White Spots on Acans

[jcom]

Over the last couple of nights, I've noticed 2 different things happening to 2 different groups of Acans. On one of my 3 polyp frags, several white spots have popped up on the sides of the polpys. On one of my mini colonies, there are smallish white clumps forming on the edges of the polyps in several spots. Upon close inspection, they look like clumps of very small white fibers which noticeably move with current.
Both issues are only noticeable when the lights are off and when the polyps are partially or fully retracted.

Any thoughts on what's going on and suggestions on preventative steps? 7 other groups of acans look fine.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MikeB]

Looks like some type of disease or infection. I really have never seen acans get this. First thing I would do is dips. I would do a 15 minute Pro Coral Cure Dip everyday for 3 days to see if that helps. You also might want to QT the acans so it does not spread, just in case it's a disease.

 

[jcom]

Thanks for the response.

 

[wicked demon]

+1 on Mikes comments and I would also think about using mela-fix in the dip.

 

[jcom]

+1 on Mikes comments and I would also think about using mela-fix in the dip.

This is what I'm leaning towards doing after responses on this and a couple of other sites. Is it safe to combine Iodine and MelaFix into the same bath? If so, can I get recommendations on the amount to dose of each in a 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon tank water mixture?

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

if it is a disease and it starts eating away at your acans, frag off the infected portion and introduce the healthy fragged portions to higher flow.

but try dipping first

 

[jcom]

So I got home, ready to do a dip, and the lights were on and the acans looked really good...fully expanded. I looked at the green ones and could not see any of those white spots on the pics I took late last night(pic above)....weird. So I decided to postpone the dip a day. But here's where it gets really weird. The lights went out about an hour ago and the other colony still looks the same as it does in the picture above. So I grabbed a toothbrush and tried to gently brush of these white, fibrous clumps. They were very slimy and stringy as I started, then all of a sudden I saw my Banggai Cardinal going crazy, acting like he was feeding. I looked closer in the water column and saw tons of small, twitchy tadpole shaped things swimming all around in the tank. It was hard to pinpoint them and single them out with my LED headlamp, but apparently these are some sort of egg pouches or something. They sure don't look like eggs at all. They look like very very fine dental floss rolled into a, nesty, tight ball. I really have no idea what they are, but my brushing them sure stirred them out into the tank.

I'm totally dumbfounded....

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

If you could take a macro shot of these tadpole things it would really help the community. I am suspicious that these are not 'tadpoles' but instead mesenterial filaments that you brushed off.

When I initially saw your pictures, I thought that the white spots were mesenterial filaments. These are like the guts of corals. They also are used in defense. I have found that sometimes when corals are stressed these filaments can be seen out of the mouth of the coral (they go back in once the coral is less stressed). This happens when I do dips (especially freshwater dips). Also I have seen these filaments come out of the bottom and sides of corals. Could it be that this acan was damaged and these filaments are coming out of the open wounds (like being cut in the stomach and having your intestines fall out)? Two things might happen imo, if this is in fact the case. One, the acan will repair itself and the mesenterials will go back inside and the wound will heal over. Or two, the acan will develop a bacterial infection in this wound site. Either way, if these are mesenterial filaments, brushing them off is definitely not a good idea.

The reason why I gave the advise above is that if they were mesenterial filaments, it would just fix itself, or turn into an infection. The white spots might not be mesenterials at all. They could be clumps of bacterial infection. So, you should dip for three consecutive days in an iodine dip (try squirting some concentrated dip directly into the cut, like painting it on the wound) if it gets worse. If this does not work frag like I said and introduce to high flow.

mesenterial filaments look like a random ball of thin string. bacterial infections look like white mold on bread but underwater

g luck and please keep us posted

 

[jcom]

Definitely not tadpoles...lol. That was just the closest thing I could think of in comparison. If you've ever seen mosquito larvae twitching around in standing water, that's very similar to what they looked like. It would have been almost impossible to get a picture.

They very stranged thing was that the white spots on the green acans appeared in one day and disappeared the next.

I looked at some pics of mesenterial filaments and I think you are on to something. Many of my acros/millis expel these when I feed Oyster Feast (I think that's what's happening). I've always taken that as a good thing as I think it's them actively feeding.

The acans have not been injured, except perhaps by the occasional hermit or something crawling on them. I took some shots during full lighting on the day after I took the pics above (see below). As you can see, they look very healthy.

 

[jcom]

Acan pics referred to above.

 

[davilahope]

I think some of my acans are going through this right now.. how did yours turn out? Can somebody please help me?

 

[DSC reef]

I think some of my acans are going through this right now.. how did yours turn out? Can somebody please help me?

This thread is 8 years old so you probably wont get a response. Start a new thread with some pics and tank info so we can help you out and get more eyes available to you.