Black and white worm eating acro ?

[David osborne]

Does any one know of black and white worm type pest that eats acropora ?

My poor acro is just recovering from an ALK swing a few months ago which was my fault and iv also aggressively dipped the coral which made it loose some tissue as well !
But the last few weeks the coral has bounced back to life with amazing PE and I can see a new blue / purple color coming thought the coral

Iv just seen a small worm which is black and white strips which seems to be eating it from the base of the coral? Can any one I D the worm for me plz

 

[KJ]

Any pic of the worm?

 

[David osborne]

Its going to be tough coz the worm hides as soon as he see the light lol , I'm thinking may be a nice wrass would eat it

I will try and get a pic in a min

 

[David osborne]

 

[David osborne]

If you look closey you can see it on the base of the coral rock , u can also see the white bite mark at the base of the coral too , its lights off time so the coral looks dull

 

[KJ]

Hard to tell from the pic.

 

[David osborne]

But can you see it tho?

 

[KJ]

Yes.

 

[David osborne]

Day light pic with the bite mark ! I can't see any more so may be it' just a one off incident ?

 

[29bonsaireef]

For some reason that specific coral seems more prone to pests, IME. Looks like a mariculture which are also prone to stn, but if you saw a worm on it I would definitely dip. Especially if you have other acros you don't want to risk an outbreak.

 

[David osborne]

Thanks for the reply but I'm not sure the coral will survive a dip as it' recovering still , but at the same time do I really need to risk having pest in the tank when I'm about to go buy more sps soon

 

[Tahoe61]

Peanut Worm? Not my image.

Does the worm burrow into the same hole each time you see it?

 

[David osborne]

Iv only seen it a few times so it' hard to say

It was in a different place last night when i took the night time picture

The worm I see has black and white strips and looks a little differnt to me

 

[Tahoe61]

Banded Ribbon Worm? Not my image.

I had one come in on a Goniopora, as far as I could tell it was not doing any damage to the coral.

http://www.cdmas.org/articles/artic.../a-hitch-hikers-guide-to-the-reefs-worms.html

 

[David osborne]

Thats it !!!!

So is this thing reef safe ?
And thanks for your help btw

 

[Tahoe61]

Thats it !!!!

So is this thing reef safe ?
And thanks for your help btw

You're welcome. :-)

The link states they are carnivores eating smaller worms and inverts. I do not believe they are coral eaters.

I never witnessed mine eating the coral .

 

[David osborne]

I think that this worm has bit this coral because it is growing to close to his cave where it is living ??
What do u think? Could this be the case ?