Acropora White Bugs

I have been experiencing random STN deaths over the past four months and a bunch of my acropora have lost color and have no polyp extension. I thought it may have been a stray volt so I replaced all of my heaters which did not fix the issue. Next, I dosed two types of bacteria, this did not help as well. I also tried replacing all of my RO filters and membrane which did not help either. Finally I found the culprit. I found these little white copepod looking bugs running all over the acropora tissue. The seem to stress the coral out by eating the polyps which causes the poor coloration, polyp retraction, and STN which eventually leads to the coral death. I tried dosing 1/2 tablet of the chewable Interceptor (expiration date November 2016) to the 120 gallon display and 1/2 tablet for the 160 gallon frag tank. After 24 hours I did see better polyp extension but the bugs were still on the corals. I then tried 1 tablet of the original Interceptor non chewable tablet (expiration date November 2007) for the 120 gallon display and 1 tablet for the 160 gallon frag tank. The next day I could still see the bugs moving around the corals. I dosed 2 tablets of milbemycin oxide/lufenuron for the 120 gallon display and 2 tablets for the 160 gallon frag tank (expiration date May 2021).

Treatment Update

I finished my first treatment of Interceptor on Sunday in my frag tank and I started my first dip of ReVive today. Surprisingly after dipping 200+ corals only one had AEFW (Eggplant Nana). AEFW seem to love Tri-Color's. I still have a long way to go but this is a good start. I added one tablet of Interceptor and let the tank run for 24 hours before hooking the airline tubing to the skimmer and adding the carbon back. I did not perform a water change because Interceptor is ineffective after 24 hours. When I dipped the corals in ReVive the dips are at the recommended strength and are dipped for five minutes. The Turaki, Lokani, Echinata, and Caroliniana are dipped at half the recommended dosage for three minutes because their tissue is very sensitive.

QT Update

After 48 hours of being in quarantine with Interceptor, the corals went in a 10 minute ReVive bath. The corals were rinsed in fresh tank water before being placed back into the display tank. So far everything looks much better and the polyp extension has increased.

Setting up a quarantine tank

I set up a 5 gallon tank to use as a quarantine tank yesterday afternoon. I’m using the Koralia nano for water circulation, a 50/50 spectrum 40 watt power compact light fixture and a 50 watt heater. I did this so I could inspect a few of my corals that have a few bite marks on them possibly from Acropora Eating Flatworms (AEFW). I also wanted to make sure the red bugs were gone so I added 1/16^th of a large dog tablet of Interceptor. I plan to dip these corals in TLF ReVive for 10 minutes to see if the AEFW’s fall off any corals. I will keep you updated on my progress.

The ORA green acro with blue polyps on the left has a few bite marks and is turning brown.

You can see the Tri-Color on the right has a few bite marks and is turning brown.

The flatworm is 1cm long.