Leather coral pest?

Uzidaisies · Sep 22, 2021

I bought this leather yesterday and dipped it (don’t know what dip, guy at Lfs gave it to me. Smells like Pine-Sol) before I put it in the tank. Today I noticed a few little things sticking out of the coral, that looked out of place. I decided there was no way those were supposed to be there, so I dipped it again and then pulled the things out. They’re hard little white tube things, sharply pointed at both ends. They came out of the corals flesh easily and left a little hole where I pulled them from. I pulled three. Can anyone tell me what I’ve got here? Sorry if the pictures aren’t great, hopefully my detailed description helps.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 23, 2021

Don’t dip leather - peroxide vath
Looks like detritus worms

MaxTremors · Sep 23, 2021

I think you may have pulled some sclerites out of it, lol. They’re the little calcareous slivers that corals like this use to give themselves structure. I’ve never seen any worms like that in a leather, if they were on the outside of it, I’d think they were just little detritivore worms, but since you dug them out of the coral’s flesh and because you said they’re hard/sharp, it makes me think you pulled out some sclerites (don’t know that I’ve ever heard of someone doing that).

Sleeping Giant · Sep 23, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Don’t dip leather - peroxide vath
Looks like detritus worms

Why no dipping of leathers?

Uzidaisies · Sep 23, 2021

MaxTremors said:
I think you may have pulled some sclerites out of it, lol. They’re the little calcareous slivers that corals like this use to give themselves structure. I’ve never seen any worms like that in a leather, if they were on the outside of it, I’d think they were just little detritivore worms, but since you dug them out of the coral’s flesh and because you said they’re hard/sharp, it makes me think you pulled out some sclerites (don’t know that I’ve ever heard of someone doing that).

Oh man, that probably set him back. I think you're right. I didn't even know about sclerites, so thanks. He's opening up again so I'm sure he'll tough it out. Each one was a hard, pointed sliver that seemed to be stuck in the surface about one third, to half way.