New Coral Pest?

[LimestoneCowboy]

Saw some STN on a colony in our QT that has been there for several months. Noticed some black dots on it and assumed black bugs since 5 weeks of Expel dipping didn't seem to kill them. So today before I did a melafix ( stronger dip) dipped them, I decided to put one under the microscope and see what it was. To my surprise it didn't look like a black bug at all rather more of a "wormy" kind of body, but not a shape like AEFW either. Anyone know what these might be? Melafix seemed to wipe them out, but they definitly survived the Expel dips.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Definitely looks like a species of flatworm. They don’t kill corals directly by feeding upon their tissue but with enough of them, they will reduce the amount of beneficial light needed for corals to survive.
Getting rid of them is difficult. When you kill them with chemicals, toxins are released into your water column.
Strong filtration, water changes are essential in minimizing these toxins from building up in your tank. It is best to try and remove as many of these as you can with a symphony, vacuum, turkey baster to lessen their numbers and, again, minimize toxins being released by the dead flatworms.

 

[Poriferabob]

Red bugs, black bugs, flatworms, nudis!! Whats next?! lol I'm just gonna start a pest tank.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Lol, we would all probably be successful aquarists then. The cards are definitely stacked against us.
By the way, you forgot snails, anemones, microalgae and bacteria

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Looks more like the type I have seen on zoanthids before which move very very slow and irritate certain colors of polyps first. They typically keep the color in their body so they are hard to see. I wonder if this kind is similar to this? If so revive and iodine mixed in was the only thing that would mock them off the polyps.

 

[LimestoneCowboy]

Looks more like the type I have seen on zoanthids before which move very very slow and irritate certain colors of polyps first. They typically keep the color in their body so they are hard to see. I wonder if this kind is similar to this? If so revive and iodine mixed in was the only thing that would mock them off the polyps.

Agreed. Its almost a tic tac shape. It was on an A. Nana which are notorious for pests so we like to QT extra long. I"ll have to see if they pop up again and if the tissue recedes or starts to re-encrust.

 

[LimestoneCowboy]

Forgot to mention the above was @ 40x magnification.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Yea great shots, thanks for sharing. Did you find damage from them? The zoanthid ones I have seen reminded me more of a slug than a worm too, really odd pest. The eyes were in the same place but I think they were a bright color like orange or red, I will have to see if we still have our macro shots.

 

[LimestoneCowboy]

Yea great shots, thanks for sharing. Did you find damage from them? The zoanthid ones I have seen reminded me more of a slug than a worm too, really odd pest. The eyes were in the same place but I think they were a bright color like orange or red, I will have to see if we still have our macro shots.

I did, I kept seeing tissue loss on surfaces away from the light, but not like when you would see aefw bite marks, just very slow recession underneath. On the top side, great color, great PE, very weird. We'll have to see what the recovery looks like assuming the melafix got them. I'll keep posted. I have a video of them too, but R2r doesn't like MP4.