AEFW WARNING
 

Fellow hobbyists, there is a certain very well know seller of corals in the GVRD that is knowingly selling their wares to the public even though they know they have AEFW.

This worm is the bane and worst nightmare of any SPS tank owner. You risk infecting your corals and losing hundreds if not thousands of dollars if you do not know they are in your system or do not treat them.

As someone who had them and treated for them, I can tell you first hand it is not fun. 8-12 weeks of frags in a separate tank without rock and weekly dippings is recommended. Plus you need to inspect each frag base for eggs that may have been laid. And it's still not a guarantee that you are home free.

That's why it ****es me off to hear that someone could knowingly, intentionally, callously sell their frags to someone else without at least telling them about their AEFW issue. There is never only one worm. You find even one you know to assume you have more.

Everyone buying SPS corals should be dipping and inspecting their frags before putting them into their system. Don't be naive like me and do a half ass job of it either. Do it right. Revive, Bayer, Coral Rx all work.

To the individual selling these infected corals...I understand you will lose a lot of money if you tell prospective buyers of your AEFW issue. But you have to feel some guilt do you not for the potential damage you could be doing to this person's tank and the hobby itself. It's people like you that make new hobbyist wary and quit and makes experienced hobbyist despise you.

Be a stand up individual and at the very least tell people you have AEFW and let them decide if they want to risk adding your stuff to their tanks.

This claim has been checked 100% to be true.
This warning is seen as a public service announcement.

Just my 2 cents (question/concern), if it it 100% true, why not announce who it is. This would serve as a warning to ppl that have bought corals & let them start taking precautions immediately?

I agree, not much help to anyone the way it is. I guess just don't trust anyone selling coral in the GVRD area for awhile.

Personally I would ask them to stop or tell on the add that this is the case. And if they want to be dishonest then spread the word as you have tried. But we always have two side to every story and I would like to think most are honest on this site

Problem is that some ppl have most likely bought from this (trusted) seller & placed them in their tanks. The infestation has most likely started.

Now you got everybody who has purchased acro's from anyone in the lower mainland frantically inspecting their tank for something that is almost impossible to see.

Just checked my tank...... still empty! phew close one :biggrin:

But really the "infector" should be exposed! for the sake of the hobby

If this is verified I dont see any harm of naming it. Everybody needs to know before their precious coral collections get wipe out.

Mods typically don't like things to be publicly announced as it could place Canreef as a liability.

Therefore, if you have an issue it is probably best to PM the OP for the name of the seller.

I'm CLEAN , so you can take my name off the list of possible offenders. In all seriousness though , if someone is selling corals knowing that they have aefw , or any other major pests for that matter , that's just horrible.

Aefw is a detrimental plague to any sps tank. Even if your corals are all on frag plugs which can easily removed and dipped it is still a pain in the butt to deal with. When I sell sps frags, I make a point to ask the buyer to dip everything, not that I have any aefw (knock on wood) people needs to understand if you decide to buy it, you need to be responsible for it, because after all, it's going into your tank and not anyone else's. At the minimum, you need to dip. Some people are more fortunate than others where a separate quarantine tank is set up which is fantastic but for most of us, it's straight into the tank.

Here are some of my practices that I like to share with you for acquiring new sps frags; #1 cut the frag off the plug no matter how bad you want to save the encrusted left over, just don't do it. #2 dip the frag with your favourite dip and turkey baster and baste the crap out of it. #3 observe what's in the dip closely, black containers is not recommended as it is hard to see. #4 disinfect it with a mix of your tank water and iodine(lugols) turkey baste again. #5 final rinse in your tank water. #6 glue it to your plug of choice, don't be cheap, use enough glue to cover the base.

Follow the above steps are a sure way to keep aefw out of your tank 99 percent of time but it's still not bullet proof. There are still chances where aefw can be introduced so periodic random dips are still necessary. Out of all the years I have been in this hobby I have only met a few reefers that are willingly admitting the fact of aefw, some don't even realize they have it. So the bottom line is if it goes in your tank you are the one that is responsible and that's it. Do not ever rely on anyone or any store telling you they are "clean" cause you never know...it's your tank on the line here.

Years ago I found AEFW on an aquacultured mini colony I had recently bought. I removed it from the tank and threw it in the garbage. It's not worth the $100 to risk my collection. Lucky for me, it had not spread to any of the other corals. Regardless, I stopped selling frags for 3 months, and warned everyone that had bought frags from me since I had bought that coral. Luckily no one else's tank was infected, and it really was localized to that one coral. Thank goodness! :eek: Ever since then, no frag plugs or aquaculture "mounds" are allowed in my tank. I clip all corals off plugs/disks/mounds, dip in bayer, and mount them on new plugs. I also clip off and/or scrape any damaged areas or spots of bare skeleton. The eggs aren't laid on the live skin, they are laid on the plugs and spots of bare skeleton.

