wizardx322 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 (edited) I am so glad i listen to Mark and dipped all my coral I got today from vivid. I was really skeptical about dipping my ice fire enchinata since i have read on reef central that alot of people lost their ice fire, hawkins enchinata and pretty much all the smooth skin acros. I read that the smooth skin acros did not like being dipped and have had bad experience's. Both my ice fire and strawberry look good didn't see any bite marks or anything or any bugs. well i took marks advice and took the risk and dipped the ice fire enchinata and my strawberry short cake oh man am i glad i did. after dipping them and putting them in my tank I looked at the water i dipped them in and saw bugs (some kind of worm and some others) dead on the bottem of the container. not sure what kind but glad those guys died and not get into my tank. lesson learned here. I will always dip! Thanks Mark for the advice and for putting together the group order!!! Edited February 1, 2011 by wizardx322 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizzy Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 That Mark is pretty smart. I made the mistake of not dipping my very first corals and became an expert in flatworms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Got a linky to the recommend dipping procedure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Just a wild guess...mrsaltwatertank.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 If it were me I would dip it once a week for a month unless you are 110% positive there are no eggs. I've had my experience with flat worms and in fact I have some alive in a QT tank that I'm experimenting with. I couldn't find anything about the exact life cycle of the worms so I wanted to find out for myself. In case anyone is wondering like I was, my flatworms laid eggs and it took those eggs 10-14 days to completely hatch and those worms are over a month old and have not laid eggs yet. I've fed them some coral frags for fun. I've learned several things about pests lately that I'll eventually put in a thread. I want my hatched flatworms to lay eggs again so that I will know how long it takes to go from a laid egg to an egg laying adult. I couln't find this info anywhere and it is vital to know how to dip for them. Anyway I'm glad you knocked them off before they went in your tank. Got any pictures? I dipped my smooth skinned corals in 1.5 strength coral rx pro for 10 minutes and hadn't had any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckylou Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) I doubt they were bad for your tank, I have been to vivid and in the back they have frag quarantine tanks that are setup to hold corals for months at a time till they offer them for sale to make sure their are no pests.Good choice on the dipping, If more people did this in the area we could keep pests down to a minimum when buying / trading. Edited February 2, 2011 by luckylou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 I doubt they were bad for your tank, I have been to vivid and in the back they have frag quarantine tanks that are setup to hold corals for months at a time till they offer them for sale to make sure their are no pests.Good choice on the dipping, If more people did this in the area we could keep pests down to a minimum when buying / trading. I think they prob were bad but it was a good thing that i did dip because after i dipped and put it in my tank i inspected it again and saw that there are some bite marks on my ice fire enchinata. even though vivid has that quarantine tank something was biting this ice fire before i got it. Steve i'm going to take that advice and prob dip it again in a week of so just in case of the eggs. thanks. and cant wait to see what you find out about the results of your experiment. wish i would of taken pics of the dead bugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Thanks for the nod TIm! Here is how I dip all my corals: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Eggs can take up to 2 weeks to hatch so worst case scenario the eggs were laid the day they were shipped you could see baby worms up two weeks. Since icefire is a sensitive coral I would wait 3 weeks and then dip it one last time, assuming you find no other worms. The problem is that within the 2 weeks that it takes eggs to hatch the worms could travel to another coral before you get it dipped, that is why I suggest dipping once a week for a month. With that said though I don't think that worms move that quickly from coral to coral. If it was a colony with plenty of hiding places I would no doubt dip once a weeks but with a frag its easier to tell if there are eggs or not so you are safer. Here are some things that I observed and learned with the particular species of flatworm I'm experimenting with. 1. AEFW only lay eggs on dead parts of the coral. This doesn't mean they are limited to the base of the coral, they will lay on any part of a coral that is dead, like the pic. In case you don't notice them they are in the center of the pic down in the hole that was eaten by the flat worms. So in other words the entire coral needs to be inspected. Its really hard to inspect these out of the water and notice the eggs. I hold it underwater and bring it right up to the glass and use a flash light to look. 2. If you are looking for bite marks in your tank wait until the lights go out and get a strong flashlight and shine underneath the corals in your tank, bite marks are usually pretty easy to see this way. 3. AEFW don't move that quickly. If you have some baby flatworms they seems to stay on the coral they are hatched on until they mature. Then they go roaming. The don't spread at a crazy rate like people fear. 4. AEFW prefer certain corals....mine like mille and tricolor the most. 5. I'm pretty confident that the mature flatworms die after laying eggs, I'll know for sure if it happens again. 6. Coral RX pro must be used at 1.5 strength to knock of the egg laying AEFW, and for at least 5 min preferably 10 min. Must use a turkey baster or powerhead to knock them off. 7. AEFW aren't that big of a deal really, people freak out and kill their coral when they discover they have them. Don't freak out, they are easily exterminated with dipping. 8. If you want to be safe get fresh cut frags so there will be no eggs on the coral even if it has worms. You can dip and remove worms and with no eggs you should be safe from them. If you get a colony with a base CUT AWAY THE BASE and throw away, even throw away the encrusted part on the base. This cuts down on potential for eggs greatly. 