SPS pest??mite??

[afamousjohnson]

So I have been experiencing an amount of die off in my sps. I have been randomly loosing (always an stn issue from base up)new frags, many of my milli's, and now have been noticing stn from the base of some of my established colonies. There have been a handful of mishaps over here in the past few months so I was expecting something of die off.
I noticed it start on my red planet 4-5 days ago so I watched it. It slowy went from a small white line of death at the edge of base and over that period spread to a white spot about the size of a dime. As I looked closer at this now dime size white spot I can see what looks like mites or pods racing around super fast on the dead surface only and what looks to be like inside of the dead skeleton. They are white like the skeleton and about the size of a red bug or smaller ranging. Caught a few and they free swim in the water column a lot like a red bug all spiratic like and than they swim smooth. Couldnt get a pic but took a video of them on the spot on the red planet you can see-i will try to get that loaded
but can anyone id off of whats here-im looking to find if these guys are playing a part in the die off
thanks.

 

[afamousjohnson]

See if this works. Look close and you can see the tiny white things racing around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ5S4rsvw48&feature=youtube_gdata_p

 

[bct15]

Didn't see anything in the video but I would check for aefw if I were you

 

[afamousjohnson]

I have been with no results? Been removing pieces dipping inspecting nothing. No bite marks no eggs. Just a steady line of death moving upwards.These are not flatworms tho. Watched my mandarin peck 1 or 2 and move on so got me wondering. In the video they are little white specks running over the shown skeleton they are fast and resemble the look of an etch a scetch as it draws if you can picture that.

 

[Tahoe61]

Looks like Copepods cleaning up.

 

[tektite]

I've seen them before, but only on SPS that already had problems. Never been able to determine if they were the cause of tissue death or simply benefiting from what was already happening to the coral from other causes. Bayer dip would kill them off like other pests.

 

[afamousjohnson]

Ya they look like pods to me too. I didnt see them on all the other pieces I've either removed or lost so im not attributing them to the cause but they are on both of my oldest colonies where the death spots are so it was questionable. So sad but I am removing the red planet today to see what I can find. I have found that when I notice a piece doing this from the base by removing and dipping it usually stops/stunts the spread. And my planet was one of my 1st corals in the tank so no chances. Totally lame.

 

[bct15]

When testing for pests are you blasting the colony with a turkey baster in a separate container after sitting in a dip? I believe there is a small redbug like pest called grey bugs that are not as common, might be what they are but are probably pods cleaning the damaged area. The grey bugs stay on the flesh and embed themselves in the tissue making them hard to treat with a dip, I believe intanl interceptor gets them though.

 

[TJ's Reef]

I would guess them to be pods just cleaning up or taking advantage of dead flesh as well. IME unfortunately, what you describe is most likely caused by low Alk and being out of balance with Cal and Mg levels. Recently came back from Hawaiian vacation to find some STN on a handful of corals. Made a huge mistake of adjusting my dosing pumps right before leaving and mis-adjusted Cal up and twisted/kinked inlet from Alk container..... OOOOPS!

Cheers, Todd

 

[Curtis Scott]

+1 Copepods

I see what appears to be some cyanobacteria in the video. This can be caused by high nutrient levels which can cause some SPS to start to STN/RTN.

I wouldn't recommend dipping it as that my stress it out even more. I would check all water parameters, most importantly your alkalinity, phosphates, and nitrates. Then check calcium, magnesium, and ph. Let us know what you get.