Acropora bugs?

[NapoleonB]

I have had these critters for a while, seen them on a few of the acros. One of my acros have had them for maybe 7-8 months and are showing no signs of distress. What would you say these are? White, grey, black bugs?
Would you do anything to remove them if they didnt hurt the coral?
I am doing a tank transfer in about a month, any suggestions besides dipping?

 

[EnterName]

It's hard to see much, so I cut out the clearest specimen and added purposefully "oversharpened" images. Maybe this helps with identification for people on mobile devices.

To me these things look like some crustaceans, but I went through "all" more common options:

• There is a variety of small ecto-parasitic crustaceans like the typical red bugs (Tegastes acroporanus) and various grey and black bugs, and various copepods from the Xarifiidae family. The rough shape suggests it could be Alteuthellopsis corallina, but images are very limited and the size might be off.
• Another alternative would be AEFW, but the images don't really fit the typical AEFWs (Amakusaplana acroporae) or the "newly" discovered AEFWs which are not properly classified yet.

To me they look more like isopods (due to the segments), and actually there are corallivore/ecto-parasitic isopods like certain Excorallana spp., but I didn't find out much about them yet and don't know if there are any species that remain small enough to be a fit. They also apparently have very noticeable dark eyes.

Either way, the coral should probably be dipped and quarantined, even though I'm afraid the whole tank might need a proper treatment if these things turn out to be spreading on other corals as well.

You will need a proper dip as yours apparently didn't get the job done. Most dips just stun parasites and you need to manually get them off the frag, but some parasites can dig deep into the coral and won't let loose so easily. I think a potassium chloride dip (KCl) should work quite well while not stressing the coral too much. I don't know if these things have left any eggs, so a quarantine is definitely recommended.

I hope someone else knows more

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

Not certain what they are, but I’m certain they aren’t red bugs. This is what red bugs will look like

 

[LavenderTi]

You'll probably need to do an interceptor treatment regimen to eradicate them from the tank. Then moving forward be sure you are dipping new acquisitions a few times over the course of the first few weeks to ensure you get bugs and their newly hatched eggs off.