This is a great suggestion. :)

People need to dip everything. I nearly kill my new frags before they enter new tank, maybe I'm paranoid but you never can be too safe. On top of that a week later I dip them again to ensure nothing is on them. I would also hope any frag I sell gets dipped by the buyer it should be part of your routine. I don't have bugs but it just should be done. Another great idea something we all should be doing is quarantine tank I'll be building one soon I have way to much invested to loose it all to some little bugs.

That is just "dirty" to sell an infestation. IMO if you have any sort of pest (especially when you know) you should not be sellIng anything. Nothing will crush a persons happiness and bank account more, especially wen you are just starting out. I think that without the exposure of the individual other reputable sellers in the GVRD will have a hard time selling their frags. This is unfortunate to hear and maybe the person will step up and "make it right". :smile:

yes... greasy move, especially when your the seller and you know you have a problem, but continue to sell stuff or trade stuff to a local fish store.. fix your problem then start to sell again...
dont pass your garbage infestation around... you guys know who you are that are selling this sh*#...

dont forget about those damn monti eating nudis either, they are just as bad as AEFW, had a friend who got infested by a well known seller...
just remember, its a small community and your name will be tossed around..
i have no problem telling other people this or that person has issues with their tanks..
i always tell people to dip whenever i sell a piece of coral.. because even myself, you never know if that one piece has something on it..

On the other hand, yes, its buyers responsibility to do their end of it by dipping..

if you accidentally sell and dont know about your problem, dont go denying it and keep selling. FIX YOUR PROBLEM FIRST..

SMH

I agree this is such a shame on seller when he/she is clearly aware of the issue but still try to cover it.
Regardless, I dip everything that goes into the my tank, also remove the plug too. I don't want to take any chance to introduce any unwanted pest/algae. At end of the day, every coral is infected until proven clean after quarantine.


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While it's really disheartening to see a thread like this, its great to see us looking out for one another.

I'm preparing to jump back into sps in a big way and frankly, up until now I would still be just buying frags and dropping them into the display.

I will be setting up a quarantine of sorts for sure.

What happened to the good old days where you just needed some kalk and some halides and you were good to go!

I guess dipping is the way to go, but it would be nice to buy from trusted members and be able to drop them in right away! Instant satisfaction!!!

There are dozens of issues that can come into your tank from another tank, from algae to diseases to pests. Most of these can be accidental because the seller is unaware of the problem. Best option is fresh cuts, dipped and quarantined no matter who the coral is coming from. Minimal option is no frag plugs and dipping. Even if you do everything you can sometimes bad stuff happens.

I hear ya.

Nothing beats precaution.

Just saying, back in the day the only thing I worried about was red flatworms which were just an eyesore & grape caulerpra.

But I don't think I've seen a thread about the grape caulerpra in years!

"Trusted members" has nothing to do with it. Every single person on these forums is at risk of infecting their own tank if they are adding corals to their tank. No matter how diligent a person is, at some point something will sneak through. Everyone's tank is "clean" ...until it isn't. I don't actually think that anyone should say their tank is "pest-free". When people ask me, I say "There are no pests in there that I currently know about". :lol: I always tell people to dip frags no matter where you get them from - even if you buy them from me. Dipping is your insurance! At the end of the day though, there are very few pests that I am particularly concerned about. AEFW is #1. :eek:

Seriously though, who is it? I bought some AEFW from Oceanic Coral a few years ago and it was the worst issue ever. Watching my acro die as I did weekly dips to try and stop the infestation almost made me give up on this hobby.

I dip every frag I buy by the eggs can make it through the dipping process. This seller should stop selling until they are 100% sure they are not selling infested frags.

That name isn't gonna get mentioned unless you want the ban hammer coming down...lol Wardog is always hammer happy....just kidding. Let's just grab our pitchforks and go for a good old witch hunt....burn the tank and house down.

All jokes aside, I am a firm believer on buying only fresh cuts on sps or any other corals that I can cut for that matter. Even stuff with a skeleton like most lps, I would use epoxy or glue to cover all that exposed skeleton after dipping. Frag plugs and maricultured sps colony cement bases are the worst for harbouring aefw eggs and other pests like majano, aiptasia along with nuisance algaes like bryopsis. Never really get why people are adamant to have it on a frag plugs, you are just buying someone else's hidden problems. Don't be a cheap fart trying to save that extra little bit coral by not cutting the base off and end up with pain and suffering for losing your whole tank.

Word of advice, if you are like me and have thousands of dollars invested in the tank, please due diligence when it comes to your tank. No one is to be the blame except for yourself.

