Acro eating Bug

[searoyalwulf]

Hi, I was hoping one of you might shed some light on a bug I found on my dying acropora. I noticed my coral starting to bleach out several days ago, and after checking numerous water quality issues I was stumped. Then I remembered a mention of flatworms that eat acros, so I pulled it out of the tank and could see nothing, until I used a magnifying glass (12x). Here is a pic of what I discovered. Also in the pic is the head of a sewing needle, for size reference.

If any of you have suggestions on how to rid my acros of these parasites, I'd really appreciate it. Have many of you been successful with the commercial coral dip products?

 

[mps9506]

That doesn't look like the acro eating red bug that plagued many tanks (including mine). Tegastes acroporanus.
Advanced Aquarist Feature Article
The above link has photos and film of what they look like. There is a tell tail red spot in the acro eating red bugs.
I think you may have just found a random copepod on the colony. The flatworms are in my opinion very hard to see. Melev has some great photos of them:
Melevsreef.com - AEFW | Acropora Eating Flatworms

 

[Octoman]

If your acro is already dieing, the pod may just be getting in on the free meal.

 

[searoyalwulf]

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the links. I had looked at Melev's page site several times, but the photos didin't seem to match. The other link you provided seemed to be just the ticket however. The photos there bare a striking resemblance to the bugs I found. The only upside is I have very few Acros currently, so I'll plan to quarantine and dip any new additions. Thanks for you help folks

 

[mps9506]

Keep in mind these guys are tiny, the article lists them in the 500 micron range, I haven't measured them but it seems to me they are even smaller. I can't really tell how large the specimen you have is. Also the red seems to be a big give away with those guys. It took me a long time to even notice the tiny red flecks moving around on my colonies.
When you do the treatment I recommend treating the main tank because you want to kill any red bugs that come loose in the main tank since no one seems to know exactly how long these guys live without a host. The interceptor treatment is quite easy and the pods population seems to bounce back quite easily with it.