Help ID possible Acro pest

[Tuffloud1]

I haven’t added any livestock to my tank for years. My acros have always grown well without any health issues that I could see. I noticed some of my acros are receding around the bases after a few years of growth. I’m pretty sure some, it is due to shading and they can recede as they grow up and outward. Some however have what appear to be not typical shaded flesh but random “spots” and “trails”.

So after lights went out last night, I shined a flashlight on the under side of one of the branches that had a random spot losing flesh on the under side (shaded) area of a branch. I saw a few tiny bugs crawling around very quickly. I’ve seen red bugs and these appeared even smaller with no red. They appeared black but they were so tiny that I’m amazed I even saw them.

I cut that branch off (Dan Ackroyd) colony and inspected under a microscope and found this on the area with the flesh gone. I’m not sure what this is or if it has anything to do with the issues going on. I also included a picture from a Cherry Bomb colony that has the strange thing going on with the base but appears okay otherwise.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I would guess these are Black Bugs (they're pretty much the same as Red Bugs - they're both coral-parasitic copepods with the same treatments):

Yeah, white bugs, red bugs, black bugs, etc. (coral-parasitic pods) will almost exclusively be found on their host corals. For more info on these and for some closer up pics/drawings:

Aquarium Corals: Stony Coral Parasites: Red and Black Bugs: Identification Guide, Preventive Measures, and a Review of Treatment Protocols

This article is but a small tool for use by serious hobbyists in answering many questions.

reefs.com

Aquarium Corals: Stony Coral Parasites, Part Two: Copepods: Family Xarifiidae

Dana continues last month's discussion about copepods.

reefs.com

https://av.tib.eu/media/55499

 

[Tuffloud1]

I would guess these are Black Bugs (they're pretty much the same as Red Bugs - they're both coral-parasitic copepods with the same treatments):

Most of my colonies are very large, some 10 years old. Is there any possible system-wide treatment? This is a first for me. No way I can pull everything out to dip without hacking everything apart.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Most of my colonies are very large, some 10 years old. Is there any possible system-wide treatment? This is a first for me. No way I can pull everything out to dip without hacking everything apart.

I've heard of people doing in-tank treatments with Interceptor, but I don't think I've looked at the results of those treatments yet. To my knowledge, it would not be invert-safe, though, so you'll lose at least your beneficial pod population.