Let's talk about PE, Bay-bee!

[SamMule]

Good catch! Those are bugs!
Interceptor (milbemycin oxime) knocks them out pretty well. There are several threads on here about how to treat for them.

 

[Troylee]

I have a coral beauty and it only nips a digi and causes no harm to it.. have you checked your iodine levels? I started adding 2 drops a day to my tank of lugols and got crazy pe! I don’t have a test so I just do 2 drops… it made a world of difference in my tank… I got the idea from seeing everyone’s icp test come back with low levels of iodine! I’d never waste my money on one so I just look for trends in others lol.

 

[d2mini]

I do see very similar pests to the ones I had, see magnification of one of your pictures:

I don't exactly know what they are called, I called them parasitic copepods. I'm willing to bet you also don't have polyp extension at night. Try to look at them through a magnifying glass, you will see them scurrying around.
I tried to treat the most affected corals with potassium chloride outside of the tank, this helped for a bit, but was no solution. In the end I treated the whole tank with milbemax (milbemycin), this set the tank back a little bit, but solved the parasites. Polyp extension has been excellent since then. Good luck with your situation!

Edit: this is how they looked like in my tank:

Interesting! I'll look into this and see if I see movement or if those white spots remain stagnant.

 

[d2mini]

I have a coral beauty and it only nips a digi and causes no harm to it.. have you checked your iodine levels? I started adding 2 drops a day to my tank of lugols and got crazy pe! I don’t have a test so I just do 2 drops… it made a world of difference in my tank… I got the idea from seeing everyone’s icp test come back with low levels of iodine! I’d never waste my money on one so I just look for trends in others lol.

I add iodine daily.
It's part of the Reef Moonshiners protocol.

 

[Troylee]

I add iodine daily.
It's part of the Reef Moonshiners protocol.

Then I’d lean towards pests unless you get polyp extension at night then it could be the angel.

 

[d2mini]

@ArachnoJoozt @Troylee Here's a 100% crop from the raw file

 

[Dorsetsteve]

The frustrating thing about “white bugs” in my experience at least is that during the lit portion of the day they don’t move around much, so this very small creature appears to be dust or something. Come nightfall and they’re busy.

If you can remove a coral and look at them at say x30 magnification they look like little arrow heads.

I had the same issues and eventually they reached a population that basal STN started. To be truthful if I was in your position, even suspecting them, getting hold of the treatment here in the U.K. is tricky, I’d just dose for them.

 

[SamMule]

Here's a short clip of an infected acro in my tank several months ago.

 

[ArachnoJoozt]

@ArachnoJoozt @Troylee Here's a 100% crop from the raw file

Impressive quality, very nice!
My guess would still be that you're looking at a pest issue. Try to see the movement if possible.
My infestation was way worse, I took a little too long to pull the trigger with the milbemax, if it would happen again I would treat much sooner.
Once again good luck in finding out (and battling) your enemy!

 

[tmo65]

Before making changes to your fundamentals, have you done an ICP to rule out any contaminants? We don’t have reef moonshiners in the UK so when you say you use that, I don’t know if it includes ICP analysis.

I’m currently in water change city trying to dilute out high tin and zinc which caused low polyp extension and later RTN/STN.

Great piece of artwork on your profile. Just can’t see mt Fuji in the background.

 

[d2mini]

So i've been trying to look for any signs up bugs. I don't see anything moving in real time. Most of the sps look pretty clean to me but maybe I'm just not seeing it. Anyone see anything concerning in these pics? I was taking these this morning with no lights on in the tank and just using a flashlight.

This is the same coral as talked about above in previous posts.

@ArachnoJoozt @Troylee

Here's a different one, the Milli

Now this one.... this is the only sps frag in my tank not doing ok and never did from the start. It's half dead, I just haven't removed it yet. These two pics were taken 60 minutes apart. There's some movement of white specs between pics, but a lot of them are in exactly the same position. And I don't see any movement while watching them.

 

[minus9]

How much are you feeding the tank/fish? I'm sure it's a mind story, but feeding the tank more brings out PE, at least in my tank. I feed a lot and the one comment I always get is how good/healthy my corals look. Even my smoothies are hairy.

