Microscopic spider / crabs on acros

[Reefering1]

Bump

 

[VintageReefer]

Marine mite but no idea if harmful or not

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...-for-35-off-at-checkout.1091594/post-13243948

 

[ChiCity]

generally speaking,
if they’re laying eggs on their host…
99% of the time, they’re harmful

 

[FishyJoe91]

Curious if you ever treated for these mites or made any more observations with them. I just found the same on some of my frag plugs zero on the coral tissue.

 

[VintageReefer]

Curious if you ever treated for these mites or made any more observations with them. I just found the same on some of my frag plugs zero on the coral tissue.

I have tried the following in extended multi hour dips at 2-3x normal concentration:
Kcl
Coral rx
Revive
Hydrogen peroxide
Iodine
Milbemycin

Nothing affects them

The last one might have

 

[FishyJoe91]

I have tried the following in extended multi hour dips at 2-3x normal concentration:
Kcl
Coral rx
Revive
Hydrogen peroxide
Iodine
Milbemycin

Nothing affects them

The last one might have

I plan on going straight to interceptor/ Milbemycin. Haven’t seen much info on these mites I had absolutely no idea there were there till I got them under the microscope!

 

[VintageReefer]

I took this much of a 23mg pill, just under 1/2

And made (correct me if I’m wrong ) what I felt was a strong (was it strong though?) dip my mixing with just 8-10 ounces of water. I let them sit in it for over a hour.

Came back, microscoped, saw a huge reduction in activity and numbers, felt i was successful, but then I started noticing them again on the plug base. Moving around like nothing happened

 

[VintageReefer]

I will add I never see them on the coral flesh. They are always at the base. On the plug, or right at the seam where coral meets glue. I do see them enter tiny pockets /tunnels though. The coral ends up dying.

Do they cause it? Or are they drawn to a coral not doing well? I’m not sure yet

 

[FishyJoe91]

I will add I never see them on the coral flesh. They are always at the base. On the plug, or right at the seam where coral meets glue. I do see them enter tiny pockets /tunnels though. The coral ends up dying.

Do they cause it? Or are they drawn to a coral not doing well? I’m not sure yet

I’m reading all sorts of inconclusive observations on them being harmless or not. I’m noticing I don’t have a ton of polyp extension thinking these mites arent doing me any favors.

 

[VintageReefer]

I’m reading all sorts of inconclusive observations on them being harmless or not. I’m noticing I don’t have a ton of polyp extension thinking these mites arent doing me any favors.

I lost a couple sps and they all had these mites. It’s inconclusive to say they are the reason. But when I last looked…I didn’t have them on my healthy sps. And those guys have tons of PE

Also - I see so little info on them, it makes me think they are not needed or essential and I would prefer to eradicate them to be on the safe side

 

[FishyJoe91]

I’m going to follow through and order some interceptor I’ll try to document before and after. Hope the treatment works in our favor!

 

[Dom]

I will add I never see them on the coral flesh. They are always at the base. On the plug, or right at the seam where coral meets glue. I do see them enter tiny pockets /tunnels though. The coral ends up dying.

Do they cause it? Or are they drawn to a coral not doing well? I’m not sure yet

Maybe isolate the affected corals to keep the bugs from spreading until you get to the bottom of this?

Good question: Are the bugs attacking a sick/dying coral or are the bugs attacking a healthy coral, making it sick?

 

[OrchidMiss]

I’m reading all sorts of inconclusive observations on them being harmless or not. I’m noticing I don’t have a ton of polyp extension thinking these mites arent doing me any favors.

@ISpeakForTheSeas may have some input or imformation.

 

[FishyJoe91]

Learning curve with a new microscope sorry about quality (video of a video).

 

[VintageReefer]

Maybe isolate the affected corals to keep the bugs from spreading until you get to the bottom of this?

Good question: Are the bugs attacking a sick/dying coral or are the bugs attacking a healthy coral, making it sick?

They are isolated but in don’t know how much space is enough

I can add more space if needed

 

[Dom]

They are isolated but in don’t know how much space is enough

I can add more space if needed

I was thinking about putting the infected pieces in an enclosure to keep bugs in. They do make a cheap acclimation "box" with is a frame with a very fine net over it.

Something like this, perhaps...
Amazon product ASIN B09C6CKBWW

 

[Dooly]

seems like halacarid mites as others have mentioned; I've seen these before on the bases of acros that are already on their way out and never on healthy flesh. I treat with 8-10x interceptor and it does not kill them. Ivermectin does work on them, but in my opinion they do not pose a threat to healthy sps.

 

[strich]

I got interested and did my own research - The literature out there does appear to trend towards them not being the root cause of coral death, and instead are just attracted to the dead organic matter of a dying coral. They may in doing so, be increasing coral stress and helping push it into death however.

Kind of feels like if you have this issue you need to be attacking the problem from multiple angles if the above is true. Hit the mites, but also deeply review your tank conditions.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas may have some input or imformation.

Not yet, unfortunately - marine mites haven't been very common hitchhikers for me to ID, and there are a lot of species, so I'm not very well versed in them yet. I know there are a handful of parasitic marine mite species (including some parasitic on sponges or other inverts; to my understanding, most are predatory to smaller critters, some are algae-eaters, and a small group are parasites), but I don't know of any species that parasitize corals specifically.

The idea of these being more opportunistically predatory toward dying corals is also plausible, but I can't confirm one way or another at this point.

Not crab larvae in this case (most crab larvae actually look like tiny mysid shrimp with a long, shark-esque "fin" - actually just a a part of their carapace - protruding from their back).

These are probably marine mites of some variety, but there are a ton of species, and I don't know enough about marine mites yet to make an ID beyond that (or to know if your species is harmful or beneficial).

For an example of a fairly similar-looking, unidentified specimen, probably of a different species:
https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/177937301

 

[FishyJoe91]

Not yet, unfortunately - marine mites haven't been very common hitchhikers for me to ID, and there are a lot of species, so I'm not very well versed in them yet. I know there are a handful of parasitic marine mite species (including some parasitic on sponges or other inverts; to my understanding, most are predatory to smaller critters, some are algae-eaters, and a small group are parasites), but I don't know of any species that parasitize corals specifically.

The idea of these being more opportunistically predatory toward dying corals is also plausible, but I can't confirm one way or another at this point.

Any chance you can offer info or suggestions on eradication of the mites?