Hav eI found the Zoa eating culprit?

[lhscouchmonster]

My zoa colonies have slowly been dieing. It happens one colony at a time. I have been checking every morning to see if there is anything eating them I havent found anything. I decided to start dipping (coral rx) the larger rocks that the frag disks are on. After dipping several rocks, i found this thing. Doesnt look like a nudi or any other pest i see online. What is it? TIA

 

[mbingha]

thats a small bristle worm. Harmless.

 

[lhscouchmonster]

damn it! back to the drawing board...

 

[mbingha]

LOL usually people are happy to discover that their hitchhiker is harmless. Can you post pics of your ZOAs? Have you ruled out Zoa pox? Lighting? Water parameters? I'm sure with that information someone on here can help you out. Also how long have they been in your tank? How long have they been declining? If they are fairly new, sometimes it takes a while for them to open up completely. Do you have any astrina Star fish (tiny stars)? I had some that ate all my zoas before I new there was anything wrong lol.

 

[A. Grandis]

Harmless? I'm sorry but that is a mistake.

Bristle worms aren't that good! Not harmless either!!! They can hurt your hands and some species can grow really big. They are detritivores and will eat decaying organisms. If they go hungry they will hunt for food and there are reports of some species that attacked corals, zoas and even shrimps!
I do not recommend to keep any of the species of bristle worms in your tanks!

Grandis.

 

[Reef Raf]

Last night while moving rocks I discovered 2 flat worms each the size of a quarter. I can only imagine what they ate while in my tanks...uuugh. Always something.

 

[A. Grandis]

Last night while moving rocks I discovered 2 flat worms each the size of a quarter. I can only imagine what they ate while in my tanks...uuugh. Always something.

Flat worms are normally up to a ~1/4 inch max.
Would you be referring to Bristle worms instead?

Grandis.

 

[mbingha]

Harmless? I'm sorry but that is a mistake.

Bristle worms aren't that good! Not harmless either!!! They can hurt your hands and some species can grow really big. [Bold]They are detritivores and will eat decaying organisms.[/bold] If they go hungry they will hunt for food and there are reports of some species that attacked corals, zoas and even shrimps!
I do not recommend to keep any of the species of bristle worms in your tanks!

Grandis.

They are a fantastic part of the clean up crew. Yes they can leave bristles in your skin that can be painful. I believe most of those reports are cases where those items were already starting to die. I think most people on this site will disagree with you.

 

[terrypercula]

I'm not that against bristle worms. Keep your hands clear. If you're that word several fish and inverts will eat bristle worms. In my old tank a coral banded shrimp would hunt then at night. Though fair warning they can get huge. Personally I never saw one over 2-3inches but they can grow well over that. I've had no negative experiences but as stated they can be predatory.

 

[A. Grandis]

They are a fantastic part of the clean up crew. Yes they can leave bristles in your skin that can be painful. I believe most of those reports are cases where those items were already starting to die. I think most people on this site will disagree with you.

I'm not that against bristle worms. Keep your hands clear. If you're that word several fish and inverts will eat bristle worms. In my old tank a coral banded shrimp would hunt then at night. Though fair warning they can get huge. Personally I never saw one over 2-3inches but they can grow well over that. I've had no negative experiences but as stated they can be predatory.

I know… that is because of the so called "clean up crew" invented for money. Another good way to make profit in the hobby… the more creature to "clean" your substrate and rocks, the better, right? Buy them, buy them…

Many disagree with me in a lot of subjects like the LEDs, and so on..
That's ok...
I'm just trying to help others and expose my suggestions.
We won't agree in everything anyways. That would be boring. LOL!!!
And thank God no one is forced to do what I say. :wildone:

This is just a hobby, so it's all good. :thumbsup:

Bristle worms are disgusting and dangerous creatures to place in your reef tank!!!
Not necessary at all!!

Grandis.

