Philaster guamense detected on SPS. Should I worry?

Planarium · Mar 28, 2023

I got an acro frag from a friends tank that was struggling (STN) hoping to recover it. eventually I dipped it in revive and saw dozens of small black organisms coming off. After microscopy examination, I ID'd it as Philaster guamense based on morphology and having microalgae (zooxanthellae) in the cell.
I'm seeing mixed opinions online about Philaster spp. infections.
Are products like Fauna Marin RTN STN X ,Triton RTN-X and Prime Coral Prevent RTN worth investing in? or will this parasite only affect sick/weak colonies?

Gumbies R Us · Apr 4, 2023

Bumping your post for you!!

sculpin01 · Apr 7, 2023

Philaster only consumes dead tissue. The real culprit is a bacterial infection, usually with Arcobacter or similar.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3465780/

Planarium · Apr 14, 2023

Thanks for the reference!!

Graffiti Spot · Apr 14, 2023

No worries if there is no corals dying or peeling :)

k2- · Apr 25, 2023

Absolutely I have had great success with h2o2 dip , it’s gong to shock the coral so be aware if it’s only small then apply locally to stop bacterial growth. I have had 50% survival rate.