Whats eating into my torch coral?

[dmasterx1x]

During yesterday's water change i noticed that one of the heads of my torch coral was looking like someone took a nice deep bite into it. Upon closer inspection, i noticed some kind of wormy object with a feathery head in that same exact spot. I don't know how much deeper this thing can go but im guessing that it will eat through the base within another day and kill my torch. I decided to remove it with tweezers, but it was much harder than expected. I assumed the worm would be soft and would hold together well, but it was more like chipping off a mini concrete tube. I eventually broke off what i could see... just hoping my torch makes it. So... does anyone know what the heck this thing was? Is there another way of removing it besides chipping it off? That base isn't going to regrow right?

you can see the feathery head in the first picture, and the crater it made in the 2nd

 

[drdavethedude]

I'm guessing that what you killed was a featherduster worm. These build their own calcified tube, and are extremely common on Euphyllias. They are rarely if ever a problem, and definitely don't feed on the coral. If the coral is showing signs of poor health it's unlikely to be related to the worm.
Dave

 

[dmasterx1x]

The coral looks great besides that cavity. When my lights are on you would never guess there is a problem with it looking at the polyps. I has anyone has a similar situation before?

 

[dmasterx1x]

here's a pic of the torch with lights on and polyps extended.

 

[Mr. Bill]

I've never had the same exact "problem", but I can say that Dave is correct- the worm was harmless. Featherdusters do not feed on corals.