Help with difficult coral parasite (?) question

[Ricimer]

Hi!

I got what seems to be a sort of parasite on my hammer (ancora) coral. I send you some pictures and give you some facts. I have search the internet, asked people locally, nobody can tell me what it is and how to get rid of it.

-The "parasite" looks like a white tangled ribbon 2 to 4mm in lenght. Sometimes elongated sometimes as a ball. Looks sedentary but does have some movement.
-They show mostly at night. If you look at it with a flashlight they sometimes retract and get back inside the polyp (within seconds). You can then see that the polyp is punctured. It leaves a 2mm hole in the tip. These corals heal quickly so you dont see those holes anymore during day except for the occasional black dot (a scar(?)).
-It is always located on the tip of the polyps, but anywere on the tip (on the "metallic green" part).
-The problem started on Aujust 15th but until today the coral still seems healthy except for a few deformed polyps (that were previously perfectly shaped).
-The Heteractis Crispa anemone about 12" away from the infected hammer coral started to have the same problem on september 16th. Again only on the (purple) tips. I noticed once that two tentacles were linked together by one of these ribbon like parasite. The parasite was longer than usual, probably by the pulling effect of the two tentacles.
-There is a branching hammer (paranchora) less than a foot from it but it is still not contaminated yet.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

Dominique

 

[Anonymous]

Without a picture the white tangled ribbon sounds like it could be a nudibranch egg mass. The nudibranch itself is doing the damage but it is camouflaged in the coral.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Ricimer]

If it is so, what should I do? FW dip, iodine dip? First time I would have to do such things. I am a beginner (6 months old tank). Thanks!
Regards,
Dominique

 

[Len]

I'd imagine you could just blow it away with a turkey baster or very small powerhead. I see no point dipping it in any soultion. If it's eggs (and it does appear that way to me) it's not much to worry over.

By the way ....
:welcome:
8)

 

[Ricimer]

But it is persistent and somehow getting worse (more of them, bigger, torturing the affected polyps). Also is it possible to have semi-motile eggs? Those "eggs" can move inside/outside polyps through a hole in the tip of the polyp... Fast enough for me to see it do this...
BTW thanks for the welcome!

 

[Len]

I'm stumped too. What type of damage are you observing on the Hammer or the H.crispa? The photos still show a healthy specimen.

I wonder if what you're seeing isn't mesentery glands because either something is physically lacerating the coral's tissue or the coral senses competition and is aggressively "posturing."

 

[Ricimer]

Please instruct me. Can such mesentery glands come out from any spot on the coral or doesn't it have to come directly from calcareous/skeletal base of the coral? Because as you see these "things" come out straight from the polyp tips, and anywhere on them (not centered or anything).
The coral as a whole still looks healthy, altough since a week it's not as open and extended as it used to be. But the polyps that host those things are "traumatised" and take ugly deformed shapes. Some look like "tortured balloons". Strange description but I dont know how to tell. I will try to take some more pictures in a few days. I would really like to clear the coral of these or clear my mind. If they are some sort of coral organs I would forget about it. But then, why they took weeks to show up and why these polyps becoming badshaped. The closest neighbor coral is a parancora hammer and they are close to each other since the beginning. True they are only 6" away from each other but they are nearly the same species and gave me the impression it was fine.
Thanks again!
Dominique

 

[Ricimer]

Forgot to tell you that today and yesterday I could not find any of these things on the H Crispa anymore. Unless I'm wrong and they show up again it seems they didn't "hold" on the anemone. But they have a firm grip on the ancora. Also I'm asking myself: why is it not showing on the neighboring parancora too?

 

[Anonymous]

This is a tough one.... :? Can it be just baby hammer head? If they move, then they are not egg. Eggs never move by themselves.

I wish you can get better pic on them. FWIW, I will just wait and see if these "things" develop, and won't lost sleep over then. Good luck.

 

[Len]

Mesentery glands can appear anywhere on the polyp, and usually towards the tips or from the orifice. The easiest way to see mesentery glands in action is to really rough up a mushroom. You'll see a lot of these stringy filamentous translucent white strands appear from all over the polyp. Once the coral isn't disturbed, the mesentery glands will retract.

Another possibility is groupings of shed nematocyst (stinging cells), but this is doubtful IMO (I've never seen his myself).

BTW, concerning this statement: "true they are only 6" away from each other but they are nearly the same species."
The fiercest competion usually occurs conspecifically (between the same species) or between congenors (species within the same genus). The fact that they're nearly the same species actually can increase the potential for competition.

I guess the bottom line is if the coral looks fine and has been this way for months, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Rearrange the coral placements and the circulation flow and see if that helps. I really don't think this is a parasite of any sort, but I admittedly am just guessing