Acro with active feather duster in it?

[Smite]

My LFS had a few nice speciosa acropora frags for sale. I chose one that I thought had the most potential and it's doing very well so far. I went back to see how the others faired, for the most part they look pretty good still. There is one other that grabs my attention as it's very different from the first I bought. My concern is it as an active feather duster like hitchhiker I see in it. By active I mean it sends out what looks like a small white feather, waves it around, I assume filters for a second and then retracts momentarily. Then repeats.

It concerns me as the frag is small, and it's dead center where the branches are separating so I'd have to mutilate the frag to get it out. I'm not sure if a dab of superglue would work for something like this. Of course, I'm also concerned about this spreading to other acro if its some form of pest.

I'm searching the forums to try and find what exactly this is but haven't seen it yet. Straight up little fan/feather shape duster popping in and out every few seconds. Has anyone dealt with something like this before. Gorgeous piece but not sure it's worth the gamble. Times like this I wish I had a coral QT.

Thanks for any advice or links to what it might be.

Pic of current frag for tax. the one I'm eyeballing is baby blue with yellow coralites.

 

[MERKEY]

Possibly a barnacle....usually harmless if they are already in the coral and the coral is growing fine.

I have a couple torches with them.
You can dig it out but that usually causes more harm with lps.

With sps you could just cut it out...basically frag it in half and remove the barnacle.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

It sounds like a barnacle

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

It sounds like a barnacle

I have one in a tenuis right now, and it makes it grow weird in that spot, you can frag it out later, or just leave it alone, or skip over the piece all together.

 

[Smite]

Thanks for the quick responses guys. Do they usually cause harm to the acorpora? If not the motion was actually pretty interesting. The frag has been there for a month or more and seems to be doing okay. Haven't come across that yet keeping sps so wasn't sure.

 

[Smite]

I have one in a tenuis right now, and it makes it grow weird in that spot, you can frag it out later, or just leave it alone, or skip over the piece all together.

Well that's good to hear it didn't effect the coral to a point of major issue. Or spread in the tank? < main concern

 

[Rick5]

Mariculture pieces used to routinely have these. I never noticed any issues with them and, at that time, I had multiple piece/colonies with them.

I guess the concern is that we (or more so I) can’t ID these things so it’s possible we aren’t talking about the same thing (which may not be likely but is worth mentioning).

 

[92Miata]

How does the coral look near the thing?

Barnacles generally aren't a problem - they don't really reproduce in tank, so the coral will just grow out and be fine. Some species of Spionid worms on the other hand, can be a big problem. They burrow through corals (and rock) and reproduce readily. Generally the coral will look irritated at the location though.

 

[Smite]

How does the coral look near the thing?

Barnacles generally aren't a problem - they don't really reproduce in tank, so the coral will just grow out and be fine. Some species of Spionid worms on the other hand, can be a big problem. They burrow through corals (and rock) and reproduce readily. Generally the coral will look irritated at the location though.

I'll have to take a peek when I go back. There was no loss of tissue or anything but it was in the crevice where to branches met, no polyps in the area to judge of those.

I'll have to search around for barnacle images and see if I can get a positive ID off that.

 

[homer1475]

Have a few frags with barnacles myself. If it is truly a barnacle, it will die out eventually(our tanks don't have what they require), and the coral will heal over the area and grow around it.

Funny story though....
I bought a brain coral(trachy) that had a barnacle right in the dead center. Before the barnacle died, it caused the trachy to split into 2 completely separate heads on one skeleton. Only downside, now it looks more like a lobo with 2 perfect circle heads.

 

[Smite]

Have a few frags with barnacles myself. If it is truly a barnacle, it will die out eventually(our tanks don't have what they require), and the coral will heal over the area and grow around it.

Funny story though....
I bought a brain coral(trachy) that had a barnacle right in the dead center. Before the barnacle died, it caused the trachy to split into 2 completely separate heads on one skeleton. Only downside, now it looks more like a lobo with 2 perfect circle heads.

