BEWARE: Acropora Burrowing Red Worms << PIX included >>
- Thread starter ridetheducati
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ridetheducati
20 and Over Club
Where would the eggs and sperm be stored for development?
I find the process rather interesting. If he had waited another week or so, his tank may have been nuked with incoming.
Chaotic Reefer4u
♥Acropora Aficionado♥
Very interesting thread, yikes! Thanks for the heads up.
reef bloke
Member
I have had these , you can make out the veins under the skeleton of the basal stripping of the coral and they can be dug out. These aren't eggs as they slowly grow up from the base killing and upsetting the tissue as they go.They also spread from one coral to another. They ain't good !!!
reef bloke
Member
A couple of pictures from the outside, once broken open they looked like the worms in the OP's post but I cant find those images at the moment.
In the second picture the calcium carbonate has been dug away to expose the worm flesh.
I cant see these being egg or sperm ducts in this case as the corals strip up to the point the worms terminate. I think they devour the flesh at the tip of the worm from within and slowly move up the coral. The ones that are just visible under the fresh stripped base look very much like varicose vein threads. Unless this is something different than the OP's but it was worm like, red looking when broken open ,within the skeleton and killing corals.
In the second picture the calcium carbonate has been dug away to expose the worm flesh.
I cant see these being egg or sperm ducts in this case as the corals strip up to the point the worms terminate. I think they devour the flesh at the tip of the worm from within and slowly move up the coral. The ones that are just visible under the fresh stripped base look very much like varicose vein threads. Unless this is something different than the OP's but it was worm like, red looking when broken open ,within the skeleton and killing corals.
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ridetheducati
20 and Over Club
It's getting interesting.
How do those worms get inside in the first place that's a mystery.
And once inside, do they consume from the inside out?
This means they'll consume calcium within the coral itself to provide passages.
There's no way for a worm to travel through a labyrinth and thrive like that.
They have hard time as it is hanging on to glass or rocks.
And once inside, do they consume from the inside out?
This means they'll consume calcium within the coral itself to provide passages.
There's no way for a worm to travel through a labyrinth and thrive like that.
They have hard time as it is hanging on to glass or rocks.
tnyr5
Active member
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/s...a-lifeline-for-coral.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 article with pic of acro eggs being released, note the color.
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=80696&i=10241 pic of eggs inside a cut branch.
It could possibly have been stn'ing because it couldn't get enough nourishment to make the metabolically expensive eggs and keep growing at the same time.
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=80696&i=10241 pic of eggs inside a cut branch.
It could possibly have been stn'ing because it couldn't get enough nourishment to make the metabolically expensive eggs and keep growing at the same time.
reef bloke
Member
In my case I lost 3-4 species of acropora in the same way. The coral flesh above the STN was always healthy with great PE. There was little if any sloughing flesh and the edge of the flesh was very clean and band like. Fragging the corals well above the die back and dipping restored growth at the base as you can see by the picture above as that was a saved frag.
Over a month or two certain frags would revert to stripping from the fresh base and showing the veins in the skeleton. Other frags would remain healthy. I'm not sure if this is a worm or some other bacterial or other life form but it was killing corals from the bottom up whilst the top continued to grow and strike out with good colour.
Whatever it was got into the base either when exposed after fragging or via boring in and it must have been water borne at some point to affect other corals.
Over a month or two certain frags would revert to stripping from the fresh base and showing the veins in the skeleton. Other frags would remain healthy. I'm not sure if this is a worm or some other bacterial or other life form but it was killing corals from the bottom up whilst the top continued to grow and strike out with good colour.
Whatever it was got into the base either when exposed after fragging or via boring in and it must have been water borne at some point to affect other corals.
Ptyochromis
New member
In the first link, the first pic just looks like the photo is washed out.
Knowing how many worms burrow into LR, it doesn't surprise me that a worm would burrow into a coral.
Looks like they shrugged off the coralRX. I would dip them in Bayer advanced complete insect killer (no joke, its my main go-to dip), not much except the coral survives that stuff.
RandyO
Active member
Received a call from a friend, who described what looked like red burrowing worms INSIDE a Blue Tort. I had to see that, so I ran over took some pix. It looks like the worms borrow in and tunnels through coral.
Mild case of basal STN prompted further investigation, which led to the discovering. The coral was in his system for a least 12 months.
Red Worm infection.
Red Worm on paper towel.
Infected Tort
The red things above, most likely eggs, are not the same thing as this, below,
Tissue loss and the aftermath of a schmorgesborg of organisms eating the dead flesh.
Piper27
I love bengals
A couple of pictures from the outside, once broken open they looked like the worms in the OP's post but I cant find those images at the moment.
In the second picture the calcium carbonate has been dug away to expose the worm flesh.
I cant see these being egg or sperm ducts in this case as the corals strip up to the point the worms terminate. I think they devour the flesh at the tip of the worm from within and slowly move up the coral. The ones that are just visible under the fresh stripped base look very much like varicose vein threads. Unless this is something different than the OP's but it was worm like, red looking when broken open ,within the skeleton and killing corals.
Can you please try and find the other pictures? Looks like your tissue loss happened quickly, did it?
