosing pump

 

[Coral reefer]

Interesting idea there

 

[Da_Neefer]

I can read and post small pics with some very bad internet here in the mountains. Reading BAR while sitting by a dying campfire.

I agree it’s impossible to rid yourself of every pest. Some you deal with and some you can stop the life cycle and hopefully not get that pest again. Which is my goal with the AEFW in the new tank. I think I have a temporary spot for the small frag tank. I’ll know for sure when I get back and start moving things.

In the meantime toasty feet and stars.