Really Bad Day On the Reef!

Scape is dismantled. Threw away some colonies that looked bad. Cut some colonies off of their encrusted bases. Used a chisel to get the encrusted base off the rock. More to do tonight and over the weekend.

It seems that the red planet type acros were infested the worst followed by stags. Millie's also looked bad (and have been thrown away).

I'm going to buy Bayer and start dipping this weekend. I'm actually looking forward to redoing my scape. My tangs will appreciate better swimming lanes.
 
OK, things are underway and I'm feeling less devastated about this. I'm actually excited to redo my scape. I liked the way it was, but I've learned a lot since the first time scaped it. Mostly about how corals need to be placed and how they grow in.

I've had pretty good success cutting acro colonies off of the rock without destroying them. My Palmers milli colony came off in two big pieces and that was the one I was worried about the most. 90% of my acros are in my sump now and will be moved to QT tomorrow. I'll be putting my scape back together tonight. Looking forward to it. Girlfriend is out of town and the fridge is full of beer!

View attachment 5779

Smells like dead coral up in this place!
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That sucks man. If you don't have a Leopard Wrasse, get one. They love to eat flatworms and red bugs.
 
adam87 said:
That sucks man. If you don't have a Leopard Wrasse, get one. They love to eat flatworms and red bugs.
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It's not too bad. You don't realize how many acros you have until you cut them off your rocks and put them in your sump. I like aquascaping, so this isn't too bad for me. Plus I'm on my 6th beer, so that helps.

I plan to deal with this issue and then bet a couple of wrasses down the road for prevention. View attachment 5783
 
Honestly the only effective way to solve this problem for all of us in the future is to setup a simple 10-20G QT, HOB filter, and just watch the acros for a few weeks. The nature of these bugs is so unpredictable and honestly there's just so much we don't know. I'm going that route, investing in making sure I have A) Interceptor on hand for red bugs on new SPS, and B) Levamisole for AEFW.

There's a promising thread on RC that you probably could've checked out before going through tearing your entire tank apart with Levamisole & using it as an in tank treatment. There's been several people who have used it to become AEFW free, in tank treatment, and seems to have a LOT of promise..

Good luck, it's a devastating diagnoses that for sure.. I found a single frag, threw it out, and that was four weeks ago.. nothing since then, so I'm preparing myself for the worst, but hoping for the best.
 
Sorry to see you go thru all that....Good luck with the project. I'm sure it'll come out looking even better.
 
xtlosx said:
Honestly the only effective way to solve this problem for all of us in the future is to setup a simple 10-20G QT, HOB filter, and just watch the acros for a few weeks. The nature of these bugs is so unpredictable and honestly there's just so much we don't know. I'm going that route, investing in making sure I have A) Interceptor on hand for red bugs on new SPS, and B) Levamisole for AEFW.

There's a promising thread on RC that you probably could've checked out before going through tearing your entire tank apart with Levamisole & using it as an in tank treatment. There's been several people who have used it to become AEFW free, in tank treatment, and seems to have a LOT of promise..

Good luck, it's a devastating diagnoses that for sure.. I found a single frag, threw it out, and that was four weeks ago.. nothing since then, so I'm preparing myself for the worst, but hoping for the best.
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I'm not one to jump into things without researching first. I read all about Levamisole. Seemed too dangerous and unproven. Plus, I kinda wanted to rescape anyway.

I argee with the the qt for corals. Had to learn the hard way, same as I did wi QTing fish.

On a positive note, my new scape is looking SICK! Worked on it till 2:30am last night and still have quite a bit to do.
 
My main system is now acro free. Qt is set up and all acros have been Bayer dipped. My main tank is looking pretty bare with no acros and a lot of white rocks that were repositioned and are coralline side down.

Here's the qt. Thanks Butch for letting me borrow the 75 W metal halide. Now I just gotta keep this little tank stable.

View attachment 5802
 
jayjerk said:
Bayer is definitely legit. It will nuke the fw. Like I stated before the issue is the eggs not the worms. Check out the articles I posted on this thread. They can be beat with some time and effort.

Bayer dip ftw....great time if year to buy it to might I add
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So I've heard that Bayer is the best for aefw but is that because it kills the eggs? Would a dip in Coral Rx kill the worms but not the eggs?
 
Every single Acro is dead. I messed up my qt. Don't ever try to qt sps in a 10 gallon tank.

On the upside. I still have my montis, birdsnest, and stylos. I will be going acro free for about two months and then I'm gonna drop some serious coin on some acros. I learned a lot on my first go around and I feel like I can be a pretty successful acro keeper. I'm looking forward to giving it another shot. If anyone had some sweet stylos in the meantime, I'd love to buy a couple of frags.

It was a sad day to throw away all of my prized coral possessions. Throwing away the baseball sized Palmer's milli was the worst. It's not even the money, it's the fact that I've watched these corals grow every single day for a year and a half, and now they are dead. Oh well.
 
Feel your pain, man. I can attest that the bright side is re-doing things cooler than before ;)
Unfortunately, all my sticks are still babies, but in a year we can both probably swap again.
 
Sorry to hear that! However, it is a lot of fun to redo things and use the gained knowledge to make things better.
 
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