Barnacles

[SabrinaC]

To dip or not to dip. I would hate to kill these 2 barnacles. I’ve heard they will eventually die in the home aquarium, but I would hate to be the one to do it purposely. Will they eventually harm my coral?

Side note: It was nighttime with the lights off, so it had started to close up. I turned them on to take the pictures. That’s why the hammer isn’t fully extended .

 

[dstockwell]

Barnacles won’t typically survive because a tank really can’t provide the requirement. I initially had a few and they are gone.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

To dip or not to dip. I would hate to kill these 2 barnacles. I’ve heard they will eventually die in the home aquarium, but I would hate to be the one to do it purposely. Will they eventually harm my coral?

Side note: It was nighttime with the lights off, so it had started to close up. I turned them on to take the pictures. That’s why the hammer isn’t fully extended .

Coral-boring barnacles won't harm your coral; as mentioned, they probably won't live long; and, they won't spread. Nothing to worry about at all, and a neat hitchhiker while they last. If you wanted them to spread, you'd need to feed the proper microfauna/microflora in the proper concentrations (and these may vary by species).

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Coral-boring barnacles won't harm your coral; as mentioned, they probably won't live long; and, they won't spread. Nothing to worry about at all, and a neat hitchhiker while they last. If you wanted them to spread, you'd need to feed the proper microfauna/microflora in the proper concentrations (and these may vary by species).

I believe the OP's question was whether they can dip the hammer without harming the barnacles...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

To dip or not to dip. I would hate to kill these 2 barnacles. I’ve heard they will eventually die in the home aquarium, but I would hate to be the one to do it purposely. Will they eventually harm my coral?

Side note: It was nighttime with the lights off, so it had started to close up. I turned them on to take the pictures. That’s why the hammer isn’t fully extended .

Is this coral already in your display tank?
I honestly don't know if any coral dips will kill/spare barnacles, so I can't offer any advice there...

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I believe the OP's question was whether they can dip the hammer without harming the barnacles...

Right. I forgot to answer the first the question and only answered the one at the end of the first paragraph - my bad. I don’t know either if the dip will harm the barnacles. I know one dip says not to use it on barnacles and a few other inverts, but they never specified if it was because it would kill them or because it wouldn’t kill them.

I would assume (possibly incorrectly) that if the dip would harm other crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, etc.), then it would harm barnacles too.

 

[ChiCity]

they do cause deformed (stressful) splits…
and they can live a whole while in our systems.

i just superglued a barnacle because it was causing a tiger torch to split funny….
it lived for over a year!

formed a fat a little knot within the head of torch before i had had enough of it and decided it was time to snuff it out..

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

they do cause deformed (stressful) splits…
and they can live a whole while in our systems.

i just superglued a barnacle because it was causing a tiger torch to split funny….
it lived for over a year!

formed a fat a little knot within the head of torch before i had had enough of it and decided it was time to snuff it out..

Yeah I'm at a year and a weird deformed spot in the coral. I'd get it now unless you want it, it's really your choice. And sorry I don't know anything about euphyllia or dips for them, but that barnacle rrrrrrrrr

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

they do cause deformed (stressful) splits…
and they can live a whole while in our systems.

i just superglued a barnacle because it was causing a tiger torch to split funny….
it lived for over a year!

formed a fat a little knot within the head of torch before i had had enough of it and decided it was time to snuff it out..

Yeah I'm at a year and a weird deformed spot in the coral. I'd get it now unless you want it, it's really your choice. And sorry I don't know anything about euphyllia or dips for them, but that barnacle rrrrrrrrr

Interesting - have they been growing for you guys since you got them, or have they stayed about the same size? It’s good to know they may cause deformities. The barnacles are bored into the coral’s skeleton, so deformities appearing would make sense if they grew and hollowed more of it out or if they were in a bad spot for the coral as it grows.

Not to derail the thread too badly here, but, out of curiosity, do either of you have established pod populations, dose phyto regularly, have (or had at one point) diatoms/diatom issues, or feed micro-foods (coral foods or similar tiny feeds)? Barring any of those, do you guys have any fish/inverts that are particularly messy eaters?

For clarification here, OP, my comment that they wouldn’t harm the coral was meant to convey that the barnacles wouldn’t kill it or irritate it (i.e. the barnacles won’t cause the coral to die or to close up like some problematic hitchhikers would) - it sounds like you may want to remove the barnacles if you’re concerned about coral deformities.

Yeah, looks like you've got boring barnacles of some kind - they bore into the calcium carbonate skeleton of the coral under the coral's flesh (so you are right, they have drilled into the flesh), but they don't really cause any harm. As mentioned, they don't tend to last long in aquaria, so they shouldn't spread like coral boring spionid worm infestations have been known to. Neat find - not necessarily one you'd want to have with coral boring aspect, but still neat.

That said, the only time coral boring seems to actually be injurious to corals is with large infestations in the wild, where the infestations eventually weaken the coral's skeleton to the point where the strong waves or storms may break the coral apart (I've heard of this happening with large CBSW infestations, but not with coral boring barnacles which are super common in some reefs like Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico), but the infestation itself doesn't actually seem to bother the corals).


It's possible it could keep the barnacles alive (it depends on the species of barnacle, the species of phytoplankton, and how much you dose), but it's unlikely. It's also extremely unlikely it would give you any headaches later, as you would need to be feeding the right kind of phyto in the right quantities (for the barnacle larvae reared in labs, this is typically 10^5 phyto cells per ml), and, even if you were doing that, barnacles go through two pelagic phases (nauplius larval stage and cypris larval stage) before settling, so they - like most other pelagic larvae in our tanks - would likely be eaten/removed by mechanical equipment/flushed out in a water change/etc. before settlement.

 

[SabrinaC]

Is this coral already in your display tank?
I honestly don't know if any coral dips will kill/spare barnacles, so I can't offer any advice there...

No, it is in my QT since it hasn’t been dipped yet.