What is eating my goni???

[King Nine]

I can't take a picture but there seems to be two worm / shrimp looking things living under the rock my goniopora is on. They are destroying it quickly. What would eat it and what are some good tactics to take against it?

 

[acroporas]

How long have you had the coral? I would suspect that the the culpret is brown jelly disease. It is very common in fleshy LPS like Euphyllia(frogspawn, hammer, torch), Catalaphyllia(elegance), and Gonipora.

There is not much you can do to rescue the coral. Strong current sometimes will help but be carefull as it is contageous and may spread to other corals.

The worms living on the underside are most like just inocent bistanders. Unless you have actually caught them red handed.

 

[King Nine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9897392#post9897392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by acroporas
How long have you had the coral? I would suspect that the the culpret is brown jelly disease. It is very common in fleshy LPS like Euphyllia(frogspawn, hammer, torch), Catalaphyllia(elegance), and Gonipora.

There is not much you can do to rescue the coral. Strong current sometimes will help but be carefull as it is contageous and may spread to other corals.

The worms living on the underside are most like just inocent bistanders. Unless you have actually caught them red handed.

I have not had it very long. I was following a thread on Goniopora.org that showed the same amphipod eating one. I have not seem them take a bite but do suspect they are what is causing it as it is the exact same thing reported on that site. I did bring it to the LFS where I bought it and he told me it looked like worm damage and not red or brown slime but just dead tissue from the attack. I just took a peek and the Amphipods are out again squirming around.

here is link to the thread I was reading and the picture is exactly what I have living under mine!
goniopora.org link

 

[acroporas]

Every tank with live rock has amphipods. There's nothing you can do about it and you would not want to. 99.99% of them are beneficial.

As I said before. In less you have actually seen them eating your coral, they are most likely innocent bystanders. I would continue to look for something else untill you catch someone in the act.

If you do catch the amphipods red handed, I have no Idea what you could do about it besides removing the coral, give it a freshwater dip, and then leave it in a quarantine tank free of live rock for a few months and hope the evil-amphipods die out without a food source.

 

[King Nine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9897682#post9897682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by acroporas
Every tank with live rock has amphipods. There's nothing you can do about it and you would not want to. 99.99% of them are beneficial.

As I said before. In less you have actually seen them eating your coral, they are most likely innocent bystanders. I would continue to look for something else untill you catch someone in the act.

If you do catch the amphipods red handed, I have no Idea what you could do about it besides removing the coral, give it a freshwater dip, and then leave it in a quarantine tank free of live rock for a few months and hope the evil-amphipods die out without a food source.

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep looking with my flashlight. As of right now you are correct in that I have not caught them red handed. The only thing I see on there are "feather duster" type worms with the very small feather duster looking extensions at night. I didn't figure they were much of a threat though.