White Syndrome in Acropora muricata: Nonspecific bacterial infection and ciliate histophagy, paramomyacin18
Acropora muricata showing signs of white syndrome were collected from the Suva barrier reef, Fiji, and monitored for lesion progression. Coral nubbins showing signs of advancing WS were placed in recirculating natural seawater aquaria. Three replicate aquaria were used for each of the four treatments. A further n = 6 healthy, nondiseased corals were placed in 3 aquaria as controls and maintained throughout the experiment. Three types of antibiotics were utilized in treatments to determine their effects on the diseased corals: ampicillin, metronidazole and paromomycin sulfate. N = 6 corals with WS were left untreated. A subset of these corals were assessed for bacterial communities using 454 analysis with the remaining being used for immuno-histology and TEM. 