Need help diagnosing problem

[Nano sapiens]

Since Amphipods are mostly nocturnal and wrasses typically are not, they are not so effective if the Pod population is large.

I personally prefer not to use chemicals whenever possible and in your situation I'd use a nocturnal predator to control the Pods. A 'Black Barred Convict Goby' (Priolepis nocturna) did such a good job in my nano tank that the Pod population was completely eliminated in about 4 months and I haven't seen one since (my Zoas are very happy about that!). A few of these little guys in a larger tank should do the trick as long as you don't have any predators that could eat them.

 

[markalot]

Since Amphipods are mostly nocturnal and wrasses typically are not, they are not so effective if the Pod population is large.

I personally prefer not to use chemicals whenever possible and in your situation I'd use a nocturnal predator to control the Pods. A 'Black Barred Convict Goby' (Priolepis nocturna) did such a good job in my nano tank that the Pod population was completely eliminated in about 4 months and I haven't seen one since (my Zoas are very happy about that!). A few of these little guys in a larger tank should do the trick as long as you don't have any predators that could eat them.

Hi Nano, thanks for stopping by. In the 5th pic above you can see I already have a nocturnal whelk predator of something beneficial, I wonder if it's thrown the balance off to cause this issue? They continue to multiply in this tank.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Hi Nano, thanks for stopping by. In the 5th pic above you can see I already have a nocturnal whelk predator of something beneficial, I wonder if it's thrown the balance off to cause this issue? They continue to multiply in this tank.

No problem, glad to try and help.

Thinking this through, adult Amphipods are typically known to attack Zoas and LPS in the Mussid family (Blastos, Acans, etc.). I personally haven't run into any confirmed instances of our typical hunchback Pods attacking healthy SPS, though. The Pods may just be there taking advantage of the SPS's dying tissue.

Your 'bite marks' look a lot more like 'raspings' than full-on bite marks. Could be something is feeding off the coral mucus and consequently causing the coral tissue to die. Would explain why both Acropora and a Montipora are affected. Green Slimmers produce so much mucus that they are resistant to a lot of coral predators and possibly the mucus is just plain unpleasant to eat.

I noticed that you also have an Astrina star in one of your pics. Some of these little guys are corallivores, but I assume that you checked at night and didn't see them causing damage. I rid my tank of them early on (I had some of the coralline algae eating variety). I'd also be suspect of any unidentified Whelk or any other kind of unknown snail.

How about collecting all these little guys and housing them in a separate container for a few weeks and see if the SPS situation improves?

 

[Henry Colf]

They could be a copepods. After my post in your thread I started to think about the pictures and the bugs on the corals. There is an article by Dana Riddle in advanced aquarist about bugs and SPS. I don't know if reading it would help but just a suggestion.

 

[Icefire]

If you look, the green slimmer have zero "pod" on it, while most of the other have hundreds.

They are feeding on your coral, I would try interceptor quickly.

 

[Nano sapiens]

If you look, the green slimmer have zero "pod" on it, while most of the other have hundreds.

They are feeding on your coral, I would try interceptor quickly.

It's hard to see clearly what kind of 'Pod' these are, but you may indeed be correct that they are something other than the typical 'Hunchbacks'.

OP - Can you get a closeup pic of one of these creatures?

 

[markalot]

Thanks for all the ideas everyone, much appreciated!

I'll try to get a macro of one of the bugs.

Here's a horrendous video I took the other night. If nothing else it gives you an idea how fast these guys move around. I'm not sure any are sitting in one place for very long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEF5JktC3Y0


<iframe width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tEF5JktC3Y0?&VQ=HD720&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Crazy embed code for HD Youtube, in case you were curious. Will not display when previewing post but it works.

<iframe width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tEF5JktC3Y0?&VQ=HD720&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[spkennyva]

That's a crazy amount of pods on that coral. Do you have any Dragonets in your tank?

 

[Nano sapiens]

Wow, that is a lot of bugs (looks to be some type of Isopod).

 

[markalot]

That's a crazy amount of pods on that coral. Do you have any Dragonets in your tank?

Not yet, no. I worry the sixline will harass any new smaller fish to death so I'm looking for a larger one.

 

[khiann]

It is not pods. look under magnifier, they look more like snail. The creature like to do group grazing on a few targeted sps. When finished or rtned, move to the next one. Aefw normally target the bottom or shaded branch. These buggers munch through everwhere.

 

[spkennyva]

It is not pods. look under magnifier, they look more like snail.

Snail? These things are moving very fast. They appear to have legs too. Definitely seem like some type of pod.

 

[markalot]

There are numerous tiny nocturnal snails about but none are on the corals. These are the regular little guys that should be in every healthy reef.

I really do think this is a tank husbandry issue, either with the lighting or the water params, too many changes too quick, something like that. I can't explain why some acros have pods on them while others do not, and I also can;t explain why one acro with some pods on it is rapidly improving.

Of course I could be completely wrong so I do appreciate every idea. Thanks to all who have responded.

 

[markalot]

Just to keep this updated.

Still no final conclusion but it appears I overdosed Strontium and the bugs are part of the cleanup on the acros that are damaged. I'm doing small serial water changes to get everything back where it should be and some acros are now recovering.

Don't dose what you can't, or won't test for. Even if the bottle instructions indicate the level of dose should be inconsequential. I have coraline algae growing on a few dead acro tips, so the Strontium worked for that. :lol:

Thanks to Mhucasey for recognizing some of the symptoms.

An older RC thread for reference: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1244429

 

[reefmutt]

Mark, that is great news, if all it was was sr overdose.
I certainly hope so!

 

[stingman]

I had a similar issue with amphipods i added a ruby red dragonette and a manderin to the tank and the population went down by 90% no more visable pods i also run rox and did a larger than normal water change but i didnt see aefw bites just the pods irritating the corals mostly loss of night time polyp extention. Cause was a high bioload and no pod predators where there ample food there will be ample pod reproduction

 

[markalot]

This ended up being a chemical warfare issue with the nasty seafoam pallys that had overrun the tank. I ended up removing all of them, ripping out rocks and tearing off encrusted corals to remove the rocks. Since then all the acros have recovered without me doing anything to reduce the population.

For folks that have never experienced these palythoa, they are not like anything else I've ever had. Big, thick, release brown slime when disturbed, and incredibly invasive. I had strings of these polyps running under rocks that had been in darkness for over a year.

I should have dealt with the problem a year ago but thought I could keep up with it.

I conclude this was chemical because I have a colony and a frag of the same coral and one was in the path of some goo released when I covered some of the pallys. The colony suffered, the frag remained in good health. It seems to be if the tank was overdosed both would have reacted, but I can't ever be 100% sure of anything in this hobby.