What does AEFW damage look like?

[asylumdown]

Well the good news is that after dipping 50% of my acropora in Coral RX (I was getting less and less comfortable waiting for the All Out to arrive), I've not found a single flatworm. The bad news is that I discovered montipora eating nudibranchs in the process.

Fml. This might be the end of me as a reefer. I don't have the time to deal with two problems like this. If that coral that came on my rock truly is montipora, there's nothing I can do about the nudibranchs. Removing all of the coral on the rocks will require removing 50% of my rock.

[Reef Pilot]

Don't remember reading about the conclusion of this. Did you eventually beat the AEFW infestation and how, or are you just living with it?

[asylumdown]

In both cases, nothing came of it. The frag that had the flatworms was the only coral that had them on them. I dipped everything I could get off the rocks a second time maybe a month later and found nothing. I tossed the coral that had them, and that was the end of it.

There were only two Montipora eating nudis, and I strongly suspect they had hitchhiked in on an LPS that I had added to the tank a couple of days before. They were both small, I don't think they were sexually mature yet. I removed those two, and that was the end of it on that front as well. I've got at least a dozen large colonies of montipora and dozens of large acros, so I feel like 8 months later I should have seen something if they were still present in the tank.

I consider myself very lucky.

[Reef Pilot]

That's a great to hear! That AEFW scares the crap out of me...

[asylumdown]

yah they're a pretty awful thing to have happen. I've been religious about dipping things since then and so far so good. The frag (more of a mini colony really) that had the worms only had two flatworms on it, but when I looked at it closely there were hundreds of eggs. The only explanation I have for why I didn't get hit like everyone else is that I got to it before any of the eggs hatched, which was dumb luck more than anything. Very nerve wracking month though.