ID Help - Acro Eating Flatworm

[troutbum17]

About 2 weeks ago I noticed some tissue loss on the shaded side of this madman Astrea acro. Tissue necrosis has enveloped the shaded side and now is staring on the side that gets more light (shown). Are these small white spots acro eating flatworms? Having a hard time getting one sucked off in a syringe to review under microscope.

thanks for the help.

 

[shakacuz]

does seem like AEFW. are any other acros showing signs of this?

 

[troutbum17]

only have one other acro - bali green. haven't seen tissue necrosis yet, but there does seem to be a bit less polyp extension the past week or so. it also has seen some calcification growth in the past week (noticeable extension on one branch, and beginning to encrust frag plug). new to acros, so not really sure what to make.

have a shipment headed my way in a week from the WWC sale which contains a few nice acros . worried about those falling to these pests if that's indeed what they are.

 

[Miami Reef]

only have one other acro - bali green. haven't seen tissue necrosis yet, but there does seem to be a bit less polyp extension the past week or so. it also has seen some calcification growth in the past week (noticeable extension on one branch, and beginning to encrust frag plug). new to acros, so not really sure what to make.

have a shipment headed my way in a week from the WWC sale which contains a few nice acros . worried about those falling to these pests if that's indeed what they are.

Should be pretty simple to treat. Just do weekly dips for 3-4 consecutive weeks. The dips treat the flatworms but won’t treat eggs, that’s why you got to do it for a few weeks so all the eggs hatch out.

And please invest in a QT!

 

[mdb_talon]

The spots do not look like AEFW, but agree the damage to the coral does look like what can happen with AEFW. A dip of the coral with a turkey baster and you should see flatworms fly off if that is indeed the issue.

 

[Johra]

I don't see any AEFW, does not look like the case to me.

 

[ScottB]

The white spots are definitely NOT aefw. AEFW are a translucent brown color. Google some images.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I think this can also be from a lack of nutrition or instability. The shaded tissues are often more sensitive to changes possibly from getting less nutrition from lack of light and overall less nutrition from the water. The top side may lack nutrition in the water but is getting enough from the light. This is why the undersides of colonies often die first since they are more emaciated than the top side. So any change will shock the more emaciated underside first.

Edit: could be from bacterial/microbial infection of some sort too. I've had acros do this in the past and then stopped when I dipped in Furan-2

Usually with AEFWs, you will see circular bite marks like polka dots.

 

[troutbum17]

thanks all for the insight. dipped the corals and gave them a good shake / blow off with a pipette & had no flatworms drop off. a few white spots dropped & they did not appear to be anything living...maybe some calcification on the tissue.

nutrients have been fairly stable the past month or so...
nitrates ~5-7 (nyos)
phosphate 20-30 on the hannah checker ULR

other params
alk - 8.5 - 9
cal - 400-420
mg - 1300
sal - 1.025

lighting i'm running an AI Hydra 32 over JBJ-45 AIO. schedule is the WWC preset.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Params don't look too bad. Stable for a month isn't a long time if it was instable before that. Some acros have a delayed manifestation of visible issues. Some also just die randomly for no real discernable cause, especially if your tank isn't super established. How old is you tank and do you have any other issues or things you've been fiddling with lately?