Do you find that fresh cuts have a higher mortality rate? I've bought 2 fresh cuts and both RTN'd pretty quick, I figured they didn't have time to heal before being taken from one tank to another and the shock of the difference in parameters or flow or light was too much on them.

Maybe I'll start an all Acan reef, no one ever reports issues with Acans...lol

This is not good for those that are currently selling Acro's in the lower mainland. Or for anyone wanting to buy Acros from the lower mainland. We are in a Catch 22 right now. Dammed if we do dammed if we don't. Everyone is considered potentially guilty until we know whose corals are infected.

Maybe the best option is the person that is selling the infected corals to stop selling any corals from his system until it can be verified that he is AEFW free for at least 3 months. Once he stops selling his corals the Mods that know who he is can say it is now safe to buy Acros again from the lower mainland.

The other option is for Canreef to list all those hobbyists selling Acroporas that are verified to be from AEFW free systems.

I used to be a BCA member way back my planted tank and discus days addiction, the feature that I missed moving to Canreef is the Feedback/Rating to all transactions that is done through the BCA Buy/Sell Trade.

Can Canreef add the same feature?

Just asking. :)

so... if we know this AEFW seller, should we keep this info to ourselves?

Canreef respectfully requests you keep all names and locations OFF the forum. What you do amongst yourselves is your business.

On a side note, this seller should make buyers aware he has a problem when you show up to purchase. Also discussing proper dipping techniques and quarantine. All good retailers do. Knowingly selling coral infected with AEFW and Monti Nudis without informing the buyer is pretty low.

I wouldn't point my finger at anyone unless I have proof myself. It is such a sensitive subject in this hobby and I wouldn't be happy if someone wrongfully accused me for that. Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with everyone that if you know you have aefw or any other pest, as a seller, you needs to disclose that information with potential buyers, its the only RIGHT thing to do.

I have my suspects but here is how this all started, a person traded in some sps coral frags to one of the local store and someone was told by that store the sps carried aefw and had some bad effect on the store system. Take it for what it's worth and direct your questions to the proper source.

Very good point and attribution. I would love to see this as it is a key factor for me to purchase used stuff on other forums. MODS, upgrade time, Wardog, Mindy, Kien, Titus? Inputs?

lol, I don't think that's necessary although an acan only tank would be sexy as hell. lol

I would say fresh cuts are only as healthy as the mother colony. A weak colony will yield weak frags and might not withstand that extra bit of stress of being fragged or dipped, so pick your sellers wisely. Others can just be the specific species of the sps coral, my accidental frags of the teal dragon always peels, don't ask me why, it just does. It's not like we don't have enough shit to worry about running a sps tank. lol

AEFW?
 

Could someone tell me what this acronym means? Is it possible the seller doesn't know about this infection/infestation? It's not me btw - haven/t sold a frag in 1 or 2 years.

AquaAddict

No such thing. You can't verify this. It's buyer beware!

Acropora Eating FlatWorms.

This was discussed a number of years ago. I believe the concensus was that we had no way of verifying peoples' claims. That discussion was a long time ago though amd I don't remember for sure. If I get sme time in the next week I'll try to dig it up.

There have been a number of people over the years that have been banned as the result of poor "business ethics" such as those who scam members. I think selling Acros with a known AEFW infestation is pushing that boundary for sure.

Acropora eating flatworms.

Well, now I know why I was asked if I have coral dip when buying a frag at the LFS on Sunday :rolleyes:

Keeping the name hidden is just lame, I guess all acro buyers and sellers in the lower mainland are screwed now, just like grade four class all over again when someone wouldn't fess up to making fart noises behind the teachers back :rolleyes:.

I do believe Jess when he says he's good to go though.

Acro eating flat worms. Anything is possible.

I think without a doubt that this qualifies as bad business ethics.

This actually will affect everyone from BC trying to sell their frags on Buy/Sell section..... just saying.

Yes because only BC has AEFW. Don't kid yourself.
The intent of post was to make everyone aware that there is a seller selling infected corals and that buyer should beware and dip.

And yes, it would be ethical for him to stop selling until he has eradicated them from his system. But to suggest that nobody is going to buy corals from BC because they have AEFW is just ignorant. No nicer way to say it, sorry.

No. I did not mean it that way. Sure there AEFW everywhere. but poeple such as myself who many time purchases frags from Greater Vancouver area, will need to really think if 'this' person is the one you mentioned.

I apologize if it came out the wrong way. :(

I don't even buy frags if I know they come from a tank that has brynopsis. Buying online is basically base on trust.

...or you could pm the OP to spill the beans on who the offender is.

Yes. :idea:

I think this is definitely an issue everyone in the hobby is affected by and not just localized.