pods munching on my acro

[reefnrod]

i posted this in the reef discussion forum. i was told to put in the sps keepers forum for better help.

here i have some pics of this brown pod munching on my acro. now, im sure the first post will be: "no way, pods dont eat arcos. you have AEFW" this would be incorrect. i have done plenty of reading and seen plenty of pics on AEFW. the marks are inconsistant with those of AEFW. there are no eggs and this has been going on for a couple months.

on this acro (that is a rescue coral) the are a few dead spots on the coral. the holes where the polyps used to be is where these pods are living. they come out and munch in a circle around the hole they are living in. they pods that are in my tank have a striped look down they back. these pods are solid brown. take a look at the pics of the damage and of one of the pods. i remove the coral from the rock for close inspection. my params, water quality, lighting and husbandry are not the issue. i test tediously and manually dose. i have nothing better to do than keep a close eye on my tank.

 

[coral_killer37]

It would not hurt to take the acro out and dip it in coral revive or rx. what ever they are it will kill them. make sure you blast the coral with a turkey baster. I have heard that these treatments wont kill the eggs of many pest but its worth a try to give the coral a chance to recover. Also, it has been my experience over the years to keep a variety of wrasses in the tank. If its small enough to go in a wrasses mouth, he will eat them......... Good luck because there is no easy solution.

one more thing, the rock does not look to big to pull out of the tank. why not dip that rock along with the coral, it couldn't hurt.

 

[reefnrod]

thank you for your response!! i picked up a six line and im in the market for a yellow coris. my next step is to dip just to see whats in there. i have 25 sps in my tank 11 are acros. this is the only sps in my tank with this issue. i will post pics after the dip to show you what i find.

 

[flyyyguy]

Honestly, unless you see evidence of aefw's I wouldnt recommend pulling the corals out and stressing them for no reason by remopving them and dipping them.

If you are convinced that the pods are doing the damage, and not just cleaning up already compromised tissue, then hit the tank with interceptor. That will knock the polulation of those pods down to nothing for a while, and wont stress the corals. The few pods you will get when taking them out and dipping them is nil in comparison to how many are in the tank and you wont even be able to nitice you did it as far as the pod population is concerned. If you are going to target the pods fine, but seriously target them if so.

I have dosed a system in the past for no other reason than knocking down a pod population, but it was because they were irritating/munching polyps, not sps

 

[gon08]

It seems to me that the tips are the only areas affected. AEFW would not just eat at the tips they would start at the base or areas where they are not in the open to be predated on, ie; under branches. The amphipods are eating necrotic tissue and detritus. You mentioned that it is a rescue, what was it being rescued from?
Before removing and further stressing the coral I would find out what burned the tips to begin with.

 

[reefnrod]

i resued this coral from a buddys tank that was crashing. thats how the tips got burnt. its clear the the areas the are necrotic are in the middle of the coral. the coral even trys to incrust over these areas(where the blue is) it is as if this creature is keepinp it from covering his home. i have 5 fully encrusted frags of this same sps in my system and they are fine and look great. this is the only coral in the tank with an skelaton exposed to give a creature such a place to live! thanks for the help

 

[ryanrid]

IMO they are eating the already dead tissue, some fish will also do this. In saying that it is hard for me to say that from a pic only, you cant really see behaviour in pics need to see in person to really understand.

 

[Gilby]

^ Agree pods don't really eat acro, they will clean up already dead flesh. I would try to get your params in check and get the coral healthy before nuking the pods. I doubt the pods is your issue.

 

[reefnrod]

Ok...let me know when you want to stop by!! JK im not sure whats going on yet!! im trying the wrasse thing now. i might try to move the coral down. we will see only time will tell.

 

[reefnrod]

^ Agree pods don't really eat acro, they will clean up already dead flesh. I would try to get your params in check and get the coral healthy before nuking the pods. I doubt the pods is your issue.

as i stated above. i tediously test and manualy dose. my params are fine!!! i have 25 sps and this is the only one like this. and was like this when i brought to my tank from a friends!! you can see the coral is grown back and enrusting the coraline covered tips. i understand pods dont eat acros!! the pods in my tank are grayish some light brown these are dark brown. i am not a new b who just went to the lfs and got a coral and put it in a bad tank, and it start to die. then asking you guys why is dieng. im posting an unusual situation that i have come across i hopes someone else has encounterd the same, but brushed it off like " PODS DON'T EAT ACROS" to me it looks a little different than a typical pods.