 

[d2mini]

How much are you feeding the tank/fish? I'm sure it's a mind story, but feeding the tank more brings out PE, at least in my tank. I feed a lot and the one comment I always get is how good/healthy my corals look. Even my smoothies are hairy.

Just some Larry's Reef Frenzy once a day that I squirt into the tank. Whatever they can eat in a few minutes. Always been a light feeder. I have to dose nitrate and phosphate to keep them from bottoming out. And recently have been dosing phyto.

 

[minus9]

Pick up an auto feeder and load it with some TDO and feed a couple times a day. Urea/ammonium is the best source of nitrogen/energy for corals. They (sps) have a tough time utilizing nitrate, but can utilize ammonium quite easily. Don’t worry about nutrients, that’s not how you control algae, herbivores take care of algae. Trying to keep low nutrients to combat algae never works (not saying that’s what you’re doing, but most people think that way) and usually leads to other problems, like starving corals. I feed 6-8x a day and I’m still dosing ammonium chloride, my PO4 is always high, but I don’t care and neither do most of my animals. I’m not saying drop food in willy-nilly, but feeding small meals throughout the day does the whole tank good. Phyto is good, but it can also utilize nutrients too and contribute to lower levels, but adding a little extra “feeds” the whole tank.

Sorry for the crappy iPhone pics, but they look like this all day long.

 

[d2mini]

Pick up an auto feeder and load it with some TDO and feed a couple times a day. Urea/ammonium is the best source of nitrogen/energy for corals. They (sps) have a tough time utilizing nitrate, but can utilize ammonium quite easily. Don’t worry about nutrients, that’s not how you control algae, herbivores take care of algae. Trying to keep low nutrients to combat algae never works (not saying that’s what you’re doing, but most people think that way) and usually leads to other problems, like starving corals. I feed 6-8x a day and I’m still dosing ammonium chloride, my PO4 is always high, but I don’t care and neither do most of my animals. I’m not saying drop food in willy-nilly, but feeding small meals throughout the day does the whole tank good. Phyto is good, but it can also utilize nutrients too and contribute to lower levels, but adding a little extra “feeds” the whole tank.

Sorry for the crappy iPhone pics, but they look like this all day long.

Thanks. I'm home all day so i can feed more often.
Speaking of herbivores, my tank is too small for tangs (24"x24"). Any good small herbivores?
I just installed a turf scrubber today. Maybe that will help once it gets grooving.

 

[Dorsetsteve]

I don’t see any bugs there.

I think it’s important to think about why an Acro extends its polyps. If there’s no need or nothing to gain by extending the polyps they won’t.

 

[minus9]

Thanks. I'm home all day so i can feed more often.
Speaking of herbivores, my tank is too small for tangs (24"x24"). Any good small herbivores?
I just installed a turf scrubber today. Maybe that will help once it gets grooving.

For fish, maybe a lawnmower blenny? But a mix of snails, turbo, trochus, ceriths, astraea and a tuxedo urchin would help. The only hermits I like are scarlets, so a couple go a long way in helping without murdering too many snails.

 

[minus9]

Also, you could add a very small bristletooth tang (tomini being my favorite) with plans on rehoming to a larger tank when the time arises. Maybe you have a friend who has a larger tank and could use a tang in about a year or so? But only add a fish like this if you have a solid plan for its future. I’m sure the tang police would have something to say about this, but having a solid plan mitigates their complaints or protests.

 

[d2mini]

For fish, maybe a lawnmower blenny? But a mix of snails, turbo, trochus, ceriths, astraea and a tuxedo urchin would help. The only hermits I like are scarlets, so a couple go a long way in helping without murdering too many snails.

Ya i have all those CUC, they don't do squat.
Except I don't have the tuxedo. I stopped by one LFS earlier today and they wanted 50 bucks for a tiny one.

 

[shakacuz]

Thanks. I'm home all day so i can feed more often.
Speaking of herbivores, my tank is too small for tangs (24"x24"). Any good small herbivores?
I just installed a turf scrubber today. Maybe that will help once it gets grooving.

hector goby and court jester goby. they’re smaller and also eat cyano (CJG as per algeabarn) i also agree with a small tang. i have one in my 40B but i originally bought it as i was upgrading to a 75G. you can rehome it later once it gets bigger