Something Eating Toadstool Leather?

MerlotAndFamily · Apr 24, 2018

So for a while now I've known my Toadstool had a ragged scar on its back that I had assumed had something to do with fragging. The wound had been puckered and tightly closed for a few weeks but then I noticed it had seemingly re-opened. I went to my Local Fish Store to ask the head saltwater guy (his main job is managing and maintaining reef aquariums in homes and offices. His second job is managing the fish dept) about coral dips to help him heal from this wound but Dean said "you better dip him for parasites to make sure nothing is living in there!" Then he told me about Bayer and I got the recipe from Bulk Reef Supply.

I dipped him along with a pile of new, incoming corals and got a gigantic nutibranch off at least one of them. I thought, "well that was probably the little blighted there. Bet we're all good now." But about a week later I took these pictures of the wound once again reopened. It looks like there's a shredded tunicate in there and when i went to poke it with the tonges the opening slammed itself closed.

That made me panic like a wild horse in a thunderstorm. So here I am, posting pictures and hoping someone knows better than any of these garbage Google searches I've been doing

reef lover · Apr 24, 2018

Could be a tunicate,barnacle or bivalve living in there... #reefsquad

MerlotAndFamily · Apr 24, 2018

Any clue how to remove such a thing from my poor baby?

MerlotAndFamily · Apr 24, 2018

So I just Googled bivalve and I don't think that helped my anxiety. How would a little clam creature get in there to begin with? Yikes! The hole certainly slammed shut and clenched up like a clam would though.

reef lover · Apr 24, 2018

Could have attached when the leather was smaller and it just grew around it...seen that a ot with barnacle crabs not so much with bivalves...

MerlotAndFamily · Apr 24, 2018

That makes sense. I'm just worried something is eating it. And it sloughs pretty regularly. I assumed it was from my sand sifter kicking debris all over him but with my fish in QT right now and my increased filter system, that can't be blamed anymore. I think he's mad at his visitor.

reef lover · Apr 24, 2018

I wouldn' try to evict him it will do more damage than good...but maybe frag a small chunk of the cap and rubber band to a rock just in case....

OriginalUserName · Apr 24, 2018

reef lover said:
I wouldn' try to evict him it will do more damage than good...but maybe frag a small chunk of the cap and rubber band to a rock just in case....

Might be easy to kill though.

Tahoe61 · Apr 25, 2018

reef lover said:
I wouldn' try to evict him it will do more damage than good...but maybe frag a small chunk of the cap and rubber band to a rock just in case....

Agreed. I imagine in the wild this is a pretty common occurrence and should not be huge issue.

Maritimer · Apr 25, 2018

It looks - and sounds - like a tunicate to me. If so, it probably started growing on the surface, and was surrounded by the expanding coral, just as trees do sometimes. Tunicates are filter-feeders, so it's straining small floating items out of your water column, not feasting on your coral. They also don't often thrive in aquaria, so if you've got one that's healthy and growing ... enjoy it!

~Bruce

MerlotAndFamily · Apr 26, 2018

I have sooo many tunicates thriving in my silly tank. One colonial batch is starting to grow in, around and through my Zoa colony. Not entirely sure how I feel about that... thrilled? Proud? Frozen in a silent horror? Suppose I'll figure that out later. I'll get some pics of that up sometime, maybe tonight.

I agree this thing on my toadstool looks like a Tunicate, though the "body" portion under that little snorkel bit there is all torn and serrated which seems odd that it would still be living this long. THEN the weird part is that when I come close with the tongs the snorkel bit and serrated bit suck into the leather faster than my eyes can process and the open gash slams closed. The leathers skin gets all puckered and I can't wiggle my tongs in there easily and I'm far too terrified to force my tongs into the open fleshy cavity of a living things body... you see where my hesitation comes from?

A former co-worker/friend/assistant manager of the fish department and head of the local Reef Club chapter has offered to come over to my house and carve that sucker out of there for me. To this I replied, while eyeing him suspiciously, "Let me see your doctorate, because you don't look like a surgeon to me..." I dunno. Should I let him? He is a LFS guy. And he is where I got most of my information (or lack of information) before I realized the internet consisted of more than just Google. Once I started watching videos and joining reef clubs I realized just how much I did not know about saltwater... The gap in my actual knowledge has been mortifying...