what the heck is this? Montipora whiskers?

drtechno · Nov 14, 2023

I have this bubblegum digi monti in my QT, and noticed these two whisker type projections coming out of it, into the flow. There are two pairs, photos below. I know montis don’t have sweeper tentacles, so is this some type of worm that’s living inside the skeleton?

And if so. What type? Looks like this piece needs to go back into Bayer?

Lemme know your thoughts

Dburr1014 · Nov 14, 2023

Spirobid worms

JGT · Nov 14, 2023

Close. Think you meant spionid. Spirobid are the small round circular ones.

Dburr1014 · Nov 14, 2023

JGT said:
Close. Think you meant spionid. Spirobid are the small round circular ones.

Yes, that's it. The name is close, lol.

MoshJosh · Nov 14, 2023

First pic not so much (the squiggly of the "antenna" is throwing me), but second pic definitely looks like spionid. . .

I am terrified of them becoming a plague and I frag them off when I see them/can. Some people would say my fears are unwarranted and they are no big deal and you ignore them . . . some people have tried to eradicate them with little success. . . . . .

drtechno · Nov 15, 2023

Ok.. That was my guess as well when I started researching them.. Strange that they appeared 5 weeks into my coral quarantine (!) I actually didn't see them before then (or maybe just didn't notice). They must have survived the 10 min Bayer dip, which goes along with other people's observations that they can survive in Bayer.
In this particular case, it's off of a side branch of the monti digi, so easy enough to just frag them off. I'll keep this piece down in QT for another couple weeks to see what happens.

Do these things have to grow in coral skeletons or can they grow in the plugs as well?

Reefkeepers Archive · Nov 15, 2023

Coral-boring spinoid worms

Dburr1014 · Nov 15, 2023

drtechno said:
Ok.. That was my guess as well when I started researching them.. Strange that they appeared 5 weeks into my coral quarantine (!) I actually didn't see them before then (or maybe just didn't notice). They must have survived the 10 min Bayer dip, which goes along with other people's observations that they can survive in Bayer.
In this particular case, it's off of a side branch of the monti digi, so easy enough to just frag them off. I'll keep this piece down in QT for another couple weeks to see what happens.

Do these things have to grow in coral skeletons or can they grow in the plugs as well?

It's my understanding that they bore into the skeleton. You can break off they branch but it may have bored deeper into the skeleton, farther than just the branch.

Check this thread. It has pictures of coral sections.

Thread 'Coral Boring Spionid Worms -- an ugly bane to SPS' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-boring-spionid-worms-an-ugly-bane-to-sps.929439/