Acro pest I've never seen before...

[Acronic]

I feel sick to my stomach. Over the last three days I have watched this acro deteriorate at a rapid rate.

There is a pest that has taken this acro by storm! It went from %100 health to what you see in 3 days. It is a small bug that moves like a red bug but it is white. The acro is showing symptoms of red bugs but has lots of mesenterial (sp?) filaments out and is visibly stressed to s***t. I can not see any flatworm bites or eggs for that matter. I'm worried for my acros. Help me figure this out so I can :uzi: and :deadhorse: this bug. I hope it isn't the next super bug.

Went from this:

To this, in 3 days:

Im going to go throw up and drink 6 beers

 

[29reef]

I've had this happen before, I only lost the original coral both times it happened. Corals were both newer, and had been in my tank for only a few weeks. It seemed the coral almost was consuming itself; sorry for my unscientific description. They would look much better at night almost a uniform brown but as soon as the lights turned on they would just go into massive PO mode.

My only suggestion is to move the coral to your sump; yeah I know weird. But I was able to save a few frags of mine the second time it happened. It will be fine down there for a few days, if it's still alive give it a mild dip and move it into some low light and hopefully it will come back.

Lucky for you it looks like an austra and pretty common color. It looks like to me that you can see it starting to happen in the tips in the first pic.

Good luck.

 

[gofor100]

Really sorry to see this happening... maybe someone else on here has had a similar experience and can help, but here are a few questions I'm sure will help us figure it out...

How long have you had the piece before it started getting like that?

Any other SPS/Acro's looking stressed yet?

I assume you dipped it and that is how you found the "bug"?

If not, what things have you done to try to eradicate this parasite?

Your params okay?

Good luck bro'!

-Chad

 

[Acronic]

I've had this happen before, I only lost the original coral both times it happened. Corals were both newer, and had been in my tank for only a few weeks. It seemed the coral almost was consuming itself; sorry for my unscientific description. They would look much better at night almost a uniform brown but as soon as the lights turned on they would just go into massive PO mode.

My only suggestion is to move the coral to your sump; yeah I know weird. But I was able to save a few frags of mine the second time it happened. It will be fine down there for a few days, if it's still alive give it a mild dip and move it into some low light and hopefully it will come back.

Lucky for you it looks like an austra and pretty common color. It looks like to me that you can see it starting to happen in the tips in the first pic.

Good luck.

You're right, it is a plain jane purple austra but none the less I will be destroyed if I lose it to this problem. It looked normal to me, I thought the lighter tips were the color coming in...

I really hope you are right and my eyes are playing tricks on me. I would hate for my other acros (much nicer ones too) to get the "bug". Your description of your situation makes sense in the fact that it is putting out a lot of filaments.

Do you think there would be any harm dipping it before the transfer to the sump? Or is it way too stressed.

 

[29reef]

I think a dip at this point will only make the coral stn faster. Give it a few days without light to recover. Also make sure your pH is stable, with out proper water chemistry the coral will suffocate in the sump without light.

 

[Acronic]

Really sorry to see this happening... maybe someone else on here has had a similar experience and can help, but here are a few questions I'm sure will help us figure it out...

How long have you had the piece before it started getting like that?

Any other SPS/Acro's looking stressed yet?

I assume you dipped it and that is how you found the "bug"?

If not, what things have you done to try to eradicate this parasite?

Your params okay?

Good luck bro'!

-Chad

I have had this piece for about 3 to 4 months now. It came on so rapidly. The only other acro that is PO'd right now is the hoeki. Same symptoms.

I noticed the white bugs which seemed to be moving but that may have been my eyes playing tricks on me watching the marine "snow" pass by.

Params are good, only cal has slipped down abit.

sg 1.025 refrac
alk 8.5 dkh elos
cal 400 ppm api
mag 1280 ppm little low salifert
no3 0.2ppm salifert
p04 0ppm elos
ph 8.35
temp 79.5

 

[birdman1979]

Sounds a lot like the same "white bugs" that plagued my Frogspawn. I found a cure though. I've only used this on LPS and Monti's but it absolutely did not stress my corals at all. Bayer Complete Insect Killer. Kills all sorts of nasties. I have used very strong concentrations like 10:1 and it killed the planaria, white bugs, etc on all my corals. It doesn't affect barnacles or vermitid snails though. May be worth a try, you can find it at the hardware store. I dipped all corals twice and the pests have never come back. I have some interceptor ready though just in case!

 

[Acronic]

Thanks Brian, I dipped it in double strength coral RX for 5 mins. Although I agree with you that it was probably best not to, I just couldn't resist seeing what came off. There was no AEFW or weird white bugs but a couple spots that looked suspiciously like red specks. Ive had red bugs before and these were much smaller and didnt resemble the red bug. maybe just a copepod.

They are in the sump now and you are right, they are more a uniform brown after lights out, I didnt see any filaments out either. I wonder if the coral really is eating itself?

Thanks birdman, I have read about the bayer and it sounds great, I will give it a try someday once I get my hands on it.

 

[Acronic]

Edit: i have had this coral for two months.

Once i get home i will check the acro and update here

 

[Big E]

For the future, buy one of those cheap Sherlock Holmes type magnifying glasses with the small jewelers loop inset into the larger lense. I think I bought mine at WalMart for a few bucks.

You can see everything through that loop........it takes a lot of guess work out of the equation. You can view the acro from underwater if you take it near the front of the tank or you can take the acro out of the water.

 

[Acronic]

I have a magnifying glass but i cant find it! Ugh. I want to invest in a microscope or at least a desk mount magnifying glass with light.

