bristleworms eating zoas...

[surfn]

does anyone else have this problem?

i have known for about a year that *SOMETHING* has been munching on my zoas, mostly the more expensive paly types (of course).

i have the regular accusations that it could be pods, those little white star fish, eunicide worm(s), or bristleworms.

at first, i always thought it was bristle worms, as whenever i found a some PE types that were looking terrible, missing skirts, shrunk up polyps, i always seemed to pull out a bunch of 1inch bristle worms out of the rocks during a FW dip.

then i figured for some reason (probably peer pressure) that it wasn't bristle worms...b/c they are sooooooo "beneficial" (like everyone else says ), and is instead those white stars.

now, last night i notice a new 3 polyp frag of PPE i've had for a couple weeks, is not looking so good. it has been steadily getting not so great for about a week now. same symptoms as before, shrunk polyps, face extented out with skirt pushed back, and skirt looking roughed up and/or eaten.

i went out and bought a red light to see if i could catch those little white stars in action at night..........and found nothing. i've still yet to EVER have seen a asterina star touching a zoa. sure i see lots close by, but none ever touching them.

last night, i took the rock out that i had the PPE on and turned it over. tadaa!!!......theres a 2inch bristle worm. so i feared if i tried to pull him out i would only get half. so i put a drop of lugols on it and it came right out.

now, this can't be just a coincidence anymore, everytime i find palys looking beat up, upon doing a dip i get these bristleworms coming out of the rocks. and i never had any problems with this until about a year ago.

and about a year ago is when i got rid of my coral banded shrimp....which was getting a little too bully like in my small 20g nano tank.

but that thing hunted down bristleworms like it was on a mission.

so, to keep my zoas clean, i'm gonna rely on a good variety of shrimps to get rid of these pests.

coralbanded to get rid of bristleworms and nudis (yes my previous one liked to eat those nudis)
cleaner and blood red to do whatever
harlequin to get rid of those white stars
peperment to get rid of any aptasia (will they pick at hydroids too?)

then a sixline wrasse and mandarin to take care of the pods.


any other beneficial shrimps out there?
think all of these shrimp will get along in the same tank? (~50g)?

 

[surfn]

oh yeah, and just to make sure these are bristleworms, and not fire worms or something else...anyone have a link to somewhere that identifies different types of worms?

i'm sure they are bristleworms, but just want to be sure they aren't some bad type of bristle worm. not sure what a fire worm looks like, never seen one and only remember seeing pics way back in my newbie days while doing research.

next time i find one i'll be sure to get a picture.

 

[Azurel]

You could be right Surf.....I wouldn't put it past them.....

 

[Raptor]

Could be a zoa eating crab. I see them regularly dipping new arrivals.
They are pretty common!

 

[revhtree]

My PPE's are showing these same symptoms. Where do you get the red light at?

Thanks for posting this, I think you may be on to something.

 

[surfn]

Could be a zoa eating crab. I see them regularly dipping new arrivals.
They are pretty common!

i haven't bought a colony of zoas in 2 years. i only buy/trade for small frags on frag disks/plugs. same goes for other corals.

i think the chances i got some hitch hiker crab are very low. dont have any mathrix crabs either.

My PPE's are showing these same symptoms. Where do you get the red light at?

Thanks for posting this, I think you may be on to something.

i couldn't find a red flashlight anywhere that had an actual red bulb. i found some flashlights that had red lens covers, but wasn't sure if that would emit the same wavelength of light as a red LED bulb.

so i ended up getting this thingy that looks like its used for caving. goes around your head and has a bunch of LED lights on it. got it from walmart for $10. it can change b/w white LED's and red LED's. its awesome


not sure if i'm on to something or not, cuz EVERYONE always says its doubtfully bristle worms b/c they are so beneficial...blah blah blah. i hate the suckers, and have always wanted them out. hopefully the next coral banded shrimp i get will hunt for them. i shouldn't have gotten rid of my last shrimp.


again, if anyone knows a link that shows pics of different types of bristle worms, and the difference b/w a fire worm and bristle worm i'm all ears.




btw...i did remove a 6incher from my zoa tank about a month ago when i went on an all out FW dipping of rocks, it was nasty and big. it was the largest i've ever caught in my tank so my g/f thought it may make a worthy oppenent to my small 1inch mantis in the 7g minibow....so i tossed it in there. haven't seen the little mantis since... (or the bristle worm for that matter)

 

[surfn]

saw this article...although not too much help...

