Bare Spots on Stylo

[Patrick Cox]

Hello,
Any idea what might be causing these bare spots? This is the only coral that has these spots. Parameters have been consistent. Fish bites or something else?

Thanks.

 

[jda]

Check for pests.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Check for pests.

Hi,
I don't see any pests. I did recently add a Lawnmower Blenny. Could it be this fish? It is devouring the algae in my tank and I wonder if it took a liking to this coral? Thanks.

 

[jda]

Could be. Lots of blennies, including lawnmower, can be polyp eaters.

 

[Reefvet]

Are the bare spots all on the lower side, opposite flow or light ?

The chances of it being your Blenny are small if he's got algae to eat.

That looks like something very small is eating it. Flatworm, nudibranch, bugs of some kind.

 

[Greg11]

there is no pests like FW,red bugs or nudibranch consuming stylophora
i had similar issue years ago,there is some kind bacteria attacking stylo,poccilopora,seriatopora and its looks like STN
i was using coral disinfectant(iodine dip) works for me

 

[Patrick Cox]

Thanks all. I removed the coral and examined it again and I don't see any bugs on it. So I went ahead and dipped it in Coral RX so we will see if that helps. It seems to be spreading and I have not seen the bleeny nipping at the coral so I think it must be something else. I'll let you know what happens.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Do you have peppermint shrimps in your tank? I used to peppermints and they ate my Pocillopora damicornis coral's polyps at nights. Camel shrimps are worse in my opinion.

 

[Patrick Cox]

I wanted to follow up on this post. The coral above has the same bare spots all along one side of the coral but the other side of the coral looks great. The coral does lean to the side a bit so I suspect the bare side gets less light than the other side but to be honest, I don't feel like it is light but not sure.

and now I have the following stylo that is developing bare spots. It is definitely not a fish because I no longer have my blenny and I don't have any other fish that nip at corals. So any idea what might be causing this?

Thanks.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Here are updated pictures of the first stylo...

How it is placed in tank

Underside of coral

Side

 

[Patrick Cox]

Any thoughts on what this is? Could this be due to shadowing? Thanks.

 

[swhobbie1]

I have leds. On some the shaded area turns brown. Instead of the normal purple color for example. That doesn't look like shadowing to me. what kind of livestock is in your tank?

 

[Patrick Cox]

I have leds. On some the shaded area turns brown. Instead of the normal purple color for example. That doesn't look like shadowing to me. what kind of livestock is in your tank?

Hi,
I don't think this is related to live stock. I have clownfish, wrasse, a cardinal and yellow assessor and then some snails and small crabs.

Now that you say LED, back in August I switched from a Dimmable ATI T5 fixture to an LED PM - so an LED/T5 combo fixture. I wonder if the LEDs are causing this? You can see that the healthy parts of the coral look great but there are bare spots.

Thanks.

 

[Cyberdude]

Am curious as well. Following.

 

[Fishmommy]

crab?

 

[Cyberdude]

Would an emerald do this?

 

[Fishmommy]

absolutely

 

[Cyberdude]

Bare Spots on Stylo

Great. Now I have to research how to catch one lol. I though they were coral safe

 

[Patrick Cox]

crab?

Well, I am not sure. I guess I will need to observe for this. I have a few small red legs and blue legs. Both affected corals are stylophoras.

 

[Fishmommy]

emerald crab is a potential, not necessarily the cause. I have seen mine scrape away at coral flesh, but never hermits.