Daisy Polyps

[StephenieB]

My Daisy Polyps are disappearing. I had a ton of daisy polyps but they are disappearing quickly. All of my research states that these are the easiest polyps to have. I have not changed anything in my tank. I can not tell if something is eating them or they are just shriveling up. Any ideas as to what is going on?

I am new to saltwater tanks and I purchased my setup from someone else. They had it for over 3 years and I have had it for about 4 months. It started off fine. I did not lose anything in the move. Just all of a sudden the daisys are dying.

Currently in the tank: lots of star polyps, mushrooms, candy corral, purple tang, clown fish, 3 cardinals, 4 damsels. Again, nothing is new or has been changed.

What could be eating/killing my daisys?

Thank you for your help,
Stephenie

 

[wireefman]

What are your water parameters and top off routine.. only time I've had issues was when I left for a couple weeks and my daily top offs became weekly top offs

 

[mrbncal]

I would bet you have a worm in there. I had a similar problem a few years ago with any soft coral I put in one particular area of my tank. Any soft coral, zoa, polyp would start out great and within a week would start to show signs of distress, and ultimately die. I think it's called a Euclid worm, might not be spelled correctly.

 

[StephenieB]

My water is great. I took to the store and they tested it. I top off every few days. I am not doing anything different. I did find 2 worms in my sump that I put back in the tank because they looked cool. I later googled them and I believe they were a bristle worm. Do they eat polyps??? My dying off started before I put the worm in.


Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[mrbncal]

Bristle worms are detritus eaters for the most part. They will attack necrotic tissue on corals but I have never witnessed them eating healthy tissue.

I got it wrong when I suggested "Euclid worm" its called a Eunice worm. They are pretty rough on reek tanks. Bet this is what you have running around in there. Check this out.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/if-you-thought-big-bristleworms-were-scary

 

[ER95]

In my old tank, I had a Emerald Crab that picked mine. Eventually disappearing off the rock..

No crabs or hermits picking at it?

 

[StephenieB]

I do have a hermit crab but I have not witnessed him eating the polyps. So sad. They use to be so beautiful!

 

[ER95]

I do have a hermit crab but I have not witnessed him eating the polyps. So sad. They use to be so beautiful!

Yeah, was one of my favorite corals... Have you done any spotting at night?

 

[mrbncal]

If you can move a frag of them to a new area in the tank you can see if there is any change in how the coral does. If it perks up then you are on track to figuring out if it's predation (worm,crab, whatever) or disease/something else. And maybe you can save some of them for restocking.

 

[AnnasReef]

I had a large nudibrach hitchhiker who ate about half of my daisy polyps. Looking close I noticed something that was in a different spot. He was brown and blended in really well. His body was spiky. Look closely at your daisy polyps to see if there is something on them that looks out of place.

 

[AnnasReef]

tried to include a picture will try as a link



hopefully this works

 

[StephenieB]

I will try all of this.