 

[terrypercula]

Haha you and the LED's! *pulls out hair* I'll say this, I fully understand the skepticism as they are far from proven and certainly there still is plenty of tweaking going on in the fairly new use of this technology. I've just seen a lot of good out of them so far and though I haven't seen a tank long term (5+ years) using LED's I'd say I'm pretty sold on the idea as a whole. Outside of the LED's I'd say I agree with you a lot ha

 

[A. Grandis]

Haha you and the LED's! *pulls out hair* I'll say this, I fully understand the skepticism as they are far from proven and certainly there still is plenty of tweaking going on in the fairly new use of this technology. I've just seen a lot of good out of them so far and though I haven't seen a tank long term (5+ years) using LED's I'd say I'm pretty sold on the idea as a whole. Outside of the LED's I'd say I agree with you a lot ha

:thumbsup:

 

[lhscouchmonster]

they just close up and slowly disappear. everything else is fine. i have a bunch of LPS, a large monti cap, several riccordea florida, and the 6 colonies of zoas. so far 3 colonies have completely disappeared and two more that are startign to close. they usually start closing a few polyps at a time and then starts melting. i dont see any signs of zoa pox.

i have a 75 gallon tank 30g sump with chaeto in the fuge section, RODI system, a few power heads, Reef Octo nwb-110 skimmer. maybe 20 snails and 5 blue legged hermits. been running since the end of march. calc alk and mag all good and measured regularly. nitrates are usually measured at zero (is that too low?). i use reef crystals salt and use a refractometer to keep salinity around 1.0255. i have two clown fish in there. i have a peppermint shrimp too. 4bulb T5ho with giessman and ATI bulbs. photo period is 10 hours (8 of which are full blast while the other two are the sun up and sundown with just my geissman actinic+ bulbs).

the only problem i am facing right now is this brown crap that is on the rocks. i dont know if it is diatoms or cyano. it brushes off with a wire brush. its been around for about 3 months. i was not using RODI, didnt have the chaeto, and wasnt using filter socks when the stuff started developing. i was also feed flake food one a day instead of just NLS pellets and a target feeding mysis to my LPS. you can see the brown crap in the below photo. its all over the rocks. this pic was taken before this zoa problem started a month ago.

 

[A. Grandis]

What are the numbers for Ca, Alk and Mg?
Zero nitrates shouldn't be the problem!
Phosphates?
How old are the bulbs and what bulbs?
Do you have to use a wire brush, or does it comes off easily when siphoning?
Temperature?
Do you have a sand bed? What sand are you using, if so?
Any GFO or nitrate reducer?
Any additives or other foods?
How often you do water changes and how much?

Grandis.

 

[lhscouchmonster]

What are the numbers for Ca, Alk and Mg? 480, 9.1, 1350
Phosphates? It measures 0 but its the API kit...
How old are the bulbs and what bulbs? 5 months (2 geissman actinic+) and 3 months (ati coral+ and 10k)
Do you have to use a wire brush, or does it comes off easily when siphoning? have to use the wire brush. it will not come off when siphoning.
Temperature? 79-80F.
Do you have a sand bed? What sand are you using, if so? about 3/4 inch of caribesea seafloor special grade
Any GFO or nitrate reducer? none. i have a filter sock which gets changed weekly, skimmer, and chaeto (plus there's only 2 clowns in there)
Any additives or other foods? none
How often you do water changes and how much? i do 5-7g per week. I did a 15 change last week to see if anything would change.

The brown stuff smells earthy when I brush it off. I remove the easy to reach rocks and brush them off in a bucket. The other rocks get bushed and I use the filter sock to capture the free floating brown stuff (it pretty much "dissolves" in the water when its brushed off)

 

[A. Grandis]

Wow!
I've never heard about that stuff!
I think it's algae, but that's kinda weird!

The only advice/suggestion I would have is to keep working on it with water changes.
Make sure the phosphates, nitrates and silicates are very low or zero.
It could be that the water you're using for the water changes and replacement has lots of silicates or other nutrients in it.

Hopefully others will come and try to help.

Grandis.

 

[lhscouchmonster]

well thanks for trying. i used to use tap water before i got my rodi a few months ago. im thinking there were a lot of silicates or something in the tap water.