Acro Pest ID Help

29bonsaireef · Oct 7, 2017

Hello All, Like the title says I'm searching for a acro pest ID. These ARE NOT flatworms, I've dealt with flatworms in the past and these are definitely not flatworms, unless they mutated. There seems to be only one affected coral as of now. Bite marks look identical to AEFW that was my first guess until I dipped the piece and these little buggers came off. Sorry for the crappy pics, zoom on the iPhone can only do so much

Ty Hamatake · Oct 7, 2017

Almost looks like some kind of Nudi. What coral are you seeing the damage on?

Mattrg02 · Oct 7, 2017

Probably acro eating nudis. Supposed to be worse than flatworms.

Tahoe61 · Oct 7, 2017

Shape looks similar to Nudibranch from what I can tell. Not my images but looks similar to what you're seeing?

Link on possible interventions.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/eb/index.php

29bonsaireef · Oct 7, 2017

Ty Hamatake said:
Almost looks like some kind of Nudi. What coral are you seeing the damage on?

This is the piece just after dipping. I don't know what its called, but if you look close you can see some bite marks

29bonsaireef · Oct 7, 2017

Mattrg02 said:
Probably acro eating nudis. Supposed to be worse than flatworms.

Tahoe61 said:
Shape looks similar to Nudibranch from what I can tell. Not my images but looks similar to what you're seeing?

Link on possible interventions.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/eb/index.php

Yes, looks very similar. Definitely think they are some sort of nudi.

Ty Hamatake · Oct 7, 2017

29bonsaireef said:
Yes, looks very similar. Definitely think they are some sort of nudi.

If it is in fact a Nudibranch keep a super close eye out for eggs. Dipping doesn't effect them, and they are extremely difficult to spot. Do you have the ability to quarantine this piece? If so, I'd do it. If not, I'd take the piece out and inspect it very closely checking EVERY nook and cranny including the frag plug.

Keep us posted on what you find out. Hoping it isn't, but signs are pointing towards Nudi

ReeferMaddness843 · Oct 7, 2017

I would agree nudi. But I’m happy for you to see it’s not AEFW! I’m going through a bout with those as we speak. Just setup my hospital tank 100% yesterday and doing Bayer dips.

Ty Hamatake · Oct 7, 2017

ReeferMaddness843 said:
I would agree nudi. But I’m happy for you to see it’s not AEFW! I’m going through a bout with those as we speak. Just setup my hospital tank 100% yesterday and doing Bayer dips.

Good luck! What concentration dips are you doing?

29bonsaireef · Oct 7, 2017

Ty Hamatake said:
If it is in fact a Nudibranch keep a super close eye out for eggs. Dipping doesn't effect them, and they are extremely difficult to spot. Do you have the ability to quarantine this piece? If so, I'd do it. If not, I'd take the piece out and inspect it very closely checking EVERY nook and cranny including the frag plug.

Keep us posted on what you find out. Hoping it isn't, but signs are pointing towards Nudi

I looked closely, but no sign of eggs. I dipped the plug in RO just up to the edge of the actual coral. Hoping that would've killed anything on the frag and epoxy.

ReeferMaddness843 · Oct 7, 2017

Not to derail this thread, but here’s a link to my flatworm/acro treatment so far. Been using Coral RX for original dip. Will be using Bayer for first time tomorrow, been reading a thread here about a 10ml-4oz ratio or so. Been reasearching a lot lately.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flatworms.328095/

Best wishes on the potential nudis coming to an end!

Ty Hamatake · Oct 7, 2017

29bonsaireef said:
I looked closely, but no sign of eggs. I dipped the plug in RO just up to the edge of the actual coral. Hoping that would've killed anything on the frag and epoxy.

Someone with more knowledge will hopefully come along and say I'm wrong, but I don't know if freshwater dips will do the trick either. Another thing to keep in mind (again, if I'm not mistaken) is that they will lay their eggs on the coral itself too, so even if a FW dip does work, it wont be effective unless the frag is fully submerged.

JasReef · Oct 7, 2017

I would toss the coral if it is the only one showing signs of munching.

Ty Hamatake · Oct 7, 2017

JasReef said:
I would toss the coral if it is the only one showing signs of munching.

An unfortunate, but true statement...

BoomCorals · Oct 7, 2017

Plus freshwater dips will usually kill SPS.

Ty Hamatake said:
Someone with more knowledge will hopefully come along and say I'm wrong, but I don't know if freshwater dips will do the trick either. Another thing to keep in mind (again, if I'm not mistaken) is that they will lay their eggs on the coral itself too, so even if a FW dip does work, it wont be effective unless the frag is fully submerged.

BoomCorals · Oct 7, 2017

edit: site being weird, double post

Ty Hamatake · Oct 7, 2017

BoomCorals said:
Plus freshwater dips will usually kill SPS.

Oohh, a very critical bit of information I left out. Deeply sorry about that OP.

Have you dealt with these before @BoomCorals?

29bonsaireef · Oct 8, 2017

BoomCorals said:
Plus freshwater dips will usually kill SPS.

Ty Hamatake said:
Oohh, a very critical bit of information I left out. Deeply sorry about that OP.

Have you dealt with these before @BoomCorals?

I don't plan to dip the entire piece, however I was successful in eliminating AEFW with brackish dips and very high dose of iodine. Corals lost most visible tissue and color, but weren't completely bleach and polyps still exposed. Took about two months to fully recover, wouldn't recommend that process. Still looking for more info on these guys? Seems as though most have encountered the Monti eating nudis, can't find much on Acro eating nudibranchs.

Graffiti Spot · Oct 9, 2017

Thoes are acro eating nudibranches. I would stick with revive and actually try the potent version of coral rx since a friend had good luck with it and monti eating nudis. The nudis will have smaller bitemarks than flatworms. I would toss it as well if it's not to late. Nudis like to travel a lot more than flatworms so hopefully you didn't miss any. Melafix is a great dip too but I haven't tried it on any nudis. Bayer didn't work well at all when I tested it on some monti eating nudis from a friend's tank but I didn't experiment with more potent than average doses.
Biggles is familiar with these pests so maybe pm him for some better tips. I have only experienced them on coral from Australia. Maybe tell the seller you found them so their tanks don't spread them to others. They aren't found often yet and it would be nice to have it that way in the future. Anyone buying Aussie pieces should always keep their eyes open for these even though they don't come in on the coral too often.