Data from: White Syndrome in Acropora muricata: Non-specific bacterial infection and ciliate histophagy

Selective antibiotic treatment of White Syndrome (WS)-affected corals (Acropora muricata) from Fiji were used to identify 4 potential primary bacterial pathogens of the disease. The suite of bacterial associates identified differs to those recently identified using identical primer sets for WS on the GBR and in the Solomon Islands. As previously shown for WS and for White Band Disease (WBD) in the Caribbean, all samples of the disease were associated with the histophagous ciliate Philaster lucinda. From the pattern of disease progression and histopathology in relation to the selective elimination of microbial groups, we conclude that both diseases are a result of a primary non-specific bacterial infection and a secondary infection by the P. lucinda and a range of secondary invaders. Ciliate histophagy gives rise to the characteristic white band of denuded coral skeleton that gives the disease its name. The characteristics of the microbial communities of WBD and WS appear to be almost identical.