Pest?

[STL]

Anyone know what this thing is? I've had this montipora setosa for about 8 months now - started as a small frag, it's been encrusting and growing nicely with an amazing red/orange glow under the actinic lighting - definitely my favorite coral!

A couple months ago, one of the branches developed a tiny dark spot. Unfortunately, this showed up after it had encrusted the neighboring rock which makes removing it for a close look non-trivial. I've been monitoring it, and not much happened until recently when it got big. Tonight I broke out the macro gear and flash to see if I could see what was going on.

First, wider shot of the whole coral:


IMG_5469.jpg by STL01, on Flickr

And a close up of the problem:


IMG_5469-2.jpg by STL01, on Flickr

Clicking through to Flikr might give you a better look too. Any idea what that is?!

I used tweezers to remove it. I was able to get the snail looking thing out of the tank, but dropped the reddish thing into the rocks. There's a tiny bit of dark still in the coral (this is very hard to see in the tank, and without the macro lens it's just a tiny dark spot!), should I nip more to get it all? I don't want to overstress the coral, but surely that thing wasn't good for it!

Thanks!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Great photo! Sadly I am not exactly sure what it is at this point. That is weird looking!

 

[STL]

Thanks rev! Anyone - any guesses what this might be? After nipping it off, it looks like it may be coming back. I may have to nip more :(

 

[Mike&Terry]

Hmmm... Looking at the full size version of your pics on Flickr, it appears to be some type of lps.

 

[STL]

It does have an LPS look to it, doesn't it? Spending some time with google has me suspecting a vermetid snail (the brownish red tube). I guess I'll see if it grows back!

 

[Chameleon]

Hmmm I've had strange things grow out of my setosa but never one of those. Looks like its in the mollusk family to me

 

[uall8up]

That is very intresting..please let us know if you find out what it is, or if it grows back.

 

[Chameleon]

I would snip that branch off just to be safe. I normally get things that look more like hair or something growing from mine. I let it be for the most part and sometimes it goes away