White stringy/ cotton stuff?

[witchywoman725]

Can anyone help me ID this? It is fast growing and is currently eating one of my torches…it looks like white stringy cotton candy…

 

[witchywoman725]

Can anyone help me ID this? It is fast growing and is currently eating one of my torches…it looks like white stringy cotton candy…

Here’s a better photo

 

[j.falk]

Is it vermetid worm webbing?

 

[witchywoman725]

I'm not sure... it's got lot of structure and it squishes when I manually remove with tweezers... almost like a sponge, but I've had pineapple sponges is a different tank and this is definitely not that

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I'm not sure... it's got lot of structure and it squishes when I manually remove with tweezers... almost like a sponge, but I've had pineapple sponges is a different tank and this is definitely not that

There are all kinds of sponges. I would guess this is one.

 

[resortez]

Yup, it’s some sort of sponge. I dealt with this exact problem with a branching hammer once. No matter how often I remove it, it kept coming back. It creeps up from underneath & works its way into the middle of the coral until it reaches the mouth & begins to eat away until the torch is dead. Best solution is to remove the torch, plug & surrounding rock. Chuck the plug & rock, scrape as much of the sponge off the coral, coral dip the torch, superglue the entire base of the coral & keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t return. Like most parasites, it only takes a speck of it to survive & make a come back. Good luck

 

[witchywoman725]

Yup, it’s some sort of sponge. I dealt with this exact problem with a branching hammer once. No matter how often I remove it, it kept coming back. It creeps up from underneath & works its way into the middle of the coral until it reaches the mouth & begins to eat away until the torch is dead. Best solution is to remove the torch, plug & surrounding rock. Chuck the plug & rock, scrape as much of the sponge off the coral, coral dip the torch, superglue the entire base of the coral & keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t return. Like most parasites, it only takes a speck of it to survive & make a come back. Good luck

Thank you!

 

[witchywoman725]

Yup, it’s some sort of sponge. I dealt with this exact problem with a branching hammer once. No matter how often I remove it, it kept coming back. It creeps up from underneath & works its way into the middle of the coral until it reaches the mouth & begins to eat away until the torch is dead. Best solution is to remove the torch, plug & surrounding rock. Chuck the plug & rock, scrape as much of the sponge off the coral, coral dip the torch, superglue the entire base of the coral & keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t return. Like most parasites, it only takes a speck of it to survive & make a come back. Good luck

Any suggestion on the dip ... did one work better for this issue than another... All I have right now is some revive

 

[vetteguy53081]

Is it vermetid worm webbing?

This is the mucus web/net from a vermetid snail which it uses to capture food. You can see the tube also its coming from and can add a dab of gel super glue from the dollar store to it or place a small ball of coral putty over the hole and it will also starve

 

[resortez]

Any suggestion on the dip ... did one work better for this issue than another... All I have right now is some revive

Coral rx is the dip I used. Lugols might work but don’t quote me on that. It will continue returning until the torch is dead & eventually starve to death. Must have come from a wild colony, that’s how I got it into my tank. The torch will still open but the portion being attacked will shrink. It’s best to scrape off as much as you can & find the source of where it’s hidden then break off that chunk off & toss it