impur
New member
I'm pretty much at a loss at this point. This has been happening for about 3 months. It started with zoas randomly disappearing. The polyps are gone, the skirt and disc, but leaving the rest. In the past i thought this was a bacteria that only affected a couple of my colonies. I would remove them to QT, do a series of dips, they would recover and start growing again so back into the display they go. 6 months later same thing and this only occurs on 2 or 3 of my colonies, i have roughly 20 others.
Then i noticed my micro colony started losing polyps. Usually it would be a small section gone but the rest of that polyp always looks healthy. A few days later its down to half or 1/4 and then a few days later its gone.
Last month i noticed a chunck taken out of one of my acan lord colonies. It was about 1/8" between 2 polyps and near the bottom of the colony where it encrusts. It was down to the skeleton. And then just a few weeks ago my favorite acan lord was destroyed from 4 adult polyps and 3 babies down to this 4 half polyps. I also had a baby polyp and a small section of another acan disappear.
I am leaning toward this being a pest, maybe a eunice worm but i don't know. After the damage i move the coral up onto a frag tray and it recovers, regrows and does fine until it gets hit again. I've removed rocks and broken up rocks looking for a eunice but have never seen one.
On each acan and the micros there is always a bunch of sand where the damage is done, and that sand is held together by some sort of mucus. That is the only common thing.
Here are pics of the damage. I need some ideas on where to go from here please.
micros
acans
this one has been recovering just fine on the frag rack
most recent acan damage
zoa damage notice the polyps missing the skirt and disc only
This seems to be the favorite target.
from this
to this
Then i noticed my micro colony started losing polyps. Usually it would be a small section gone but the rest of that polyp always looks healthy. A few days later its down to half or 1/4 and then a few days later its gone.
Last month i noticed a chunck taken out of one of my acan lord colonies. It was about 1/8" between 2 polyps and near the bottom of the colony where it encrusts. It was down to the skeleton. And then just a few weeks ago my favorite acan lord was destroyed from 4 adult polyps and 3 babies down to this 4 half polyps. I also had a baby polyp and a small section of another acan disappear.
I am leaning toward this being a pest, maybe a eunice worm but i don't know. After the damage i move the coral up onto a frag tray and it recovers, regrows and does fine until it gets hit again. I've removed rocks and broken up rocks looking for a eunice but have never seen one.
On each acan and the micros there is always a bunch of sand where the damage is done, and that sand is held together by some sort of mucus. That is the only common thing.
Here are pics of the damage. I need some ideas on where to go from here please.
micros
acans
this one has been recovering just fine on the frag rack
most recent acan damage
zoa damage notice the polyps missing the skirt and disc only
This seems to be the favorite target.
from this
to this