SPS eating bugs?!?

[TheGeekyDad]

My purple stylo has sudden tissue loss at its base. I just noticed these bugs crawling around on the bleached parts. Are these SPS eating bugs? They are really small, like the size of a polyp.

 

[Coral reefer]

Look like copepods to me

 

[TheGeekyDad]

Thanks. I have the stylo cemented down good. Would hate to have to pull it to dip.

 

[Finnaddict]

Although dipping will/should fix it. If it were me and they are truly pods and I didnt want to pull the coral out. I would just cover the dead area with some glue. Usually stops the receding of the flesh.

 

[H2OPlayar]

I haven't heard of many bad bugs that go after stylo's in particular. I agree they look like little shrimp which are good pods. I would bet you had an alk or temp swing recently and the coral is recovering from that. The pods may have been eating dead coral flesh, but hard to tell from the picture.