Amphipod damage

I thought I would break this post from my tank thread so more people can see it. Keep in mind, I'm not saying that amphipods themselves are bad. I don't think they are a problem as long as their numbers are kept in check. These are simply my observations, and what I did about it:



I had mentioned in another post about two things that have made a world of difference for me:

Any LPS that is not healthy or eating needs a dip in Furan 2.

Amphipods eat the new flesh of corals.

I'm not sure if the amphipods chowing on the corals caused the infections, but since the tank was dosed with Interceptor, there are no amphipods, and no infection. Most likely this was due to an overpopulation, but they are gone, for now.

Everything was going great, when out of the blue, a number of corals started showing recession. The first was a small colony of pink Micromussa that literally disappeared overnight. They were healthy and growing new heads one day, the next morning, completely gone. Nothing but white skeleton.

The corals in the next pictures suddenly showed signs of recession. After verifying that there wasn't a water issue, I checked the tank a 3 am. Every single coral that showed damage was mobbed with amphipods. The next day the tank was dosed with Interceptor, and that was that. The damaged corals grew back very quickly, and the ones that seemed fine grew even faster. The amphipods probably did more damage than I could see.


This Echinata shows a white area of infection. It was dipped twice in Furan 2, but it lingered. After the amphipods were gone, the infection was also gone, and since then the coral has covered the bare area and then some.


This acan had two small heads eaten. The head by the right arrow is growing back from being eaten on it's lower left.



This chalice was growing very quickly. The area to the right of the arrow shows how far the new growth went. All the rest of it was eaten the rest of the way around.



The Dendro was growing new heads while receding at the same time. That didn't make sense. These pictures are from today, and are nearly healed over. It was worse.





On the Lobo you can see some exposed skeleton. Just above it is lighter colored flesh that has begun to grow back.

 

A possum wrasse could keep the numbers down, in a 125 it couldn't really get rid of the pods

 

That is interesting, I have several colonies of various corals that for no reason I can find are having some areas of tissue recession. I have been adding pods by the thousands to feed my manderin and red scooter. Every 3 months or so I would order 2000 amphipods and copopods and add them to the tank. Maybe this is why some of my corals are receeding especially over the last couple weeks.

 

Well, I hate to be the devils advocate, but at least it's a job

I've recently taken a chalice into my tank, hollywood stunner, and I can see obvious growth around the edges. My tank has unrestricted amphipod herds, and I see no sign of damage to my coral. (of course, everything else is soft body corals, no sps) I've never heard of pods being coral eaters, but if this were the case, they would be looked upon with a very different attitude.

 

Thanks for sharing Jerry.

Personally I do not think all Amphipods are created equal and I do believe some become opportunistic eaters of zoanthids and lps.

I suspect they were the down fall of my blasto. Initially I assumed they were eating dying tissue but as times has passed and I see more threads regarding suspected damage to corals I have to think that they are indeed eating some of the tissue.

Treatment with Interceptor to Red Bugs seems to have cut down the population and my hunger clown is keeping them in check.

 

It is worth noting that Amphipoda is a very large class (over 6000 species identified thus far) that includes families of detritivores, planktivores, herbivores, carnivores, and even a few parasites.

 

This is why every tank needs a mandarin =-)

p.s established tank that is

 

I would tend to think that the types of amphipods that eat corals have a good place to eat and grow in our reef tanks. They come out at night when wrasses and other hunting fishes are asleep, and they grow far too big for Mandarins to eat.

I've also had a long standing problem growing Zoas. Since Interceptor Day, no more problem, they are growing like crazy.

If you think that you may have an amphipod problem, check your tank with a flashlight a few hours after the lights go out. You might be surprised.

 

Totally agreed, and they have just as much chance getting into our tanks as any other species.