 

[29reef]

From what I could gather in my experiences what your seeing is parts of the coral stuck in the slime. The movement you see is actually the flow of the water moving around the coral. I highly doubt there is a pest as the culprit here. I'm hoping the dip didn't do too much dammage to the coral, once you see the polyps start to come out again it's time to move it out of the darkness and back into some mild lighting.

 

[aqua80]

From what I could gather in my experiences what your seeing is parts of the coral stuck in the slime. The movement you see is actually the flow of the water moving around the coral. I highly doubt there is a pest as the culprit here. I'm hoping the dip didn't do too much dammage to the coral, once you see the polyps start to come out again it's time to move it out of the darkness and back into some mild lighting.

also what I think...
you don't happen to run kent carbon by the way ?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=19920745

 

[dvanacker]

I think this is chemical.....not pest related.

Seems like the coral is doing it to itself...Ive seen this before.

 

[M Woodhill]

I feel sick to my stomach. Over the last three days I have watched this acro deteriorate at a rapid rate.

There is a pest that has taken this acro by storm! It went from %100 health to what you see in 3 days. It is a small bug that moves like a red bug but it is white. The acro is showing symptoms of red bugs but has lots of mesenterial (sp?) filaments out and is visibly stressed to s***t. I can not see any flatworm bites or eggs for that matter. I'm worried for my acros. Help me figure this out so I can :uzi: and :deadhorse: this bug. I hope it isn't the next super bug.

Went from this:

To this, in 3 days:

Im going to go throw up and drink 6 beers

well

try a yellow wrasse

i guess i had similar bugs here and there some time and then i put a yellow wrasse--fairly big from az and now even much bigger. it really patrols amid corals and the clam and picks up things

now i guess they all disappeared

and remember the red bug infection with my tricolor

i didnt dose intercepter but just dipped it once with pro coral cure. yet so far there's no sign of red bugs

guess yellow wrasses do work to control pests and r much less aggressive compared with sixline wrasses--though they look much less colorful

 

[29reef]

well

try a yellow wrasse

i guess i had similar bugs here and there some time and then i put a yellow wrasse--fairly big from az and now even much bigger. it really patrols amid corals and the clam and picks up things

now i guess they all disappeared

and remember the red bug infection with my tricolor

i didnt dose intercepter but just dipped it once with pro coral cure. yet so far there's no sign of red bugs

guess yellow wrasses do work to control pests and r much less aggressive compared with sixline wrasses--though they look much less colorful

I have to respectfully disagree, the yellow coris wrasse is not capable of eating an entire population of red bugs. In this case a pest is not at work so adding a fish to try and control them would be erroneous.

 

[Acronic]

The coral is in the sump now hanging on, thanks Brian. It is very pale but it is no longer "eating" itself.

I hate giving updates like this but it is important for you all to know so you can learn from my mistakes... When I saw the acro in this condition, I had dosed HALF the recommended amount of RedCyano RX by Blue Life in the sump and went to inspect the DT. I would say about 30 seconds passed after addition when I noticed this coral so the cyano remover is not the cause.

Within 24 hours of dosing the RedCyano RX, I have killed all the fish in my DT except for the bellus angel. When I got home for work the cardinal, firefish and royal gramma were dead. I did 33 gallon waterchange and returned the skimmer and GAC. Then I watched the yellow tang, three anthias, foxface, red velvet wrasse, pink bar wrasse, yasha haze goby and blue tang die slowly. I'm just devastated, I should have followed my gut. I never trust products like this and for good reason. The tank is really beating me down right now.

My corals are all PO'd, limited polyp extention. One branch of the sunset milli RTN and half the Hoeki RTN but otherwise SPS are hanging in there.

So as you can tell the acro is the least of my problems right now. I have another WC ready to go and should have one more ready for tomorrow morning. IT will take me awhile to recover from this loss because I have some rather large expenses coming up.

All I can do at this point is hope I don't totally crash the tank and kill the remaining livestock. I would probably have to take a break from the hobby if that were the case.

Also I should mention that only about 80% of the cyano has been killed. Other than the devastating loss of fish, the rocks look great! sandbed still has some cyano.

 

[M Woodhill]

The coral is in the sump now hanging on, thanks Brian. It is very pale but it is no longer "eating" itself.

I hate giving updates like this but it is important for you all to know so you can learn from my mistakes... When I saw the acro in this condition, I had dosed HALF the recommended amount of RedCyano RX by Blue Life in the sump and went to inspect the DT. I would say about 30 seconds passed after addition when I noticed this coral so the cyano remover is not the cause.

Within 24 hours of dosing the RedCyano RX, I have killed all the fish in my DT except for the bellus angel. When I got home for work the cardinal, firefish and royal gramma were dead. I did 33 gallon waterchange and returned the skimmer and GAC. Then I watched the yellow tang, three anthias, foxface, red velvet wrasse, pink bar wrasse, yasha haze goby and blue tang die slowly. I'm just devastated, I should have followed my gut. I never trust products like this and for good reason. The tank is really beating me down right now.

My corals are all PO'd, limited polyp extention. One branch of the sunset milli RTN and half the Hoeki RTN but otherwise SPS are hanging in there.

So as you can tell the acro is the least of my problems right now. I have another WC ready to go and should have one more ready for tomorrow morning. IT will take me awhile to recover from this loss because I have some rather large expenses coming up.

All I can do at this point is hope I don't totally crash the tank and kill the remaining livestock. I would probably have to take a break from the hobby if that were the case.

Also I should mention that only about 80% of the cyano has been killed. Other than the devastating loss of fish, the rocks look great! sandbed still has some cyano.

man, life is a roller coaster and life with a reef tank is a sky high one

i had a dinner party, invitin my friends come over and enjoy my tank

and then some girls accidentally poured pitches of beer into it while servin and flirtin

i do have no remarks now over what has happened, probably tomorrow is another day like scarlet o'hara once said