help finding acro flatworms need an experienced witness

[JohnK]

Is there anyone out there in the framingham / sudbury area that has experience IDing the acro FW's?

I have been having gradual losses for a couple of months now and I'm concerned. I can't spot a trace of the FW's but that may be because I've never seen therm. MY sps tank has been suffering over the past 6-8 weeks.

I have implicated myself in a couple of areas of neglecting proper maintence before and during this time (mainly slacking on replacing RO filters and minimal water changes, not frequent enough skimmer cleanings) but my losses have been painful. I lost my 3 absolute favoirte acros totally
(-Ora tort,
-DR mac green to yellow cultured colony that turned intensely baby blue with patches of brillint green and screeming white polyps, and .....
-An awsome "blue highlights" acro from Gregg that just turned to screeming Blue). Some are holding on, some are on their way out, some seem perfectly happy.

I probablly just screwed up my husbandry, but I would really like to rule out FW infection just to develop a proper recovery plan.


Thanks for any replies
JK

I got one local frag, and a aquacultured colony from a well respected LFS long ago, probablly last fall. From what I've heard that LFS found FW infected corals on an incoming shipment and quickly took commendably responsible steps to not spread the problem.

Anyway,, I may have them and that's my problem. Maybe I don't, and I'm just a slacker that should not be allowed to keep such delicate corals?

Anyway,,,, If anyone local with experience with acro FW's would be willling to pay me a visit I would love to get a second set of eyes to go over my tank.

 

[JeremyR]

Have you tried putting a couple "maybe" pieces in a bucket and basting or powerhead blasting them to see if anything flies off?

 

[JohnK]

Thanks for the reply jeremy (I'm still working on the forged coral buck plot, be careful I have millions printed as we speak)

I've tried blasting each acro in the display and watching carefully. I was unclear as to the best way to check colonies (I've read several suggestions but none detected any). I will try the isolated container.

I've had a lot of issues with my husbandry lately such as lacking water changes, and a problem with the RO where I had accidentially set the 50g buckett on top of the waste line pinching it off, for several weeks = crappy qual top off. Also I had an explosion of calupra in the SPS tank

I think that I've failed in maintaining proper SPS husbandry but I want to ruleo out the Acro FW's if I can. If I can fix what I'm doing worng I would like to. If I'm just unable to keep acros I want to accept that.

I am considering on giving up on SPS and going BTA/softie since my BTA/softie tank has thrived for years without so much as a PH test..

thanks
jk

 

[Reef55]

For id'ing them, see my site:

http://www.mspreef.com

If you still need help, I work in Billerica and head down to Cambridge every now and again. I could stop on the way one of those times.

 

[NateHanson]

Great website Mark! Thanks for putting that together.

 

[denvig]

Where are you located? I may be able to stop by on my way home from work some eve. I don't have them but I have seen them up close and helped with clean up.