tdb320reef
Active member
Came in on some Frags - any one know what this is?
Last edited:
New Acro Eating Pest 2015 - Thought they were Black Bugs But there are Not!
- Thread starter tdb320reef
- Start date
smtank
New member
tdb320reef
Active member
Yeah I read that but nothing there resembles this thing.
this is the pest that took down my previous tank 
i fought AEFW and redbug successfully, but this one took my tank down in 2 months. common chemical can kill it , but its egg is smaller than AEFW's, spread all over the sps colony(AEFW is in cluster) so impossible to scrap out. for me, these "snail" look pest can consume the entire sps in 2 - 3 days.
i fought AEFW and redbug successfully, but this one took my tank down in 2 months. common chemical can kill it , but its egg is smaller than AEFW's, spread all over the sps colony(AEFW is in cluster) so impossible to scrap out. for me, these "snail" look pest can consume the entire sps in 2 - 3 days.
tdb320reef
Active member
They come out at night and start eating the acro in masses. It is very noticeable as the Acro slimes up in defense. They move very fast and hard to see with the naked eye. Definitely start at the bottom up and in-between branches. The coral looks perfect but will start to STN from the bottom with the top not showing stress.
Last edited:
tdb320reef
Active member
Only color loss at the bottom, I see no issues with PE. The coral will start to fade from the bottom for a while then eventually turn into STN.
Last edited:
tdb320reef
Active member
this is the pest that took down my previous tank
i fought AEFW and redbug successfully, but this one took my tank down in 2 months. common chemical can kill it , but its egg is smaller than AEFW's, spread all over the sps colony(AEFW is in cluster) so impossible to scrap out. for me, these "snail" look pest can consume the entire sps in 2 - 3 days.
Yeah they are tough. I captured a few live ones and tested Bayer Advanced, Interceptor, Prazi Pro and Iodine. Watching them under the scope in a drop of solution, They lived in Bayer for 5 hours. None of the other chems impacted it and it continued to swim around in very high concentrations.
I kept a light over this frag pack all night and checked on the periodically every 3 hours and they were MIA.
The nature of it attacking at the bottom and running from the light tells me this defiantly needs to be controlled by a natural predator.
I think it is things like this that lead to so many unknown STN events that we see on here.
Last edited:
tdb320reef
Active member
Looking at the damaged part of the Acro under the scope at 110Xs I can see the the Symbiodinium is systematically being eaten. As if it is eating the cells one at a time. I envision it has a Pleco time mouth where it punctures the flesh and sucks the symbiodinium out. I believe what your seeing in the body is coral Symbiodinium.
dadummy
Active member
you do have these contained in a QT system?
Could try a few different coral dips and see if it kills them, Revive, RPS all out, high dose of FW Exit
A peppermint shrimp could possibly be a nocturnal predator, maybe an experiment with a pep and the pest. Acclimate a peppermint in a small container and introduce an infected frag or the pest and see if they are tasty.
Another thought is if they reproduce so quickly, maybe the life span is short. Keeping a light on for a prolonged period of time, would cause them to hide and starve out. Not sure what the effects of prolonged exposure to light will have on the coral. If a NO bulb would suffice to keep them hidden? I imagine it would be hard to contain them to see how long they live with out food.
just a thought lol
teebone110
Member
scary.. hope these don't spread into your DT. Sounds like there is no way to safely QT this parasite
rt67ghy
Member
I would use aggressive treatment such as dipping in Bayer for recommended time, taking it out and scrubbing affected areas with a toothbrush, again dipping in new Bayer mix and scrubbing with toothbrush and again dipping in fresh Bayer mix. I'd change the container for each new Bayer mix and sterilize them with boiling water/ bleach.
tdb320reef
Active member
Okay all I have been studying these now for a few week and have found some interesting facts.
It is shape sifters meaning that they move into a ball form like zooplanktyon when they are scared or floating about the tank.
It flattens out like a worm to swim with a little tale.
It has 4 eyes.
It defiantly eats acropora and quickly
It lays eggs on dead acro throughout and not in clusters like AEFW.
It is nocturnal.
It looks to be asexual and you can see their eggs inside or they are carrying them.
In a drop of water it seems to team up to try to push the drop.
They select an acro and attack all at once as if it is coordinated.
Acros when being eating do not display any symptoms in the upper part but when these worms attack at the base the acro will slime up in defense. This is how you can tell which one they are attacking.
They are not affected by low temp 60's but do slow down in movement.
Some acros appear to be immune to them and may release a toxin to repel them. So far Millies and ssc is it choice host. It looked like they tried to attack a stag and slimmer and both slimmed up for a few days and nothing came off of them after manual extraction.
Below are all of the in tank treatments that did not work.
1. Prazi Pro
2. Flat worm exit
3. Interceptor
Out of tank treatments that did not work
1. Bayer advanced (swam around for about an hour)
2. Coral RX
3. Revive
4. Iodine
Out of tank treatment that worked
1. Prazi Pro high concentration 1-1 drop
2. Flatworm exit 1-1 drop
3. Freshwater 1-1 drop
So far the best solution in dealing with these things is to simply identify which coral they are attacking and at night with the flow off and lights off remove the colony from the tank gently and shake(manual extraction) them off in a bucket of tank water. Take a magnifier and scrape off the eggs with a dental scraper or cut dead parts off.
Repeat every 3 days until they are gone.
Unlike AEFW, there does not seem a way for these things to hang on to the coral. It is unclear to determine whether they go into the skeleton of the coral but a week after 3-5 extraction sessions the coral begins to heal back over the receding areas.
It is shape sifters meaning that they move into a ball form like zooplanktyon when they are scared or floating about the tank.
It flattens out like a worm to swim with a little tale.
It has 4 eyes.
It defiantly eats acropora and quickly
It lays eggs on dead acro throughout and not in clusters like AEFW.
It is nocturnal.
It looks to be asexual and you can see their eggs inside or they are carrying them.
In a drop of water it seems to team up to try to push the drop.
They select an acro and attack all at once as if it is coordinated.
Acros when being eating do not display any symptoms in the upper part but when these worms attack at the base the acro will slime up in defense. This is how you can tell which one they are attacking.
They are not affected by low temp 60's but do slow down in movement.
Some acros appear to be immune to them and may release a toxin to repel them. So far Millies and ssc is it choice host. It looked like they tried to attack a stag and slimmer and both slimmed up for a few days and nothing came off of them after manual extraction.
Below are all of the in tank treatments that did not work.
1. Prazi Pro
2. Flat worm exit
3. Interceptor
Out of tank treatments that did not work
1. Bayer advanced (swam around for about an hour)
2. Coral RX
3. Revive
4. Iodine
Out of tank treatment that worked
1. Prazi Pro high concentration 1-1 drop
2. Flatworm exit 1-1 drop
3. Freshwater 1-1 drop
So far the best solution in dealing with these things is to simply identify which coral they are attacking and at night with the flow off and lights off remove the colony from the tank gently and shake(manual extraction) them off in a bucket of tank water. Take a magnifier and scrape off the eggs with a dental scraper or cut dead parts off.
Repeat every 3 days until they are gone.
Unlike AEFW, there does not seem a way for these things to hang on to the coral. It is unclear to determine whether they go into the skeleton of the coral but a week after 3-5 extraction sessions the coral begins to heal back over the receding areas.
Last edited:
kc350twin
New member
I know this is a old thread but I have symptoms like you describe. Losing color from base up. STN on many acro colonies then death. I cannot see anything on the corals when I dip them in Revive but I.m gonna get a Magnifying glass and a eye loupe today and look closer.
Any new info?
Any new info?
