Coral Diseases and Pests common in Aquariums

[brandonberry]

Here's a list of common coral diseases and some good links to read about them. I am going to lock this thread, but please feel free to PM me if you think any parasites/ diseases should be added. I have also created discussion threads for each of the listed species.


Acropora Redbugs - Tegastes acroporanus
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...03/feature.htm
The Cure: http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...hlight=redbugs
Discuss here: http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37302#37302


Acropora Eating Flatworms
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/mc/index.php
http://www.melevsreef.com/aefw.html
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1
Discuss here: http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37303#37303

Acropora Eating Sea Spiders (Pantopoda)
These are rare and I cannot find a good article on them but they should be able to be controlled with Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure (TPPCC)
Discuss here: http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37304#37304

Montipora Eating Nudibraches
http://www.qualitymarineusa.com/arti...5-0913F83DCB60
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/eb/index.php
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/sp...udibranch.html
Discuss Here: http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37305#37305

Zoanthid Diseases
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rs/index.php
http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?modul...&g2_itemId=415
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/dc_nudibranch.html
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/resources.asp?show=15
http://www.zoaid.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=384
http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/z...ls/Hareola.htm
Discuss here: http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37306#37306

RTN - Rapid Tissue Necrosis
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-03/eb/index.php

In my experience RTN can be caused by a number of factors. Often when a coral is about to die, it will first begin to die ant the base and quickly spread upward to the tips. If you see this beginning to happen, the best thing you can do is break at least several frags off of the coral that have no tissue recession on them. If you really want to be agressive, you can break all the live parts off of the coral. Sometimes, if the source of the problem is eliminated, the RTN will stop and a good portion of the colony will survive, but most often, the entire colony will die. I would estimate the success rate of saving frags from the colony to be around 50% depending on how quickly you catch the disease and are able to frag off the good pieces. This is why it is important to get more than 1 frag in order to have a good chance of saving that particular type of coral. Some factors known to help include iodine dips, lowerring temp to 78 degrees, increased flow, and water changes.
Discuss here: http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37307#37307

Cyanobacteria

Often cyanobacteria, often referred to as red slime algae or blue green algae can overgrow corals, smother them, and possibly release toxins that can kill corals and other organisms. It is often tricky to eliminate some forms of this, but water changes, iodine dips, increased flow, and nutrient export seem to be the best methods. You can also temporarily help the corals by blowing the cyanobacteria off of the base of your corals with a turkey baster or powerhead.
Discuss here: http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37309#37309

Acropora Crabs
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...--tc102306.php

Often maricultured or wild corals will come with hithiker crabs living within their braches. Some of these may be beneficial and could even help to remove detritus and possibly even parasites from a coral , while others can irritate or feed on the tissue of the coral. Since it is unlikely that these will successfully reproduce in your aquarium, my approach with these has always been to leave them unless I see them causing damage to the coral at which time I will remove them. One exception is th small hairy gorilla crabs. They have been known to eat coral, so I always remove them.
Discuss here:
http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37310#37310



Other good articles dealing with coral disease and parasites:
http://mtrc.org/downloads/Care_of_SPS_corals.pdf
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopi...t=sea+spiders]
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/gh/index.php


Coral Disease and Parasite ID
Please post any pictures, descriptions, or questions about any unidentified coral diseases or parasites in this thread:
http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/vi...?p=37311#37311

The intention of these threads to help educate one another, prevent the spread of coral disease, and seek out new treatments. Please refrain from any discussion of where you think you got a particular disease from, whether it be a store, individual, etc. If you know of a particular store or individual that has any of these diseases the best approach is to confront them about it. It is every reefkeeper's responsibility to educate themselves on the potential pathogens that can affect our livestock and take measure to prevent the infection of our tanks and the spread of these pests to others. The best method of treatment is prevention.

[JoeCreature]

Coral Disease Information:

NOAA's Coral Reef Information System (CoRIS) - Major Reef-building Coral Diseases