What are these white worms?

[Raccoonn]

I found many white bugs crawling quite fast on my torch coral. (Sometimes they remain still.)
I dipped the coral in Coral RX for 15 minutes, but it didn’t get rid of them at all.
I’m not sure if it’s because of them, but this torch coral seems unhealthy and lacks energy.
They cannot be found anywhere else, only on this torch coral and all the other corals in my tank look healthy.

Could you pls ID this white bugs? Are they harmful?

 

[IKD]

Don’t know the critters, but this thread may help

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/white-euphyllia-bugs.931994/page-2

 

[fishywishy]

I think they might be copepods

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@ISpeakForTheSeas

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas

Can't say for sure without microscope pics of the bugs, but my first thought would be "White Bugs" - White Bugs are a kind of parasitic copepod that feed on corals; I only know one species by name that feeds on torch corals, but there are definitely others:

Yeah, white bugs, red bugs, black bugs, etc. (coral-parasitic pods) will almost exclusively be found on their host corals. For more info on these and for some closer up pics/drawings:
https://reefs.com/magazine/aquarium...measures-and-a-review-of-treatment-protocols/https://reefs.com/magazine/aquarium...arasites-part-two-copepods-family-xarifiidae/https://av.tib.eu/media/55499

That said, if you have other torches in the tank that aren't showing any signs of unexpected decline, then I would not feel confident these are parasitic copepods. At that point, microscope pics would be warranted, as would a discussion on possible reasons for this torch to fail.