Parasite Identification

BigMax · Nov 19, 2020

Greetings All,

I have a 5 year old hammer coral with about 50 heads. Over the last month I've lost 5 heads. When I removed the dead skeleton I noticed what's in the 'orange box' I removed it and epoxied that location in the rock to close the crevasses. Anyway it's showing up again. (The epoxy and the 'organism' are white as snow)

It's about a 1/4" wide and 1/8" in height. It will get longer by 1/4" a day. Is it some type of flatworm? if so, no movement can be detected. Is it some type of bacterial growth? I'm at a loss. Any ideas?

TriggerFinger · Nov 19, 2020

That’s odd looking. What did it feel like when you removed it last time? Hard, squishy, crumbled, kept shape?

BigMax · Nov 19, 2020

TriggerFinger said:
That’s odd looking. What did it feel like when you removed it last time? Hard, squishy, crumbled, kept shape?

Kind of rubbery. with no visible orifice. I left it in a glass of saltwater and it remained intact, but no movement.

I started the tank with 'real live rock' who knows what I imported? Always seeing new critters even now.

JGT · Nov 19, 2020

BigMax said:
Kind of rubbery. with no visible orifice. I left it in a glass of saltwater and it remained intact, but no movement.

I started the tank with 'real live rock' who knows what I imported? Always seeing new critters even now.

Sounds like some type of sponge. You do have a lot of vermetid snails in that picture alone. They could have irritated your hammer to death.

TriggerFinger · Nov 19, 2020

BigMax said:
Kind of rubbery. with no visible orifice. I left it in a glass of saltwater and it remained intact, but no movement.

I started the tank with 'real live rock' who knows what I imported? Always seeing new critters even now.

Are you thinking it might be responsible for your hammer losing 5 heads within a short time? And you’re correct, real live rock has some fascinating life in it.
Can you pull more out for closer pics?

BigMax · Nov 20, 2020

TriggerFinger and JGT. Thanks for the replies.

As this thing continues to grow I'll get more photos. My observation is it kills the hammer tissue as it 'grows' it's either the size of the organism, or it's trail of death left behind that has the appearance of a worm like structure?

Thx