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

 

[JGoslee]

btw...i did remove a 6incher from my zoa tank about a month ago when i went on an all out FW dipping of rocks, it was nasty and big. it was the largest i've ever caught in my tank so my g/f thought it may make a worthy oppenent to my small 1inch mantis in the 7g minibow....so i tossed it in there. haven't seen the little mantis since... (or the bristle worm for that matter)

I don't think the mantis would have any problem eating a bristle worm. I read a thread on RC about a peppermint shrimp pulling a 10" bristleworm out of a hole and eating it.

 

[surfn]

I don't think the mantis would have any problem eating a bristle worm. I read a thread on RC about a peppermint shrimp pulling a 10" bristleworm out of a hole and eating it.

yeah, you would think so. but my mantis is a VERY tiny species. doesn't get any bigger than 1inch. the bristle worm was prob. 1.5x wider than the mantis, and about 6x longer than the mantis. i saw the worm crawl into the mantis's rock...and never saw either since.

with those large spines on the worm i wonder if the mantis stuck him self when he lunged for a kill shot...possibly?

 

[Azurel]

I doubt that the spines would hurt the Mantis....They should be protected by the even harder shell and its hammers wouldn't be fazed by the spines....

 

[JGoslee]

What species of mantis do you have? I want to know who won the deathmatch. LOL. My money is still on the mantis.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Didn't Luciano think that peppermint had munched some of his palys? Maybe leave that one off the list then? IMO, I'd rather use another method for nusiance anenomes and not risk the peppermint.

I don't think it was all asterinas either if I remember right- just certain variations like the orange ones? So it makes sense if yours are white that they might be ok.


Laurie

 

[surfn]

What species of mantis do you have? I want to know who won the deathmatch. LOL. My money is still on the mantis.

i honestly dont know. i had dr.roy I.D. it over on RC, it is lime green with a red meral spot with a white outline. very rare mantis that was obtained as a hitch hiker on some mushrooms that came in from indonesia to a LFS. dr.roy said their max adult life would be 1inch, if that, and they are very VERY shy, almost never fully come out of their borrow. its a smasher.

he was dead right, but i always used to see the mantis poke its head out and look around if i tap on the glass or put food in the tank.

Didn't Luciano think that peppermint had munched some of his palys? Maybe leave that one off the list then? IMO, I'd rather use another method for nusiance anenomes and not risk the peppermint.

I don't think it was all asterinas either if I remember right- just certain variations like the orange ones? So it makes sense if yours are white that they might be ok.


Laurie

yes, its only certain species of asterina. although i thought i had read to watch out for the little white ones. i used to have the bigger tan ones, but now i only see one of those once in a blue moon. tons of tiny white ones though.

 

[Kigs!]

try an arrow crab or sixline wrasse. they love to eat those bristleworms

 

[surfn]

try an arrow crab or sixline wrasse. they love to eat those bristleworms

got a sixline wrasse, but i never see him hunting that much really.

the coral banded i used to have went to work at night when the worms come out, and he'd hover over some rock rubble until he saw one move and then jump on the worm.

dont want an arrow crab with zoas. heard of too many people having trouble with them mowing down softies.

 

[JGoslee]

I never knew shrimp ate bristle worms. I have a cb shrimp and 3 peppermint shrimp and I guess thats why I never see any bristle worms in my tank.

 

[Randy]

I added a harlequin about month or more ago to my tank and can say that my asterina stars are going away.I had 50 to 100 on the glass every morning and now I can count them on 2 hands.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Or one harlequin mouth!
LOL
Laurie

 

[MarvinsReef]

great read Al.. let us know how those PPE recover..

 

[surfn]

great read Al.. let us know how those PPE recover..

looked at them tonight (24hrs after removel of the beast), and i gota say they already look better.