Do Bristle Worms Harm Zoas?

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pallidamors

New member
The reason I ask is this is how my colony of pink zoas looked about 3 days ago


000_00033.jpg



Woke up 2 days ago and this is how it looked........missing a quarter size area of polyps........nothing left you can see the rock the zoas were growing on

000_0004-2.jpg


So, once I discovered the colony like this I pulled it out of the water and inspected them...............I found a decent size bristle worm underneath the rock they were growing on.

Could this be the culprit?
 
I never heard of bristleworms eating healthy zoas.(they will if the zoa is dying) You need to dip your zoas asap to see if you have nudibranchs. Or maybe you have a sundial snail hidden somewhere in there. Get yourself either coral rx, revive. I have also dipped mine in ph balanced freshwater (ro water that has a lil buffer set to 8.2) My guess is its a sundial.. They can make short work of colonies.
 
also forgot to add that its been 3 days since taking the last picture (the one with the damage to the colony) and nothing else has happened

the damaged area is exactly the same size and the rest of the colony looks fine
 
im my experience with sundial they get into one are and eat around. Soo i would think that it would eat just an area. Well i would still dip them just in case. And sundials can easily be seen by the naked eye even when babys. They coulda just been damaged before you got them and the shift in temp,ph ect coulda shocked them to death.
 
ChefZilla said:
I never heard of bristleworms eating healthy zoas.(they will if the zoa is dying) You need to dip your zoas asap to see if you have nudibranchs. Or maybe you have a sundial snail hidden somewhere in there. Get yourself either coral rx, revive. I have also dipped mine in ph balanced freshwater (ro water that has a lil buffer set to 8.2) My guess is its a sundial.. They can make short work of colonies.
Click to expand...


I agree on bristleworms.
I would do 2 things: pull the rock and get the polyps to all close so you can inspect the stalks and in between polyps and under the rock carefully (preferrably with magnifying glass)
I would also dip for 2 reasons-- one to check for unwanted critters and second, a mild iodine bath can help with healing.


Good luck
 
Bristleworms, fyi, operate to clean a wound, so if something is getting eaten-at by a pest or bacteria, bristleworms will move in to clean away the nastiness down to good flesh, neater than any surgeon,---so they actually can help an invert to heal. But if something is eating it in the first place, that has to be gotten. Be careful to dip: zoas are absolutely notorious for 'passengers'.
 
I have those mini bristleworms that came in on the zoas. The dip just sort of paralyzes them temporarily. Zoas still going strong for a long time now. I would also say they are safe.
 
Do you have anything else damaged in there in terms of corals or any fish missing? Eunice worms are notorious for eating softies and are hell and a half to deal with...
 
depends on the type of bristle worm
why does everyone think all bristle worms are the same and have the same nature.
what is considered a bristle worm?, i wouldn't consider a ribbon worm a bristle worm but i would consider a eunicid worm a bristle worm and a fire worm a bristle worm and i know first hand they aren't good.
 
update.

I dipped the coral about a week ago using coral rx and it seemed to stop whatever was killing the zoas.


they were fine for a week (I checked them last night) and here is how they look today......even worse!!


could it be they are melting from lack of light? they are on the sandbed of a 90 gallon with nova extreme 6x54 t5 lighting

I have a bunch of other zoa colonies and frags and they are going strong....no signs of any problems


ideas?

000_0001-4.jpg
 
so I dipped the zoas again and noticed a bunch of dead worms......Im thinking fireworms

they were really small and bright red.......could they be the culprits?
 
To me it looks stung or eaten, and I very much doubt the typical reef tank bristleworms are to blame. They come in various sizes and degrees of red.

Have you checked at night for unexpected sweepers from other corals tagging it in or near the dead zone?
 
update guys..........the colony has completely melted away........I have no idea what the cause was, but have been reading on here that sometimes zoas just melt away
 
Nope, they don't melt away, just because.

It probably was a bacteria infection and you've should cut around the affected area (a polyp away) and then dip in an anti-bacterial medicine to TRY to save it.
Some times even the dips won't work, specially if the infection is really internal.
Sometimes that happens when there is an opening for the bacteria to act in.

It is always best to cut the affected area and then dip it after, before return to the system.

I've seen many times very healthy wild colonies full of bristle worms under them. I would say that most of the time (probably most of the species of worms) they won't eat the healthy flesh. I personally don't keep the worms in the tank because they may sting my hand.

I've had colonies dying like yours in 24 hours after fragged and the lugol solution dips wouldn't help.
It was probably a bacteria infection. My advice is for you to get an anti-bacterial medicine for next time.

I use first Lugol solution and if it doesn't work I try an anti-bacterial, like furazone light.

Perhaps EM Erythromycin or Furan 2 (both from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals brand) would work. That way you could have more chances to save the colony.

Organisms like hermit crabs and shrimps also can open a way for bacterial infections to occur.

I almost never have problems with bacterial infection unless I frag them.

The reason I posted this is so you don't think you have no chances to try save them.
I came late to the thread. Sorry.

Grandis.
 
do you see little white or brownish spots on it? It looks like zoa pox, and thats common for zoa, its a bacteria infection and dips don't work. You need to try furan 2 google that name and zoa pox. Hope that helps.
 
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