Digita Coral - worm ! what is it?

[ManGups]

I have a 'Larry's Fire Red Digi' coral and it has been doing fine for quite some time - slow growth but still okay. Then I had an incident when the Tunze 3155 dumped a whole bunch or water. Anyways - no damage- corals and fish all came through okay.

 

Once things settled - I got some new corals and when through the routine of dipping in Coral Rx Pro. This is now 3 weeks since I got the new corals and all are doing fine except the Red Digi which shows to be loosing color.

 

Here is a sample pic as it looked before : ( courtesy : advanceaquarist.com)

 

 

 

I was not sure and what was wrong. This is the only coral affected. I have another 'Purple Digi' doing fine. The 'Purple Digi' is just an inch away from the 'Red Fire Digi' and it is doing fine.

 

Anyways, I took a flashlight to check for pest and I found this :

 

See you tube Video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ibbN02La50

 

What are those crawling on the coral? it seem some copepods/amphipods - it does not seems to be red bugs (no red color) or flatworms so not sure.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Travis]

isopod

[ManGups]

Harmful?

[markalot]

No, but the coral (it's a montipora digitata) looks either badly bleached or dead. Might need to move it to lower light for a while.

 

Red Bugs only attack acros. The big pest for montis is montipora eating nudibranch, and they are hard to see and move very slowly.

[ManGups]

I guess reefs safe. Any idea what could be wrong with the digita ?

[markalot]

I guess reefs safe. Any idea what could be wrong with the digita ?

 

Too much light, alkalinity swing, damage from the water dump. Not all corals react the same. The pods on the coral are an indication if may have dead patches.

 

How stable is your Alk?

[ManGups]

I am tending all is not stable -
April 15th - 8.7dKH ( Red Sea test kit)
April 25th - 8.4 dKH ( Red Sea test kit)
April 29th - 7.4 dKH (Salifert test kit)

I just switched kit since the read sea is expiring April 2015.

BTW .. Haven't touched lighting in months and digi was doing fine.

Any idea how to keep ALk stable ? I don't have too many SPS that require dosing. I randomly measure CA and it is always on the high of the range.

[ManGups]

 

Too much light, alkalinity swing, damage from the water dump. Not all corals react the same. The pods on the coral are an indication if may have dead patches.

 

How stable is your Alk?

I am tending all is not stable -

April 15th - 8.7dKH ( Red Sea test kit)

April 25th - 8.4 dKH ( Red Sea test kit)

April 29th - 7.4 dKH (Salifert test kit)

 

I just switched kit since the read sea is expiring April 2015.

 

BTW .. Haven't touched lighting in months and digi was doing fine.

 

Any idea how to keep ALk stable ? I don't have too many SPS that require dosing. I randomly measure CA and it is always on the high of the range.

[markalot]

Get a good two part like C-Balance and then dose based on Alk usage, either that or do more water changes to even out the dips.

 

Also look very closely at the digi to make sure you don't have montipora eating nudibranchs. You can google that to see what they look like. One thing you learn with SPS is that they can behave differently and can be very sensitive to instability depending on their initial condition. Some montis are extremely hardy while others aren't.

 

Alkalinity is the critical component, not calcium. Calcium needs to be kept in a safe range, 400-500 for example, but it's not critical. THis is why I recommend figuring out Alk usage and then dosing equal parts A and B of a two part to keep things in balance.

[ManGups]

Get a good two part like C-Balance and then dose based on Alk usage, either that or do more water changes to even out the dips.

 

Also look very closely at the digi to make sure you don't have montipora eating nudibranchs. You can google that to see what they look like. One thing you learn with SPS is that they can behave differently and can be very sensitive to instability depending on their initial condition. Some montis are extremely hardy while others aren't.

 

Alkalinity is the critical component, not calcium. Calcium needs to be kept in a safe range, 400-500 for example, but it's not critical. THis is why I recommend figuring out Alk usage and then dosing equal parts A and B of a two part to keep things in balance.

 

 

 

Thanks.. I have been looking for 3~4 nights and have not been able to see anything other than isopods. I see some other issue - my purple digital, sunset montipora and red plating montipora have some white spots as if the skin has been taken off. I can spot a thing. I will get a magnifying glass to see if that helps. BTW the Acorpora, sestosa, brid'snest do perfectly fine.

 

I also have Christmas Wrasse and a yellow Coris wrasse so they maybe helping. I have not been able to see a nudibranch so far.

 

I am also looking at getting a quarantine tank around 4~6 gallons so I can move these corals out and observe more closely.

[ManGups]

Looked more with a flashlight after dark and cannot see any type of pests - just see the same Isopods. I anyways took out the coral and dipped in Coral Rx - gently blasted the coral with a turkey baster, looked underneath the plug etc. scrapped off whatever i could fine - NO pest discovered.

 

I am presuming it was parameter swing and the digita just could not handle it.

 

I also got the TLF C-part ordered and my quarantine tank. Now I just need to figure out the ALk dosing ipart. I need to start measuring it everyday at the same time to figure out consumption.

 

Here is what is has gone through over the last 6 months.

[ManGups]

Also looking to give a few days and try this out when the quarantine tank is setup: 50mg/L KMnO4. It seems to be most viable solution for both eggs and the nudibranches. I still have no discovered any nudibranches so far.

refrrence : http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/eb/index.php

 

In the meantime - i need to be on my toes and keep checking corals