Coral death from base up - causes?

[DIRK GRIFFIN]

Careful

Careful

Not to stir anything up....but some in the twin cities who have had corals receeding from the base up have discovered the flat worm's that eat corals. There have been more than a few tanks infected due to this and it can be devasting. There is a lot of info on the boards using levamisole as a dipping solution and quaranteen. Good luck

 

[mhurley]

Dirk is spot-on here DD. I've lived through acro flatworms (and done the Levamisole treatment) and forgot to mention them as a potential problem.

Can you move these colonies?
If you can, get them out of the tank, put them in a smaller tank and blow a powerhead around the area of dying flesh. If you see clear little flatworms fly off, you've got bugs. And they aren't fun.

They are almost impossible to see with the naked eye unless you've seen them before and know what you are looking for. I'll try and find some of the good pictures of them.

 

[mhurley]

Here ya go. Page 1 has a few good sets of pics. The absolute dead giveaway is the eggs. If you see those at the base, you've got them. But if they are new, they may not have laid eggs yet.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=756327&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[Doubledown]

I pulled the colonies out last night to look specifically for the acro FWs. I did not see any, but that does not necessarily mean they were not there. I'll try the powerhead blow off this evening and see what happens.

I hope this is not the issue - those things are tough to beat.