Well that's good to hear. Maybe I'll go back and try to talk him into selling it to me. It's not on the for sale rack but neither was the last one

I keep trying to find a good image or video of one but have failed so far. I found one video that wasn't quite focused and the motion looked right so hopefully that's what it is. I did find some pictures of acro-burrowing worms and their tentacles/feeders don't look the same from what I could tell.

 

[homer1475]

Feather dusters have a circle crown. barnacles look more like an eyelash sticking out. Vermetid snails cast a mucus net.

 

[HBtank]

My LFS had a few nice speciosa acropora frags for sale. I chose one that I thought had the most potential and it's doing very well so far. I went back to see how the others faired, for the most part they look pretty good still. There is one other that grabs my attention as it's very different from the first I bought. My concern is it as an active feather duster like hitchhiker I see in it. By active I mean it sends out what looks like a small white feather, waves it around, I assume filters for a second and then retracts momentarily. Then repeats.

It concerns me as the frag is small, and it's dead center where the branches are separating so I'd have to mutilate the frag to get it out. I'm not sure if a dab of superglue would work for something like this. Of course, I'm also concerned about this spreading to other acro if its some form of pest.

I'm searching the forums to try and find what exactly this is but haven't seen it yet. Straight up little fan/feather shape duster popping in and out every few seconds. Has anyone dealt with something like this before. Gorgeous piece but not sure it's worth the gamble. Times like this I wish I had a coral QT.

Thanks for any advice or links to what it might be.

Pic of current frag for tax. the one I'm eyeballing is baby blue with yellow coralites.

Cool pickup, what LFS is that from?

I have a frag with a barnacle, it doesn’t seem to harm it but it grows slower and odd in that area.

 

[Tonycass12]

I've got a few of these w no issues. Just beware those corals were more then likely maricultured and will be much more sensitive to changes then aquacultured frags.

 

[Smite]

Cool pickup, what LFS is that from?

I have a frag with a barnacle, it doesn’t seem to harm it but it grows slower and odd in that area.

Tong's Tropical Fish. I've scored some pretty gnarly pieces from there in the past. They are all maricultured though, so it can be a gamble.

 

[Smite]

I've got a few of these w no issues. Just beware those corals were more then likely maricultured and will be much more sensitive to changes then aquacultured frags.

100% they are. I've got a thing for maricultured pieces so that's a plus for me, haha. I know its a gamble but I just love seeing something develop in the tank. Most times they aren't super colorful there, he hits them with melafix along with coral RX when they come it which pretty much kills all the color. So it can be a gamble but I've had some really turn into gems over the years.

 

[Smite]

I lost the majority of these in a transfer but here are some of the Tong's specials I gambled on. All grown from tiny frags except the first was a full piece.

Gotta love the maricultures . What I really like is he'll sell fresh cuts off most of them.

 

[HBtank]

I lost the majority of these in a transfer but here are some of the Tong's specials I gambled on. All grown from tiny frags except the first was a full piece.

Gotta love the maricultures . What I really like is he'll sell fresh cuts off most of them.

Thought it might be there, I live near them and have been going for years. Used to get all sorts of cool maricultured stuff there, but it seems like there is less of the larger stuff these days. I only seem to check out the front frag tanks for SPS. When you get fresh cuts is it off of pieces in the back tanks? That rainbow millie, and the one above it, are fire.

 

[Smite]

Thought it might be there, I live near them and have been going for years. Used to get all sorts of cool maricultured stuff there, but it seems like there is less of the larger stuff these days. I only seem to check out the front frag tanks for SPS. When you get fresh cuts is it off of pieces in the back tanks? That rainbow millie, and the one above it, are fire.

Agreed. Most these I got between ‘17-19. Some were scored out of the frag tank but if I see the owner isn’t busy, I’ll talk some reef and ask if he has time to cut things out of the big tanks. Price varies, usually around a larger or nicer frag out of the frag tanks. Sometimes he’s slammed though and everyone else is clueless there for the most part.