 

[ryanrid]

Ok...let me know when you want to stop by!! JK im not sure whats going on yet!! im trying the wrasse thing now. i might try to move the coral down. we will see only time will tell.

you pay for my airfare i am more than happy to have a look:celeb1:

 

[reefnrod]

you pay for my airfare i am more than happy to have a look:celeb1:

this would make it one very expencive coral. and i got it for free! :blown:

 

[Gilby]

as i stated above. i tediously test and manualy dose. my params are fine!!! i have 25 sps and this is the only one like this. and was like this when i brought to my tank from a friends!! you can see the coral is grown back and enrusting the coraline covered tips. i understand pods dont eat acros!! the pods in my tank are grayish some light brown these are dark brown. i am not a new b who just went to the lfs and got a coral and put it in a bad tank, and it start to die. then asking you guys why is dieng. im posting an unusual situation that i have come across i hopes someone else has encounterd the same, but brushed it off like " PODS DON'T EAT ACROS" to me it looks a little different than a typical pods.

I'm not saying you're a noob or that you have a bad tank. Please don't take my reply as offensive. I'm just saying that in my experience I have never heard of any type of pods(besides red bugs which is in the family of copepods) damaging any acro. They will just clean up dead flesh. You said that it was damaged when you got it so I bet that is what they are doing. And pods do look different from time to time depending on the species. I just didn't wan't you to wipe out your entire pod population but if you want the pods to be in check then a wrasse or mandarin would definatley do the trick.

 

[reefnrod]

thanks, i just picked up a sixline and my nem just ate it. i have a manderin and my lfs should be getting yellow croris/canary wrasse in soon. i have not and will not do anything but watch(aside from fish) till i get a better idea of whats going on. i was not offended in any way. i just knew some of these post were coming thats way i posted a paragraph before the pic with info. thank all of you for the reply.

 

[p stegmaier]

Really, still no one can tell what this is. Jared is one of our local BNARC club members. I suggested he post this under the SPS forum, where I have found much help in the past. I also suggested looking at Melvs reef as a reference to acro pest, even though the pest he is dealing with is definitely not AEFW.
My suggestion was to quarantine this one coral and try everything under the sun to see what eradicates it. Coral Rx, Revive, Pro coral cure, fluke tabs, lamosile, Interceptor, any thing but a fresh water dip. Only problem is this still doesn't identify what the heck these are.

 

[coral_killer37]

Reefnrod, keep us posted on your treatment efforts and your results. I want to know how it works out. There was a lot of good info posted in this thread but you are going to have to take all the risk... good luck

 

[reefnrod]

thanks paul!! i will keep you all posted.

 

[Gilby]

Really, still no one can tell what this is. Jared is one of our local BNARC club members. I suggested he post this under the SPS forum, where I have found much help in the past. I also suggested looking at Melvs reef as a reference to acro pest, even though the pest he is dealing with is definitely not AEFW.
My suggestion was to quarantine this one coral and try everything under the sun to see what eradicates it. Coral Rx, Revive, Pro coral cure, fluke tabs, lamosile, Interceptor, any thing but a fresh water dip. Only problem is this still doesn't identify what the heck these are.

They just look like normal large pods to me. I have some in my refugium that look exactly like that. I'll see if I can get some pictures. I definitely would not do everything under the sun to get rid of them. You may end up doing more harm than good(stressing out the coral). I would just stick with the fish that eat pods and see how it plays out. I think you'll be fine and the coral should recover quite well.

 

[Gilby]

In the first picture, this is what I see. Just a normal large amphipod.

 

[RRaider]

I kind of think you've found a new pest or at least an old one that has developed new tastes. I have never seen an acro die in perfectly round circles like that. If it was me I would not take a chance. If they are an acro pest they will eventually spread. I would take it out and dip it until I found something that killed them and see if the coral heals up in those spots. No sense letting them propagate imo.