BEWARE: Acropora Burrowing Red Worms << Pix Included >>

[ridetheducati]

Some corals spawn under severe disstress/stress. Agreed that it would be great to hear from a Marine Biologist on the subject.

 

Severe stress is a great motivator. I would force large anemones to split by force feeding for two days and conducting a large water change on day three. It worked each time. Stress the animal to change.

[Sharkey18]

Has anyone looked at these under a microscope?

 

Do you have a sample?

[ridetheducati]

I think he discarded the coral.

[OUsnakebyte]

Hmmmm.... it looks to me as if the fragment was taken from near the base of the colony, yes? If so, then that is where eggs would likely be located in the colony. The distal ends of branches are favoring energy into growth instead of gametogenesis.

 

How big/large was the colony? It's possible those were eggs, but it's difficult to tell from those photos alone. I would LOVE to see some under the dissecting scope if you find any more.

 

For reference, here is a cracked branch from A. millepora the day or two before spawning (Singapore workshop). You can easily see the pink eggs in the branches:

 

 

If it was a parasite that large, you would almost certainly see some movement when placed in a dip. But, I'm not yet ready to declare this reproduction either.

 

Is the colony still alive? Is it possible to get any more samples?

 

Cheers

Mike

Edited May 5, 2013 by OUsnakebyte

[ridetheducati]

Hmmmm.... it looks to me as if the fragment was taken from near the base of the colony, yes? If so, then that is where eggs would likely be located in the colony. The distal ends of branches are favoring energy into growth instead of gametogenesis.

 

How big/large was the colony? It's possible those were eggs, but it's difficult to tell from those photos alone. I would LOVE to see some under the dissecting scope if you find any more.

 

For reference, here is a cracked branch from A. millepora the day or two before spawning (Singapore workshop). You can easily see the pink eggs in the branches:

 

 

If it was a parasite that large, you would almost certainly see some movement when placed in a dip. But, I'm not yet ready to declare this reproduction either.

 

Is the colony still alive? Is it possible to get any more samples?

 

Cheers

Mike

 

The coral was approximately 8" tall x 10" wide. For lack of better words, the "worms" were located throughout the coral, from the base up to about 2" from the tips. The affected coral was discarded, I should have secured a sample.

[Jan]

I like doing side by side comparisons. I'm no marine biologist. I do know that biology is biology. Most things related never change. Looks the same to me. Interesting how in both pictures the eggs are surfacing from what appear to be ducts.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2013 by Jans Natural Reef Foods

[OUsnakebyte]

An 8" x 10" colony would likely be large enough to see egg production. I see that the colony was in the system for about 12 months? Was it purchased as a wild colony?

 

2" from the tips is about standard to not see any egg production (as well as to not see any egg production 2" more or less around a "wound" deeper in the colony). If this was a predator/parasite, then I doubt you would see this uniform distribution throughout the colony. Also, if it was a burrowing parasite, you would almost certainly see superficial colony damage, as someone said earlier.

 

The "ducts" that you see are from where the polyp sits in the skeleton. Remember, each polyp is its own individual feeding/reproducing entity. From our studies with A. millepora, A. tenuis, and A. loripes, we have seen that various polyps from a given colony that produces an egg/sperm bundle can be highly variable in egg production - varying anywhere from about 8-20 eggs per bundle (more or less).

 

Invertebrates are also notorious for last-ditch reproduction/spawning before dying, so it's certainly not unheard of.

 

Cheers

Mike

Edited May 5, 2013 by OUsnakebyte

[Sharkey18]

Wow. This is an amazing thread.

[Jan]

WOW!!! It was about to spawn. How cool is that??? I love this hobby!!!! Thanks for explaining this, Mike.

[sachabballi reef]

if true he is going to be kicking himself hard for throwing it away

[YHSublime]

Wow. This is an amazing thread.

WOW!!! It was about to spawn. How cool is that??? I love this hobby!!!! Thanks for explaining this, Mike.

if true he is going to be kicking himself hard for throwing it away

 

Yep, very cool, but possibly an expensive mistake!

[Origami]

Thanks, Mike, for jumping in on this discussion. We appreciate the expert opinion.

[Jan]

How many colonies did you cut up?

 

Whenever in doubt just QT and post questions first.

 

He probably has approximately 30 SPS corals. We fragged what we could. I focused on the Oregon Tort, Milles and Staghorns; corals that could possibly support the worms. No signs of infection in the other corals. The most recent addition to his tank was a Linka starfish. Based on the pervasiveness of the infection, the worms have been there for a long time. Last night was the first time the infected coral was fragged.

[ridetheducati]

How many colonies did you cut up?

 

Whenever in doubt just QT and post questions first.

 

I would say he fragged 50% of the corals. Not sure what your second statement is referencing.

[Jan]

What I mean is if ever anyone comes across something they are not familiar with they should take the item in question out of their DT and place it in QT. Ask questions and post pictures before proceeding to investigate further by dissecting, cutting up and possibly destroying life. Some aquarist do this with crabs and other life forms they assume are harmful.

 

I would say he fragged 50% of the corals. Not sure what your second statement is referencing.

[OUsnakebyte]

Was it purchased as a wild-collected colony? How long had it been in captivity?

[ridetheducati]

It was purchased from a LFS about 12 -16 months ago. The frag was about 2 - 3 inches at purchase. It was sold to him as a Cali Tort.

[ridetheducati]

What I mean is if ever anyone comes across something they are not familiar with they should take the item in question out of their DT and place it in QT. Ask questions and post pictures before proceeding to investigate further by dissecting, cutting up and possibly destroying life. Some aquarist do this with crabs and other life forms they assume are harmful.

 

The hobbyist did not really care about what was going on with the coral. It was not doing well and tissue necrosis was setting in. He started fragging it in hopes of saving it. Once he saw the eggs he panicked and began discarding. He is not a tree hugger or avoids stepping on ants when walking down the street. I was interested and wanted to learn more about what was transpiring.

[Jan]

What does hugging trees or not stepping on ants have to do with anything? I'm certainly no tree hugger.

 

There are Marine Aquarists/hobbyist and then there are people who own salt water fish tanks. Maybe consider directing him to WAMAS.

 

The hobbyist did not really care about what was going on with the coral. It was not doing well and tissue necrosis was setting in. He started fragging it in hopes of saving it. Once he saw the eggs he panicked and began discarding. He is not a tree hugger or avoids stepping on ants when walking down the street. I was interested and wanted to learn more about what was transpiring.

[wade]

I'm not so sure they are worms...

they could be gonads or part of the coral animal that is getting fortified in preperation for spawning.

The fact that you saw no reaction from them when dipped in a solution that is highly irritating to polychaetes and other forms of non-coral life supports this as well. Also, if indeed it is a burrowing organism, there should be evidence on the outer fleshy layer (at least in certain "freshly burrowed" areas).

 

-Robert

 

I agree with this. There are also burrowing sponges that live in amongst coral skeletons - both some that degrade and some that don't. This could be unrelated to any tissue loss.

 

The hypothesis that they are gametes is also realistic. Tissue necrosis due to infection may actually induce spawning, or the development could already have been underway.

 

The best next approach is to put a piece under a microscope. I don't think whatever this is is free living.