9. Planaria look very similar to AEFW, unless you get it off of an SPS coral its probably planaria. Planaria are annoying but mostly reef safe. 10. Pay close attention to your corals, if you have a coral that won't color up or is receding DIP IT AND PAY ATTENTION WHAT COMES OFF!!!! Anyway more info to come later. BTW AEFW are nothing....monti eating nudi are spawned from the devil. I'm battling them right now and have them 90% under control but they are very difficult to completely erradicate. They are hard to remove from the coral and they can lay eggs soon after hatching also they move very quickly through the tank. All corals are dipped before they go in my tank, these made it past the initial dipping. It can happen to anyone, especially if you ever put corals in your tank without dipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 If anyone is dealing with AEFW or they think they are send me a pm, you can help me experiment with an erridication technique without using a QT tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 BTW these are planaria, not AEFW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 These are AEFW eggs and worms. Planaria don't lay eggs. Notice the color difference between the AEFW and planaria, plaria are darker and more of a reddish brown but AEFW are tan and a little transparent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I would never add a coral to my tank if I dipped and found AEFW. Just recently a fellow reefer was over and offered up some sps frags. During the diping process I found AEFW and gave the coral back. No way no how I'm adding a coral that just had AEFW, way too big of a risk IMO. Has someone contacted Vivid about this yet? I'd think long and hard before ordering from these guys again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I would never add a coral to my tank if I dipped and found AEFW. Just recently a fellow reefer was over and offered up some sps frags. During the diping process I found AEFW and gave the coral back. No way no how I'm adding a coral that just had AEFW, way too big of a risk IMO. Has someone contacted Vivid about this yet? I'd think long and hard before ordering from these guys again. I'm going to contact them today to let them know what was supposedly found. Given their stringent quarantine process, I highly doubt they have AEFW. And even if they did and knew about it, they sure as heck wouldn't risk their reputation sending out infected corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celebrityovernight Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 1. AEFW only lay eggs on dead parts of the coral. This doesn't mean they are limited to the base of the coral, they will lay on any part of a coral that is dead, like the pic. In case you don't notice them they are in the center of the pic down in the hole that was eaten by the flat worms. So in other words the entire coral needs to be inspected. Its really hard to inspect these out of the water and notice the eggs. I hold it underwater and bring it right up to the glass and use a flash light to look. I thought the eggs was what causes that part of the coral to die. They release a chemical that reacts with the coral tissue causing necrosis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 1. AEFW only lay eggs on dead parts of the coral. This doesn't mean they are limited to the base of the coral, they will lay on any part of a coral that is dead, like the pic. In case you don't notice them they are in the center of the pic down in the hole that was eaten by the flat worms. So in other words the entire coral needs to be inspected. Its really hard to inspect these out of the water and notice the eggs. I hold it underwater and bring it right up to the glass and use a flash light to look. I thought the eggs was what causes that part of the coral to die. They release a chemical that reacts with the coral tissue causing necrosis. I don't think so because if this were the case they would lay eggs all over the coral. In most instances they are laid at the base of the coral in the receding area or on the rock that its mounted too. There would be patches of eggs all the way to the tip of the coral if they were able to lay them anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I would never add a coral to my tank if I dipped and found AEFW. Just recently a fellow reefer was over and offered up some sps frags. During the diping process I found AEFW and gave the coral back. No way no how I'm adding a coral that just had AEFW, way too big of a risk IMO. Has someone contacted Vivid about this yet? I'd think long and hard before ordering from these guys again. I bet you wouldn't, I read your old posts about your experience with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 might be a dumb question to ask but do you every dip anemones? If so how? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 might be a dumb question to ask but do you every dip anemones? If so how? nope...inverts and anemones aren't dipped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celebrityovernight Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 1. AEFW only lay eggs on dead parts of the coral. This doesn't mean they are limited to the base of the coral, they will lay on any part of a coral that is dead, like the pic. In case you don't notice them they are in the center of the pic down in the hole that was eaten by the flat worms. So in other words the entire coral needs to be inspected. Its really hard to inspect these out of the water and notice the eggs. I hold it underwater and bring it right up to the glass and use a flash light to look. I thought the eggs was what causes that part of the coral to die. They release a chemical that reacts with the coral tissue causing necrosis. I don't think so because if this were the case they would lay eggs all over the coral. In most instances they are laid at the base of the coral in the receding area or on the rock that its mounted too. There would be patches of eggs all the way to the tip of the coral if they were able to lay them anywhere. The reason eggs are laid on the base of the coral is due to the safety it provides. Predators such as wrasses and nudibranchs are kept at bay from the base of the coral due to the thick coral growth. The eggs are also safe from intense amounts of flow that can potentially knock them loose as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I would never add a coral to my tank if I dipped and found AEFW. Just recently a fellow reefer was over and offered up some sps frags. During the diping process I found AEFW and gave the coral back. No way no how I'm adding a coral that just had AEFW, way too big of a risk IMO. Has someone contacted Vivid about this yet? I'd think long and hard before ordering from these guys again. That's why I only buy my corals from Fishypets. Really great shop down south. The employees are friendly and helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Personally I love dipping corals. I like seeing what comes off of them. There are lots of things that can be on them that are not bad. I know when I dip stuff a bunch of pods end up coming off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Website? Location? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 See post 4 or 8. Or did you mean Fishypets? In that case.....um....... http://www.austinreefclub.com/user/10-fishypets/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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