Reef nutrition

Please, please, please, let it not be this. I'm gonna be madder than Hitler.

patrickb

patrickb

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A little background first:

My millis started to brown out about 5 months ago. Very slowly. They have also recently started to RTN--both from the tips and from underneath as well as from the base. I still have decent polyp extension but the corals often slime up at night. In the last 6 months I have tried numerous things to cure the browning out and slow wasting away. I stopped dosing kalk bc my alkalinity was slightly high. I got rid of all my leathers, sinularias, sponges, and elegance corals thinking that perhaps coral warfare was happening. Just last week, I got rid of my deep sand bed and cleaned up lots of gunky, slimy detritus from my sump thinking that this was causing the irritation. Still no luck. All of my other corals are doing great--my lps are growing fast, my zoas are multiplying, and last but not least, my montiporas are growing fast and glowing with color.

Question:

Do I have.....I hate to even write this....but do I have......(come on, spit it out).....do I have acropora eating flatworms?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrOjKpSZ8PI

How can I accurately tell? I took out some of the RTNing raspberry milli and looked at it closely and I can't see any oval shaped bite marks. I also can't see a whole bunch of egg clusters. I do some brownish spots here and there but nothing really obvious.

If I have AEFW, what kind of in-tank cures are there? Are there any good and reliable fish predators of AEFW? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Patrick
 
The best way to tell is to blast the area you think may be infected and watch for them to fall off. You could also dip a colony in Revive while bastering them.
 
Hmmm. They usually don't go for Milli's. You could bring one in to work and we could look at it.

Here is a link to 'treatment'. Really no biggie anymore - AEFW are not the death sentence they were in Hitlers time:

http://reefhobbyistmagazine.com/archives/vol_2/issue6/pages/issue_6-19.htm
 
I forgot to mention they never touched my Millis. A Caveat to that is my main flow was directed at my millis and they were not on racks (Frag-A-Racks on the glass) that had any other acros.
 
They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Cherry Bomb milli, Sunrize... I've never seen one on my Sunrize, I think it depends on the milli. I'm sure Bryan will chime in as well since we've had the same basic experience.

If they are it's rally not a big deal IME, especially if you are diligent, they are not too hard to knock out, I'm lucky to get more than one or two after basting my entire 150, and I have a lot of Acros.
 
GreshamH said:
I forgot to mention they never touched my Millis. A Caveat to that is my main flow was directed at my millis and they were not on racks (Frag-A-Racks on the glass) that had any other acros.
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Good point there Gresham, they seem to go where their blown, they also avoid certain Acros, like they won't touch my austera.
 
My main flow is also directed at the millis so I'm hoping this is all a false alarm. Rich, I'm gonna take you up on you offer and bring a frag in next week to look at under the microscope.
 
Dunno about the Sunrize, they never touched mine, they sure loved my Cherry Bomb though.

If you hit your corals with a baster and you have them, you'll see them fly off, trust me. They are pretty big and if you ask my fish they taste good too!
 
+ 1 for millies in my tank too. That and my grannys are their favorite treat.

Funny thing is I hear that validas are their favorite and I have never seen anything on my huge valida.
 
patrickb said:
My main flow is also directed at the millis so I'm hoping this is all a false alarm. Rich, I'm gonna take you up on you offer and bring a frag in next week to look at under the microscope.
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A frag won't work. Can you bring the whole thing?
 
Well, the good news is that I do not have AEFW. Yay! The bad news is that I still have not figured out why my millis are browning out and slowly declining.

As I mentioned before, I got rid of 6 inches of sand in my refugium because I thought maybe my tank was suffering from old tank syndrome and because the sand hand not been cleaned out for 2.5 years. I'm hoping that with some patience this will turn things around.

Thanks for the help Rich.
 
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