Small black worms inside damaged Montipora

[Joe's Coral Reef]

I have have been battling Montipora eating nudibranchs and came across some small black worms in the damage areas . Does anyone know what these could be?

 

[Dburr1014]

@ISpeakForTheSeas might know.

My first thought was spionid worms but I don't think/know if they move like that.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas might know.

My first thought was spionid worms but I don't think/know if they move like that.

I can tell you they're not Spionids or any other kind of Polychaete (or even Annelid), as these don't seem to have any bristles or segments.

This seems to be a microscopic flatworm species, but I can't say I'm familiar with these - most of the flatworms I've learned about are polyclads and acoels (these are the common ones in the hobby), so I've got a lot more to learn still about flatworms.

That said, @taricha tends to be better at microscope ID's than I am at present, so maybe they'll have some idea on an ID here.

 

[taricha]

These are a kind of ciliate, that is distinctively red. They appear all over in sandbeds and sump detritus. I haven't seen them in any harmful context before.

 

[Joe's Coral Reef]

Thank You for your responses .