White Bugs On Montiporas

[ezcompany]

Okay, i did not see any white bugs being mentioned in the SPS pest thread, only monti eating nudis.

I have white bugs, around 1/32th of an inch big, crawling on my danae and another montipora. I have noticed the color fading very badly on these montis. the bugs are just regular round shaped bugs, not branchy like the nudis.

I am preparing a freshwater dipped mixed with some iodine. going to dip them for 1 minute and shake them around.


This seems to have happened after I introduced a rainbow monti from a fellow reefer, where i noticed the polyps where not extended much at all. All other corals are doing well. (acros, tenius, torts, etc.)

Please advise!

 

[Lobster]

Sorry to hear that. Do they look like bugs or like flatworms?

 

[ezcompany]

like bugs. tiny and round. i am still getting polyp extension, but the color of the base is fading to a purple hue on the superman.

 

[Genesis Reef]

many possibilitys..probaby not harmful..

GOT pics??

Doc

 

[ezcompany]

i just shook it around in freshwater with a bit of iodine for 10 seconds. here is the pic of the superman danae 10 minutes after.

 

[Pyrrhus]

Pycnogonids maybe?

Seem to be either more of them coming in lately or just more alert reefkeepers noticing them.

Either way they seem to like monti's, and the ones that I have seen are pretty much just round balls with almost imperceptible legs.

If that is what you have, TMPCC will safely kill them and the good news is that they brood their young, so when you kill an adult you take the babies with them.

 

[ezcompany]

pycnogonids? is there an article on those anywhere?

 

[Pyrrhus]

Here you go.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/rs/index.php

 

[ezcompany]

thanks...but they really don't look like spiders =/
i

 

[Pyrrhus]

Maybe copepods feeding on the coral's mucous?

 

[musicsmaker]

That was my first guess after seeing those pictures. Looks like the coral is having a rough time and the the bugs you are seeing might just be pods cleaning up the dead tissue. Just my thoughts.

 

[ezcompany]

they really don't look like pods to me, they feel very parasitic...
i also have another rainbow monti which i was looking for the same white bugs. however on this one, there seems to be tons of boring worms that stick their head out with 2 antennae, around 1/4 inch long. is this an issue as well? the rainbow monti sure could use more polyp extension...

i just purchased tropic marin pro coral cure, should arrive to me soon. any tips or suggestions on use or do i just follow the instructions?

thank you all for your help so far!

 

[GreshamH]

This thread is nearly uselses with out pics of the offenders

AS per TMCC, just follow the directions on the bottle, they're pretty accurate.

 

[ezcompany]

well it doesn't help that the offenders are the size of pinheads and no macro on my camera so sorry

 

[Serioussnaps]

yeah..you arent gonna be able to get pics unless you have a bad *** camera

 

[dhnguyen]

Ya know I saw the same buggers on my monti cap as well and also some crawling on the frogspawn. When I turned off the mj mods for feeding, I see them leaping off from the corals and swim much like copepods which they may very well be.

They seem to be harmless thus far.


D.

 

[Frisco]

they sound like baby monti nudis to me, but it's hard to say without a pic. Can you take a photo of the bottom side of the coral?

 

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8321778#post8321778 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serioussnaps
yeah..you arent gonna be able to get pics unless you have a bad *** camera

My $200 Canon takes some serious macro shots. In fact, I used it to take nearly full format macro shots I use in print adds

Nothing compaired to Frisco's set-up though:eek1: I could only wish I'll be getting a Nikon D80 soon though

 

[captnHaddock]

I know old thread but...

I seems that I have the same things on my 3 montipora digi. One of them seems to be irritate, the other are fine.

The bugs are tiny and white, less mobile than acropora red bugs.

very few informations on this pest(?) on RC

Any other observations?

sorry for my english.

 

[ezcompany]

yes, the cure i found was the same for treating red bugs, by using Interceptor. After the treatment all the montis cleared up and started looking much better. hth