Zeovit FlatwormStop has Acro Eating Flatworms (AEFW) squarely in its sights

By Jake Adams on Jan 18, 2012

FlatwormStop is a new treatment from Zeovit which allows direct dosing of a full stocked reef aquariums. FlatwormStop is safe for all fish and invertebrates and it works to eradicate Acro Eating Flatworms by stimulating the immune response of Acropora corals. Acro Eating Flatworms have been the bane of Acropora growers for almost a decade now. Aside from scrapping infected corals and doing dipping every single Acro outside of the display tank, there hasn’t been an effective AEFW treatment for dosing the main aquarium, and it remains to be seen how effective Zeovit’s FlatwormStop can be inside a densely populated Acropora aquarium. FlatwormStop will be shipping to Zeovit dealers hopefully in the next two week but how it works will probably take much longer to really understand; we hope it’s the real deal!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XMBVIE5PJXMAMZJSENESFNWBKA Joe

I would love for this product to work, but I have my doubts. Even if the product does work as advertised, isn’t there the real posibility of nuking your tank if you have a flatworm infestation by all the toxins being released? I know your supposed to syphon out what you can, and that works fine for larger flatworms, but I think it would be a little difficult with AEFW, that is unless AEFW don’t release toxins like other flatworms when they die.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mathieu-Gagné/659241296 Mathieu Gagné

Props to KZ to find a solution to this horrible problem! If this works, it further add to their credibility!
Anonymous

The fact that it requires permanent dosing, or at a minimum 3 months, leads me to believe it will be a very slow die off, Joe, so I doubt there would be any toxicity issues from a massive die off. FWIW, I am fairly sure that this is only an issue with Planaria, not with AEFW.
Jose Gonzalez

joe , you can always perform a masive water change and using a good amount of GAC you can minimize the posibility of nuke your tank due toxins released.
Anonymous

With the comon FW the infestation is much more intense and covers the whole tank, with AEFW you only have them on your Acros in much smaller numbers!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mathieu-Gagné/659241296 Mathieu Gagné

I’m sure a lot of people would pay alot to not have to dip huge encrusted acros affected by AEFW.
Anonymous

Only if it was proven safe and to work. Personally I would rather chop out a large colony and dip it to ensure I get every last bad guy even if it means cutting a 5 year old acro from its base. If it takes 3 months for the meds to work I could chop colonies out, dip them, and reglue them in the tank and they would be re-encrusted back on the rock in less time. I understand not everyone would want to chop out colonies of acros so that solution doesn’t work for everyone.

I question if AEFW is in “smaller numbers” like Acrocap suggested. Sure they physically are smaller than planaria, but does that mean you have less of them? What if you have a 240G tank stuffed to the rim with nothing but acros like quite a few people I know. Any time I have seen a planaria infestation and used Flatworm Exit the number of dead flatworms is usually counted in the hundreds, with AEFW I have seen that many on a single large colony of acro.
Benjamin Potter

I hope that it will work, it sounds like it doesn’t attack the flatworms directly, it just boosts the coral immune system. But how would it do this? By stumulating mucus generation? I mean, that is essentially why green slimers barely ever get FW, because they are so damn slimy. Fish are ich resistant if they have good mucus covered scales (like wrasses and clowns who snuggle in the sand or in an anemone). I am betting that acros are the same, if they have a healthy mucus membrane, they can better fight off pests. That success, however, will be dependent on the coral species. So you may have to dose this forever and some acros still would be infested. It sounds like the same old story here, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of treatment.

I know the pain of these critters, I just destroyed my display system to rid myself of them for good. Good for Kz for throwing their hat in the ring, but I fear that this may “help” not “cure”, although either way it is sure to make them a bunch of money.
Anonymous

Will be awesome if it works!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tparsons-ReefWholesale/100002408033939 Tparsons ReefWholesale

Very interesting new product!
Anonymous

why are people are so quick to talk smack about a product befor it even comes out? this could be huge, let’s be optimistic here people!!! it’s almost as tho some people want to feel smart and important and therefor dis a product with elaborate details as to how THEY treat flatworms and how it’s SUCH a better way of treating flatworms then using this product. yet they haven’t even tried this product or know anyone that has. I bet u don’t even have a 5 year old colonie!!! lol. it’s mentalities like that, that do nothing for our hobby while others do there best to further our hobby. if everyone had this mentality we’d still be keeping lps only under standard flouresents with wet/dry filters.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XMBVIE5PJXMAMZJSENESFNWBKA Joe

In 2009 Eric Borneman and the Smithsonian were asking reefers to send in samples of AEFW so they can take the first step and actually identify the species. They released their findings on April 3, 2011 which is in the link below. It is hard to imagine in less than a year we went from not even knowing what we were really dealing with (short of knowing we had flatworms that ate Acropora) to having a cure, but this product doesn’t even sound like a cure.

This “medicine” sounds more like feeding your fish garlic to ward off ich vs an actual remedy to the problem. I would still like to read real world results on this product but I have a feeling this is going to follow the same results as every “ich cure” that is reef safe.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/b78j5254rw683150/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1351327790 Richard Ross

I disagree. There are so many reefing products that are released with amazing claims – as good reefkeepers we need to be cautious of new miracle products until they are shown to actually work.
Anonymous

well then fine. I’ll be the guinea pig since no one else wants to. I’m currently suffering from aefw and as soon as this product is available I will certainly try it with my fingered crossed and an open mind. we’ll chop it up to me contributing to the hobby. perhaps rb can allow me the opertunitty to post my observations as a guest writer and fearless hobbiest! lol. someone’s gotta bite the bullet while others question and talk mess! for the record I have never been dissatisfied with ANY of the many zeovit products I’ve tried and let me tell you I’ve tried just about all of them. I simply choose not to use that many of them for cost reasons.
gerd didosy

There i only one help against aefw, Concurat L !
Thousands of frags last 10 years showed it clear to me. And i tried everything ….
Anonymous

Cautious, but open minded. If nobody tries them, they may disappear from the market before they are given a chance, and we may never know.

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