Some of my SPS are getting eaten, are these the cause? Pest ID please

pluschinatown

pluschinatown

In Memoriam
Hi all,
So lately in my 3rd tank (75 Gallons) I have lost a palmers blue millepora colony, 8 Medium sized frags of acros and milleporas, and now my Tyree Jedi Mind Trick has white blotches all over it, it looks like something has been picking at it. Also I have my Tyree BGM in there that started to recede also.
Parameters are: (Sailfert and Elos test kits)
Ca: 450
Alk: 11
Salinity 1.026
Temp: 77 (Chiller on the tank)
pH: 8.2
PO4: 0
Nitrate and nitrates: 0
It seems like all my parameters are right on, I have always kept them like this since day one, and the tank is 3 years old, and flourished until the past month or so. :confused:
So after I seen the blotches on the Jedi I decided to dip the coral, then I flipped a few frag discs over (Bare bottom) and found these critters below. I am 100% sure they are not citrons (or those snails that have a flat shell). Also these things kind of look like Isopods after doing some reasearch. Their shell is hard and when they get agitated they curl into a ball. There are the big ones then there are the smaller ones that run around really quick like copepods. The smaller ones are the same hard shell. The larger ones don't seem to move too much. Here are the pics (Sorry these are iPhone pictures, I tried my best, my DSLR is being barrowed, and there are lines in the pic, IDK why they are there and look really blue and, they look like t-5s but I only run hailides on the tank.)
If they are what you think they are how do I treat them, and get rid of them? anything eat them? Also these are not on my fish at all, my fish look really healthy, (Yellow tang, Powderblue, Platinum perculas, Reef Chromis, and purple Pseudochromis)
Any help is MUCH appreciated.
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Thanks in advance!
 
Also in person they don't have that orange on them, I don't know how my iPhone picked up all this weird colors. haha Thanks!
 
Hopefully those aren't AEFW. http://www.melevsreef.com/aefw.html

I can tell you that if those things are on all the colonies that are suffering, then they can't be good. I've never had to deal with AEFW before, but that's tentatively my guess as to what's causing you your troubles. I'm sure someone with more "sps plague" experience can give you a more thorough explanation/guess than I can, but those are not very good looking creatures, and flatworms can be nasty pests to sps, as you probably know.

Best of luck,
Joe
 
I thought they were AEFW at first too but they have a hard shell and curl up like a pill bug. I did a google search for isopod and they look like those with the segments. I'm trying to research but can't find anything. Thanks for the luck!
 
Pretty sure the big ones with the eight plates are chitons. Do the small ones have plates too? I believe chitons are harmless. It's possible that the small ones are AEFWs but it is too hard to tell in the pics.
 
Chitons=algae grazer. I am sure those are not the pest.

Look out for red bugs and Acro Eatin Flatworm. What does the eaten parts look like? Spot, trails, tissue recessing? How big is the damage? Lets see some pics of the victims.
 
The bigger 8 plate ones are about 1/4" and small ones have a hard shell also. They are probably babies of the larger ones. Anyhow lights are off right now but will post pics tomorrow afternoon. The Jedi Monti has tons of white blotches all around. It kind of looks polka dotted. The spots are about 1/8". I looked for aefw also for red bigs but didn't see any. I looked in the tank around 3 am also with a flashlight and didn't see anything but a ton of mucus worms. I will also try to get better pics with the DSLR tomorrow when I get it back. Thanks Frick, Nivram, and press for the help so far!
 
Chitons for sure harmless. And if it's a monti that has the bite marks then flatworms arn't your problem.
 
polyplacophorans! chitons. harmless, i would love to have them in my tank

perhaps a picture of your "eaten" corals would help?
 
I cant say for sure, but check your Jedi for montipora eating nudibranch. I would think this would be ruled out because you have acros dying as well. Here is a photo of the nudibranch, you can normally find them on the undersides of your montipora. If you do find any, be sure to inspect very closely for eggs, they are not hard to miss and will usually be found near the nudibranchs themselves. The parents can be killed with rx dip, all eggs must be manually removed.
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Have you made any recent changes in the tank? For example flow or bulb replacement?
Hope this helps.
 
Thanks evmibo, I can send ya some haha I have thousands lol. Ccube, thanks for your advice, I have experienced red bugs and this nudis before, the fist thing I did
Was look under the coral and suprisingly the underside of the coral is completely unharmed. Just the top side. I didn't see any eggs either. But will post a pics in a few. Thanks everyone so far!
 
Thanks Dance, I am relieved now because there are thousands of those in my tank.
And for the pics guys sorry, the Monti died today before I could get a pic. I forgot to say that there are also asterina stars in my tank (the small ones the size of a pencil eraser or a tiny bit larger with the fat arms) Would those harm SPS? I thought they only went after polyps?
 
smokenax said:
asterinas could be your problem.get a harlequin shrimp to wipe them out.dont take the chance
Click to expand...

IME asterina stars are harmless scavengars. I've never seem then attacking corals. Seem to just go after algae on the glass and rocks in my tank.

I doubt you can maintain a harlequin long term on them. You'll need to eventually supplement by keeping a starfish in your fuge and feeding the shrimp a leg once in a while. Sounds too cruel to me but I know some people do it.
 
Do you have any blennies? Mine was eating the crap out of my SPS and when I removed him, they got back to normal. He was chomping white spots all over some of them.
 
Also if you google asterinas and sps, you will find plenty of folks with experience of asterinas eating into their sps
 
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