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Aquarium Pests: Do I have them?! (AEFW, Red Bugs,Aptasia,mojamos & FW)

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steve68

I think we need to really start looking hard at our systems & make sure we do not have any of these pest,we may have things we don't realize and everyone needs to treat everything they get before it is 2 late & u spread these pest all over ou'r tanks, these pest could really well be the down fall of our hobby if we do not learn to controll them, I my self learn the hard way, I never use to believe in a Quarantine tank but after going through such a nightmare with my tank i now am a believer.

Some of these pest are really hard to see like the AEFW & red bugs, a really good magnifying glass helps a lot, if we find any of these pest we need to treat our systems asap so they dont spread as much & then they will be harder to get rid off, the proper way to treat them our found in our own threads as a lot of us have gone through this down fall,It is not fair to trade after knowing u have any of these bugs & not letting the other person know & on the other hand it is our own fault for not treating the corals we buy or trade, treating the corals for pest has to become part of our hobby just like checking ur water's salinity.

when i take corals from my one tank to the other (seperate systems) i make sure i treat them even though i know that the one tank has nothing because it gives me piece of mind, some of u might think that that is crazy & it might be but it is the best way to keep anything from spreading for us that have more then one tank u just never know what might be growing in there.

If any of us find out that we have any of these pest & have trade or sold corals to other's i think it's only fair that u contac them & let them know what u have.

I'm not posting this to start a war i am trying to make everyone aware that there are pest out there that could be taking care of if found early enough, when we buy wild corals this is A MUST DO u have to treat the corals wild corals have a lot more pest on them then what im posting above.
 
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steve68

Thanks reefsandrotts & Phyl I Think the more we spread the word the better.
& Mike i would do it for fish to because u dont want to introduce ich but
never fresh water did a fish.
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

I just treated my 58 gallon frag tank with Interceptor. I'm doing the treatment from Melev's site. 12 hours and then run carbon and skim. I'm going to add on to his treatment and do a 20% water change as well. 7 days later treat again.
 
R

reneeRN

Steve, you are so right. I learned the hard way, years ago. Lost a bunch of sps to aefw. I am a pro at spotting pests. It is an obsession. Some people get annoyed with my discovering a problem with their sps, but it is the right thing to do.
I was just telling you last week what i found when I was treating a new batch of zoas from somethingfishy in pa. I found a sundial snail, a zoo eating nudi, and a zoo spider. I also found the BIGGEST flatworm ever. Matthew brought it to science class.
always dip, right?
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

Renee, what do you use for dipping zoas/sps/lps and whatnot?

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I just treated my 58gallon frag tank. I killed a couple of acrocrabs but I don't see any redbugs either.

The bad news is my SPS has been STNing for the last week. One piece at a time. I'm worried but at the same time I don't even care because I just want my tank pest free. If I have to buy all the corals over then that's that.

I'm gonna do one more treatment on Monday and by Tuesday I'll start to move everything to my main display. I'm not gonna do a third treatment.

If I can manage to keep 50% of my SPS then I'll be happy.
 
R

reneeRN

MikeNapoli said:
Renee, what do you use for dipping zoas/sps/lps and whatnot?

The bad news is my SPS has been STNing for the last week.
Click to expand...

i posted the zoo dip in the zoo area, it was from reef central. great dip.\

try to save some frags from your sps by cutting 1/3 inch above the stn area. it almost always works for me.
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

I would try and save them but some of them are just frags so there almost isn't a point to fragging a frag.


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What do you guys think about melev's interceptor dip? He does a 6 hour dip.

When I move my SPS back to my main display i'm going to do it in a 3-4 day span and i'm gonna dip them in Saltwater with Fluke tabs for AEFW, then TMPCC w/ FWE, and then in a 10gallon holding tank for 6 hours with a heater and powerhead that is treated with interceptor.

Do you think that's too much stress for the coral?

Maybe take away the first "fluke dip" and do RODI water.

I have no clue ... I just want to be pest free in the future.
 
F

freeze

i've gotten flatworms and zoa eating nudibranches in as unexpected surprises in trades. You learn the hard way to examine everything you purchase and best to qt them before putting in your display tank.
 
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NYPDFrogman

I check every piece I buy under a magnifying glass and I just found out within the last couple of days I have AEFW

fortunately I don't have many acro colonies just a couple of frags I'm definitely going to set up a QT/ frag tank to prevent this in the future
 
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steve68

the bugs are out there many reefers don't even know they have them a QT is a must now a days, we spent so much time taking care of our reef tanks & to have these bugs wipe out our tanks is brutal, many have said i have flat worms but they don't do nothing ! wait till they start to multiply by the 1000's & u have a die off! the toxins are brutal.
 
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NYPDFrogman

there is a difference between flatworms and acro eating flatworms
I had a small problem early a few years ago with my 180 and my 6 line destroyed them he would eat so many his stomach would swell

AEFW are very difficult to see with naked eye I knew i had them when I started to lose coral and found the eggs on dead corals need a strong magnifying glass

I agree lots of hobbyist have no clue they have them
 
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