After being out of town for a week, returned to check on tanks yesterday after picking up some frags that had been ordered. Although things looked great overall despite zero maintenance, I encountered pest issues:
1) Mystery hitchhiker on new frags - seeking ID:
Photo - see post below
Noticed these in dip tub, then saw many still attached to dipped frags. Kinda feel like asterina - sandpapery and solid, not slimy or soft. Scraped them off, removed frags I could from plugs, placed in QT. Wondering what they are. Frags looked fine, so I'm guessing they do not eat coral.
2) Mystery worms. Probably going to lose Moseleya I got in Sept. Around Thanksgiving saw it was warring with Platygyra maze brain because they had gotten pushed close together. Hasn't been looking great past month, attributed it to that. Looked at it today under dissecting scope and saw dark wormlike creature with transparent edges sliming along and possibly white oval eggs. Dipped. Examined dip liquid and found two tiny beige worms - looked like thin pasta, no different coloration, markings, visible body structures of any kind, but they were traveling out of my view - after Bayer dip! I could not get any decent pics and gave up. I freaked out, toothbrushed off everything that looked suspicious and put Moseleya in QT. It looks horrible. Was wondering if anyone knows of a marine worm pest picture database. Husband later tells me that not everything succumbs to dip immediately but may be poisoned and dies later. Also reminds me some worms eat necrotic tissue, not healthy tissue, so maybe they are not really pests and coral's demise is due to some other cause.
3) Asterina. Had a few in frag tank. We see ~3 during the day. Saw about 10 now and know people say they are a pest, so decided I could remove them even though we like seeing them. Over the next half hour between acclimating frags, looking at above pests, and topping off ATO reservoirs I removed more asterina that kept appearing on the glass for a total of 50+. Hmm. Seems like a lot. They don't seem to eat anything desirable. Are they cleaning the sand? Looks like they might eat slime from glass. Why exactly are they considered pests, though?
1) Mystery hitchhiker on new frags - seeking ID:
Photo - see post below
Noticed these in dip tub, then saw many still attached to dipped frags. Kinda feel like asterina - sandpapery and solid, not slimy or soft. Scraped them off, removed frags I could from plugs, placed in QT. Wondering what they are. Frags looked fine, so I'm guessing they do not eat coral.
2) Mystery worms. Probably going to lose Moseleya I got in Sept. Around Thanksgiving saw it was warring with Platygyra maze brain because they had gotten pushed close together. Hasn't been looking great past month, attributed it to that. Looked at it today under dissecting scope and saw dark wormlike creature with transparent edges sliming along and possibly white oval eggs. Dipped. Examined dip liquid and found two tiny beige worms - looked like thin pasta, no different coloration, markings, visible body structures of any kind, but they were traveling out of my view - after Bayer dip! I could not get any decent pics and gave up. I freaked out, toothbrushed off everything that looked suspicious and put Moseleya in QT. It looks horrible. Was wondering if anyone knows of a marine worm pest picture database. Husband later tells me that not everything succumbs to dip immediately but may be poisoned and dies later. Also reminds me some worms eat necrotic tissue, not healthy tissue, so maybe they are not really pests and coral's demise is due to some other cause.
3) Asterina. Had a few in frag tank. We see ~3 during the day. Saw about 10 now and know people say they are a pest, so decided I could remove them even though we like seeing them. Over the next half hour between acclimating frags, looking at above pests, and topping off ATO reservoirs I removed more asterina that kept appearing on the glass for a total of 50+. Hmm. Seems like a lot. They don't seem to eat anything desirable. Are they cleaning the sand? Looks like they might eat slime from glass. Why exactly are they considered pests, though?
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