SPS pest???

[OliverH]

do yall see the little black dot?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

As I just mentioned in another thread:

Assuming it sends out a little clump of feathery appendages that fan out like a rake, then close in like fingers closing into a fist, I'd guess that's a coral-boring barnacle.

They're usually not a problem, but they do generally cause a little, dead/deformed patch around where they're burrowed in (and that patch tends to grow as the barnacle does). It being that close to the mouth is a bit concerning to me, but I haven't seen it on enough LPS like this to know if it's an issue.

If you want to get rid of it, I'd imagine you would need to either crush it in its burrow or carefully inject something into it that would kill it - either way, you'd really want to be careful with it being in the coral.

The location of yours could be concerning if the barnacle keeps growing, but it looks like the coral is big enough to safely handle the barnacle as it is now. So, personally, I'd say to keep an eye on it and only try to remove it if needed.

 

[OliverH]

I'm fine if it's not a pest. Thanks for the help！