Help! Are these some sort of pest?

[m and m]

You are wrong yet again sir. These spots are white are chunks, where AEFW are flat, and are brownish/tank color. Here is a good pic for reference:

I was not fighting the white things are anything nor was i saying the what things are the prob. When the coral dies the calcium deposit’s most likely started. im saying the rout of the issue is most liklely AEFW, just like craig told you, they didnt kill the coral they came after id died.

 

[goody]

ding, ding, ding...and the winner is Craig (soccerbag) :cry: AEFW, crap! Didn't get any off with the baster, but I pulled out my tricolor and strawberry shortcake and a few seconds in CoralRx and they started flying off.

 

[soccerbag]

I take ZERO pleasure in this win. Very sorry to hear goody! You mentioned that you have dealt with them before.....did you erradicate them or did you live with them and baste often (like many other successful reefers).

If you need any links to treatment or anything, let us know. We're happy to help. As soon as you mentioned Red Planet and Tri-color, I had a feeling. At least you know what the cause is...now comes how you want to move forward. Again, sorry man.

 

[goody]

I totally didn't think it was AEFW. Where were the oval looking bite marks? And don't they usually start at the base? And Craig, I do recall them all over my tricolors last time, but since my millis are doing great, that is why I only mentioned them. Looks like I didn't eradicate them from my last bout awhile ago. I did baste and dip a lot since it was only frags. I fragged my colonies and tossed the rest. Wondering if I should do with this big miami orchd colony. All the others are frags that are looking like infected.

I am going to try and beat them with basting, dipping, and my wrasses.

 

[soccerbag]

A lot of folks toss full colonies which is not always necessary. I would look for eggs. Melev has a some good pics of the eggs on his site. They aren't always easy to find. If you find eggs, scrape them off for sure. I think you should try the basting (all SPS). Even though the millies may look fine, they may still have a few on there. Dipping while blowing them off with an MJ1200 or strong pump works too. and my yellow coris wrasses, Christmas wrasse, and six line will always eat them out of the water column.

They are virtually impossible to erradicate without doing a total quarantine with daily dips. Most of us don't have the space or the means to do that. As you know, you can control them with diligent basting. At least keep them at bay so that the coral grows faster than the smaller ones can cause damage (if that makes sense).

 

[goody]

After dipping 2 large colonies (miami orchid and Red panet), not one single AEFW, so tissue loss still possibly from the epoxy residue. If it was from the AEFW, I'm sure some would have come off in the CoralRx dip, right? As mentioned earlier, lots of AEFWs came off the tricolor and shortcake frags. I tossed the tricolor frag, since that one was really in bad condition. I couldn't see most of this as it was on the backside and underside of the frag. Hoping to save the shortcake.

I also dipped Halloween milli, Palmer's Blue milli, and Diablo millli along with three other acros, no AEFW from any of these.

 

[soccerbag]

Good to hear that you didn't see any on the millies or other colonies. Looks like you caught them early on and that's always good. Dipping is always a good start but those suckers can hold on tight. I always baste or blast them with a Maxijet1200 (a MJ900 won't get them off sometimes) while dipping to ensure I get all of them off. It's amazing how good they are at blending in!

As much damage as there was to the other pieces, it could very well be some epoxy damage but hard to tell. I think you would have noticed some fall off of those pieces if they were affected by AEFW. They don't leave a colony alone until it is dead.

 

[Troylee]

classic aefw imho... and yes the white spots are tiny tube worms after the fact...:( sorry bro i would start dipping and quarantine them puppies quick!!!!!

 

[PR_Reefers]

The white things are(to the best of my knowledge) tiny tubeworms. I used to have them in my old 20 gal nano. They usually were on the back glass of the tank. If you look really close with the lights out and using a flashlight you can usually see the small feathers.

+1 That's excactly what they are.. Just had a big explosion of them myself!! I think they are just taking up residents on dead spot of acro.

+1... I am also almost 100% positive they are NOT calcium deposits and are some sort of gastropod or filter feeder... I have many on my refugium walls!

I am almost positive the "white spots" are not AEFW, which I have dealt with in the past. The spots I am talking about look nothing like the bite marks of AEFW, nor the flatworm. Plus don't AEFW love millis, which I have several and they are all doing great. I will give a blast with the turkey baster just to be sure.

I am also 100% sure the white spots are NOT AEFW, however..... my assumption is that these organisms ("white spots") colonized the dead skeleton once the tissue was gone...maybe after the AEFW damaged the tissue! they would not grow on a healthy coral or damage it! Try taking out one of the sps colonies and dip it in some flatworm exit... then blast it with the baster and check if anything comes out! It is not the white spots that damaged your corals thought IMO!


*edit... I should check if there are more pages in a post before writing ... I see this has already been resolved LOL

 

[RogerWilco357]

keep us posted man I hate aefw and lost the battle with them months ago still waiting before i put sps in that tank again..good luck

 

[Just Clownin Around]

i think the coral is not getting enough light on the back side. trying adding some ore light and see what happens. usually when a coral statrs to receed in the middle it is a pest though

 

[butts182]

+ many. Sounds like AEFW. I think the white sheel things at tube worms or something like that. Not harmful, but probably not good to have them on the underside of the acros.

 

[goody]

Since there have been some posts to this thread lately, I thought I'd give an update. If you missed the post earlier, I did find AEFW on a tricolor and halloween milli, but not on the miami orchid or red planet. The tricolor was tossed in the trash and the other I ended up fragging. I have dipped a few other times with no signs of AEFW. I have also dipped the bigger colonies again, no signs of AEFW.

The red planet and miami orchid continue to show signs of a weird tissue loss on the undersides of the branches. The bases and tops of branches are not affected. Not sure of the scientific words, but the tissue is "curling up". They both have slowed in growth, shown some color loss, and have little PE. Below are some shots of the RP.

 

[Captain Nemo]

+ 1 to the possibilities of calcium deposits or aefw, I have nevr seen aefw but I can see how it could be the calcium deposits, let us know if this gets better or worse.