SPS Worm ID – Under tissue?

[Leeroy]

Yesterday, I noticed that one of my acro’s wasn’t looking too healthy. Around the base of the acro, there seemed to be white trails, where the tissue had lost its colour.

Upon closer examination of the branches, I noticed what seemed to be small white worms (?) of some type.

After taking a couple of series of photo’s, I noticed that the tissue of the acro was moving and that these worms appeared to be going into the tissue and underneath it.

If you toggle between the last two photo’s, you can see their movement.

I was initially suspect of a couple of acro crabs, but fear that these worms may be to blame.

I have dipped the coral with kent marine Tech D and now have isolated it from the others.

I have been doing some research on sps predators, but have not come across these guy’s before.

Anyone have any idea as to what they are ?

Sorry about the photo quality.

Regards Lee

 

[NuclearReefs]

interceptor treatment should take care of those.. Looks like a ringworm of some kind. You have retracted Polyp Extention on that piece?

 

[danielboun]

I've never seen these worms before. Could this be another predator of acro? I like to know more, will follow up.
Sorry to hear of your situation. Great macro pics though.

 

[gman0526]

This is all we need another freakin' pest to look for... jeez when does it end?

 

[Amphiprion]

Are you sure they are worms and not mesenterial filaments?

 

[tld]

A couple of weeks ago, I saw the same thing on a piece of distressed Pocillopora. The unknown object was moving. My first thought was a nematode of some sort, but I watched it for a while and never saw a head or tail end. The colony was dipped in a Lugol's bath and replaced in the tank at the bottom of the tank with good flow and under a watchful eye. The colony is doing much better now. At this point, I'm thinking something was stressing the coral and it was showing mesenterial filaments.

 

[Leeroy]

Gents, thanks for the replies.
The polyps were retracted, as the coral was removed from the tank into a smaller vessel for closer inspection, however the polyps around the base still won’t come out, but on the branches they are out.
I didn’t consider them to be mesenterial filaments, just panicked thinking they wore some kind of worm.
I guess since it’s not happy, in its defence it could put out its mesenterial filaments, but I would have thought that they would be a straight filament, moving around in the current, rather than coiled up with both ends in the tissue?

 

[Amphiprion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8034033#post8034033 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Leeroy
Gents, thanks for the replies.
The polyps were retracted, as the coral was removed from the tank into a smaller vessel for closer inspection, however the polyps around the base still won’t come out, but on the branches they are out.
I didn’t consider them to be mesenterial filaments, just panicked thinking they wore some kind of worm.
I guess since it’s not happy, in its defence it could put out its mesenterial filaments, but I would have thought that they would be a straight filament, moving around in the current, rather than coiled up with both ends in the tissue?

That would be the logical assumption, but they are indeed tightly coiled when they are released. In severe cases, it looks like a giant wad of coiled thin (almost threadlike) ribbon. They are essentially the lining of the gut in a coral polyp.

 

[Leeroy]

Amphiprion, I can understand that the mesenterial filaments come out of the end of the polyps, but are they also able to come through the coral body wall as well, like these are?

Regards,
Lee

 

[alberthiel]

I know this was posted in 2005 and 2006, but did anyone every identify whether these were worms or not and if they were was an ID for them found? This does not look like AEFW to me