bristleworms suddenly attacking my clove polyps

[CiXeL]

I don't get it, things that changed:

1) my flame angel died mysteriously
2) i had a resulting cyano outbreak due to him sitting in the water for a few hours while i was at work
3) my bristleworms while normally harmless have lost their minds and started attacking individual polyps, eating the centers in my giant mass of clove polyps at night.

any recommendations for fish that eat bristleworms? maybe the flame angel was keeping them at bay?

 

[reefworm]

CiXeL,
What are your water perameters? With the die off you've described and the cyano outbreak something may be amiss. Could also be a circulation issue. What do you have for powerheads and placement? That would also explain your bristleworm's behavior. Chances are they are behaving normally, and are eating dead or dying tissue in the polyps. Even though the corals appear normal, they may in fact be dying off, and the bristleworms sense this before we do. They're likely doing their job. Leave them be, as you need them for your cleanup crew. Flames don't attack worms to my knowledge.

Keep us posted. You might do an archive or library search for dealing with the cyano - there's lots of info out there.

hang in there,
-rw

 

[liquid]

I think there's something more going on that what you're seeing. I'd suggest a healthy waterchange before doing anything else. A dead fish sitting in a tank for only a couple hours should not release that much nutrients into the water.

Shane

 

[CiXeL]

yeah i did change 8 gallons of water after that occurred to remove some of the nitrates. the tank water had a odor for 24 hrs after the fish was removed. maybe ill boost the tank circulation, its a 4 ft long 60 gal and i have a maxijet 1200 and a 600 aimed down the tank which seems to circulate things pretty nicely. the polyps were very healthy looking prior to the nightly attacks of bristleworms.

 

[liquid]

An 8 gal waterchange on a 60 gal tank is only a 13% waterchange. I'd have gone for something more along the lines of 25%-35% myself as you only reduced whatever levels were in your tank by 13%.

Shane

 

[reefworm]

CiXeL,
Shane is right - more water change. With a tank that size you could easily add 2 more MJ 1200's. Put one relatively low to sweep the surface of the substrate, but not so low that it plows up the sand. A wavemaker would be helpful also to randomize the flow and minimize dead spots. The odor is disturbing - possible that anything else has died in there, like inverts or other corals? Are you skimming? What kind of filtration do you have?

-rw

 

[CiXeL]

yeah ill make some more batches of water up tonight.

the thing with the maxijets is that it seems to beat the hell out of the xenias no matter where i put it. the setup right now is the only one i can think of that doesnt turn it into a washing machine. i guess i could try putting one in the lower right hand corner aiming diagonally to the upper left. i really have too much rock and not enough open water space. there isnt enough area of water for the energy to dissapate to so it shifts around sand or beats up coral.
wavemaker would be nice, the thing is id rather spend the ~$200 on a better skimmer (i currently use a CPR Back Pak, no sump yet) or lighting or something instead of a device that simply changes powerheads.

nah all the corals seem to be doing pretty fine, they look a little roughed up from a increased nitrate range but theyre coming back to looking normal again now that the event has passed. maybe the fish that died, its tail was rotting in there somewhere, the tail was missing when i found the fish but i just figured they had picked at it when they were hungry during the day.

 

[Anonymous]

One way to decrease the velocity of your water is to place a rock in front of the outlet of the powerhead. Another way is to plumb the outlet into a much larger PVC elbow, like a 1" elbow. The flow is then coming out of a much larger area, and slows down considerably. You could also try having the PH go to multiple outlets with vinyl hose to reduce th flow coming out of each one. IIRC, a maxi 1200 and 600 = 295 + 160 = 455 gph. This is about 7.5 x tank volume. Fine for fish only, not for a reef tank. You can have a much, much higher flow in your tank if you position your powerheads in ways to reduce their velocity. Cyano will thrive in low flow areas. Their are other factors, but this is one of them.

FWIW, I have the same powerhead combo in a SIX gallon tank with a SD sandbed.

 

[JennM]

It's unlikely that your water would foul after only a few hours with a dead fish in it. Surprised that the worms didn't clean up the dead fish?

I've never seen garden-variety bristleworms eat any healthy organism, but they are all over dead/dying things and leftover food. I concur that something was up with the polyps before they were being eaten.

I *have* seen/heard accounts of huge (mutant! LOL) bristles eating mushroom polyps, but that's a different animal. Those worms are absolutely huge.

Flames do not eat bristleworms that I'm aware of, but many species of wrasse do.

How long did you have the Flame?
What are your water params?
What's your temp?
What kind of lighting and how old are bulbs?

First order of business when something goes wrong, is to test the water, then act based on the results.

Something tells me there is either a chemistry issue or possibly a temperature issue.

Please tell us more.

Jenn

 

[CiXeL]

It's unlikely that your water would foul after only a few hours with a dead fish in it. Surprised that the worms didn't clean up the dead fish?

well it was floating so they couldnt get to it

I've never seen garden-variety bristleworms eat any healthy organism, but they are all over dead/dying things and leftover food. I concur that something was up with the polyps before they were being eaten.

they look like bristleworms but im wondering is there some other kind of worm that would eat them that looks similar?

I *have* seen/heard accounts of huge (mutant! LOL) bristles eating mushroom polyps, but that's a different animal. Those worms are absolutely huge.

these are fairly small

Flames do not eat bristleworms that I'm aware of, but many species of wrasse do.

my yellow watchman gobie gobbles them up if it sees them but hes near the bottom of the tank

How long did you have the Flame?

at least a year

What are your water params?

everythings back to normal now

0ppm ammonia/nitrate/nitrite
8.4ph

What's your temp?

82 F year round

What kind of lighting and how old are bulbs?

2 55w PC daylight about 2 months old
2 55w PC actinics about a year old (i figure the daylight spectrum is more important and i was budgetless when i was unemployed)

First order of business when something goes wrong, is to test the water, then act based on the results.

Something tells me there is either a chemistry issue or possibly a temperature issue.

i know some may gripe that the temp isnt in the 70's but my corals have thrived under these conditions.

Please tell us more.