What is eating my coral?

[NewbieC123]

I noticed this coral was not looking healthy after examining it, I noticed a big chunk was gone and there are 3 types of pests. I identified one. Any advice??
1. A v-snail tube in red.
2. Some sort of white worm that is tucked up in the eaten section. You can see it slightly in picture 3.
3. I also noticed something with “tentacles” that are orange-ish. The first photo shows it. If you look where the plug and the coral meet at the top.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

The white tube is a harmless feather duster (you can actually see some of the red crown). I also see what looks to be a micro brittle star arm - also harmless.

 

[NewbieC123]

The white tube is a harmless feather duster (you can actually see some of the red crown). I also see what looks to be a micro brittle star arm - also harmless.

The coral has disintegrated where the white tube is. What would cause that?

 

[GlassMunky]

The coral has disintegrated where the white tube is. What would cause that?

It’s not disintegrated…. It’s just on a spot of dead Skelton and not live tissue. Disintegrated would be it’s completely gone like melted away and nothing left at all ….

There are many reasons the coral could be distressed but I don’t see any pests on that coral
It’s most likely not happy with either its placement (lighting and flow) or it’s not happy with the water parameters and is receding and dying from one of those reasons

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

1. A v-snail tube in red.
2. Some sort of white worm that is tucked up in the eaten section. You can see it slightly in picture 3.
3. I also noticed something with “tentacles” that are orange-ish. The first photo shows it. If you look where the plug and the coral meet at the top.

Yeah, as mentioned, aside from the vermetid snail, you have a feather duster worm and what appears to be a brittle starfish - while vermetids may sometimes irritate corals, I would just remove the vermetid, then check the lighting, flow, and water quality for issues at this point.

 

[NewbieC123]

Yeah, as mentioned, aside from the vermetid snail, you have a feather duster worm and what appears to be a brittle starfish - while vermetids may sometimes irritate corals, I would just remove the vermetid, then check the lighting, flow, and water quality for issues at this point.

How would I determine what type of flow and par it needs?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

How would I determine what type of flow and par it needs?

Google.com

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

How would I determine what type of flow and par it needs?

Yeah, as mentioned, I'd google it and search on the forum here for suggestions specific to the species you have - there are general suggestions out there for various categories of corals (LPS, SPS, softies, etc.), but there are always exceptions, so researching the individual coral is the best way to go (this should typically be done for placement purposes anyway).

 

[NewbieC123]

I was able to snap a few pictures of the thing with tentacles. It is not a brittle starfish. Could it be a spaghetti worm?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I was able to snap a few pictures of the thing with tentacles. It is not a brittle starfish. Could it be a spaghetti worm?

Interesting - I don't think that's a spaghetti worm. How many tentacles does it have? If it has two, then my first thought would be some kind of Coral-boring Spionid Worm, but it certainly doesn't look like the standard ones of those found in the hobby.

Either way, it boring into the coral's skeleton like that is cause for some concern, so you may want to see if you can remove it and get some clear, close up pics of the critter.

 

[NewbieC123]

Interesting - I don't think that's a spaghetti worm. How many tentacles does it have? If it has two, then my first thought would be some kind of Coral-boring Spionid Worm, but it certainly doesn't look like the standard ones of those found in the hobby.

Either way, it boring into the coral's skeleton like that is cause for some concern, so you may want to see if you can remove it and get some clear, close up pics of the critter.

It has a ton of those tentacles many more than 2. The color is orange with black bands. I did a dip last night and still was not able to grab it. I used a turkey batter to push water into it and a lot more would push out.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It has a ton of those tentacles many more than 2. The color is orange with black bands. I did a dip last night and still was not able to grab it. I used a turkey batter to push water into it and a lot more would push out.

Ah, if there's a lot of them, then a Spaghetti Worm (Terebellid) is a good guess - still odd to see it burrowed into a coral skeleton though.