Does this look like pest damage on this acropora?

[ceaver]

Thanks in advance for your help! Please see pic and weigh in on whether you think this damage is pest related? The lower portion at the growth edge has been ever-so-slowly creeping upward over weeks and months even. Then, the little patch above it just started out of nowhere like a week ago. This pic is morning time before lights on. You can see the base has encrusted quite far on the rock behind the branch, nowhere else has any tissue loss/damage like this. Params are stable.

Does this seem like it would be due to pests? This is in the middle of my tank and quite encrusted so I can't move it or get close enough to see any little bugs on it...

 

[ceaver]

I also meant to add that this is the shadowed side of the acro. Are there any pests that typically target the shaded parts of acros?

 

[spsick]

Looks like just receding from being shaded out underneath to me.

That being said, it’s also exactly where AEFW would hang out.

 

[ceaver]

So do acros actually lose flesh down to the skeleton like that where they are shaded? I didn't think they did, but I'm relatively new to keeping acros

 

[ScottB]

So do acros actually lose flesh down to the skeleton like that where they are shaded? I didn't think they did, but I'm relatively new to keeping acros

That is a good question. I FEEL like most keep their flesh, but it becomes "dry" and pale. But I do think some acros do lose flesh. Montis certainly do lose flesh.

The recession pictured is not the aefw pattern of tissue loss. That is usually small "roundish" splotches of eaten tissue.

I do see some vermatids on the underside of the base rock. That COULD be a cause for tissue irritation and loss. Sadly, I don't have any good recommendations and managing those aside from smashing them.

 

[spsick]

So do acros actually lose flesh down to the skeleton like that where they are shaded? I didn't think they did, but I'm relatively new to keeping acros

You’ll get some die off in really shaded parts, more so if you have point source leds and/or they aren’t getting light reflecting back up from sand etc.

 

[ceaver]

That is a good question. I FEEL like most keep their flesh, but it becomes "dry" and pale. But I do think some acros do lose flesh. Montis certainly do lose flesh.

The recession pictured is not the aefw pattern of tissue loss. That is usually small "roundish" splotches of eaten tissue.

I do see some vermatids on the underside of the base rock. That COULD be a cause for tissue irritation and loss. Sadly, I don't have any good recommendations and managing those aside from smashing them.

Yeah I wasn't thinking aefw but was thinking perhaps some white bug. I have a couple others nearby in the tank with the same thing going on in the shadowed region, but no issues anywhere else in the tank (acros are all over the tank). This was making me think the few pieces near each other in that region might have a pest

 

[ceaver]

You’ll get some die off in really shaded parts, more so if you have point source leds and/or they aren’t getting light reflecting back up from sand etc.

Good point, I do have a bare bottom so no reflection coming off substrate. I do have really good coverage/spread with radion G5s. And lots of other acros elsewhere in the tank that aren't showing this on the shaded portions... I dunno...

 

[ScottB]

Yeah I wasn't thinking aefw but was thinking perhaps some white bug. I have a couple others nearby in the tank with the same thing going on in the shadowed region, but no issues anywhere else in the tank (acros are all over the tank). This was making me think the few pieces near each other in that region might have a pest

White bug is plausible as base recession is mentioned as a common symptom. I could never find any white bugs on my colonies but ended up treating the tank with Interceptor due to some base recession. Left untreated, it was killing frags of certain millis. Seemed to do the trick. Hardest part was just getting a prescription for the stuff.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Doesn’t look like pests to me, looks like a similar tissue loss pattern I’ve had in the past when nutrients were low and I had an alk swing or they were suddenly lit after being shaded (or any other sudden change). Shaded areas when nutrients are too low may be too weak to weather parameter changes.

 

[ceaver]

White bug is plausible as base recession is mentioned as a common symptom. I could never find any white bugs on my colonies but ended up treating the tank with Interceptor due to some base recession. Left untreated, it was killing frags of certain millis. Seemed to do the trick. Hardest part was just getting a prescription for the stuff.

I am in the middle of dosing Dr G's coral dip to the tank now, which has the same ingredient as interceptor. The first frag this started on was a milli nearby, then this one pictured here. I'm hoping it helps, though maybe too soon to tell.

Did you find that all your little pods that appear on the glass died off from that treatment? Sounds like they're supposed to, but I'm still seeing mine so I'm wondering about my dosage strength...

Thanks for all your input!

 

[ceaver]

Doesn’t look like pests to me, looks like a similar tissue loss pattern I’ve had in the past when nutrients were low and I had an alk swing or they were suddenly lit after being shaded (or any other sudden change). Shaded areas when nutrients are too low may be too weak to weather parameter changes.

Interesting. My nutrients have been a little higher than usual recently, but no major swing. Been at about 10-12 nitrate and .06-.12 phosphate. I have many, many other acro frags that are not showing this at all, which is what led me to think about localized pests

 

[ScottB]

I am in the middle of dosing Dr G's coral dip to the tank now, which has the same ingredient as interceptor. The first frag this started on was a milli nearby, then this one pictured here. I'm hoping it helps, though maybe too soon to tell.

Did you find that all your little pods that appear on the glass died off from that treatment? Sounds like they're supposed to, but I'm still seeing mine so I'm wondering about my dosage strength...

Thanks for all your input!

It certainly killed many of the larger pods (amphipods) and the couple shrimp I could not capture. It cannot have killed off all the pods as the population recovered afterwards.

IIRC, I dosed 23mg to 120 gallons. But I would do some dosing research before following my recollection.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Interesting. My nutrients have been a little higher than usual recently, but no major swing. Been at about 10-12 nitrate and .06-.12 phosphate. I have many, many other acro frags that are not showing this at all, which is what led me to think about localized pests

I am starting to agree with some in that we can't lump ALL acropora as the same, just like zoas, they are collected from different areas, different depths, different currents, etc, so its possible there is no perfect system for every acro out there, which is explains why some acros do great while the others die. Those acros collected in more temperate or variable environments may be better at coping to different conditions and those in very stable waters may not have the ability to adapt. Also, some affects may be delayed, so something that occurred 6 weeks ago may just now being manifested visually. We still have a lot to learn about them.

Certainly pests can stress corals and cause them to recede like this, but those marks don't look like direct pest bites in my experience.