Sixline wrasse killed by bristleworm

[battlelurker]

So i re-did some aquascaping today. After i was done i fed my fish and they all ate, none of them seemed to be stressed out at all. When I got home from work tonight I found my sixline dead.
He was hanging from a rock with a couple bristle worms attached and inside him eating him.

Now i know people say that bristle worms dont kill fish, But considering I have had the sixline for over half a year. I think he couldn't find a good sleeping spot and just tried to go up against a rock where the bristle worms attacked him.

Just wanted to throw out my experience and see what you all thought. I find it unlikely that he died and the worms are scavenging him, but who knows. I am now regretting my decision of keeping the bristle worms in the tank.

 

[ALH]

It's hard to lose a fish and not know what happened, but I think you'll find that most people will probably agree that the fish was dead and being dealt with appropriately by the bristleworms. Bristleworms are your friends

 

[Iguana79]

Something else killed your fish.. Maybe it had a parasite. A fish would not let a bristleworm start eating on it without fleeing. Even if it was sleeping. It would be like you sleeping and a boa attacking you.. You wouldn't allow it. A sixline is a pretty quick fish I'm sure it could get out the clutches of a slow bristleworm. On that note, Could be a number of things. Sometimes fish are sick without you realizing it.

 

[battlelurker]

Ya I agree that bristle worms aren't aggressive predators. Just seems odd to me that a fish that looks stress free and healthy ends up dieing within a few hours

 

[Blown76mav]

Do you have any Tangs in this tank? I did the same thing, moved rocks around and the fish started the battle of where to sleep. My six line went into a cave with a Tang only to be sliced open, found him the next morning laying on the sand with a big cut in its side. Bristleworms are too slow to kill any fish.

 

[noahm]

They also have no jaws to 'kill' with. It is possible that a fish gets a mouthfull of bristles trying to attack a worm though and end up in bad shape even though many fish recover from that scenario as well.

 

[bobbychullo]

i've got bristle worms larger than fish in my tank. My assessors regularly brush against the worms in my tank with no ill effects.

also, i do not think they would be fast enough to attack a six line...

 

[HV1990]

I wonder if re aquascaping caused an amonia spike that did the poor guy in. Or did he owe the brisstle worm money?

 

[deaddat]

They also have no jaws to 'kill' with. It is possible that a fish gets a mouthfull of bristles trying to attack a worm though and end up in bad shape even though many fish recover from that scenario as well.

I'm surprised nobody has pointed out that sixlines along with other wrasses EAT bristleworms...

 

[Paco]

I wonder if re aquascaping caused an ammonia spike that did the poor guy in. Or did he owe the bristle worm money?

It's quite possible that due to the lack of knee caps, and that the six-line was already sleeping with the fishes, the bristle worm had to resort to the less common approach of eating its guts out.

 

[TBall]

So i re-did some aquascaping today. After i was done i fed my fish and they all ate, none of them seemed to be stressed out at all. When I got home from work tonight I found my sixline dead.
He was hanging from a rock with a couple bristle worms attached and inside him eating him.

Now i know people say that bristle worms dont kill fish, But considering I have had the sixline for over half a year. I think he couldn't find a good sleeping spot and just tried to go up against a rock where the bristle worms attacked him.

Just wanted to throw out my experience and see what you all thought. I find it unlikely that he died and the worms are scavenging him, but who knows. I am now regretting my decision of keeping the bristle worms in the tank.

Hey Sorry to hear about your loss. Did you happen to smell rotten eggs when moving your rocks? Sometimes you can release trapped gass when you move your rockwork or sand around. If you did that can totally kill a fish. Especially one as small as a sixline.

 

[aleonn]

Sorry, that's very unfortunate. Did you happen to stir your sand bed while aquascaping? Also, while aquascaping, detritus and stuff can blow around the tank and lead to ammonium/nitrogen spikes. Furthermore, if you took out your rocks at any point to aquascape, there may some death of the live stuff on the rock, thereby causing a mini-cylce as well.

 

[Mitchell]

Sorry for your loss, but I agree with the others that the worms did not kill your wrasse. Possibly you stirred up something in your tank with your manipulation of the rock or sand?

Well, flippy-doo.

 

[ChrisPrusha]

Flippy-doo indeed. Sorry for your loss.

 

[battlelurker]

Well i just did some tests, and ammonia read 0 to maybe .1 and nitrates read 5-10.
Im thinking that moving the rocks might have caused a spike, although no too big. I read nearly 0 nitrates last week.
On another note my yellow polyps and finger leathers have not opened since the re-scaping and the yellow polyps are very balled up. Ammonia maybe? Although i dont get a reading.

 

[Tang Salad]

I agree it's unlikely a Bristleworm could kill a healthy sixline. But a fireworm certainly could, and the two can be hard to differentiate. Have you had many snails die lately?

 

[battlelurker]

No snails have been dieing recently. Also, I saw the worms that were eating the sixline and they did not appear to be fireworms to me. The were a solid brown color, with just a little red/white coloration. Nothing extravagant.
Thanks for the opinions and advice guys.

 

[tmgrash]

Dont think the bristle worms did him in as others have said. My purple fire fish has on multiple occasions looked like he got into a tuffle with a bristle worm. The first time it happened I thought he was a gonner, it looked like a porcupine attacked him all in his face, eyes, body, etc. Not sure what is going on here but it has happened several times and appears to have no ill effect on the fish. Sorry for your loss.

 

[ChrisPrusha]

How long has your tank been set up?

A six line will sleep in a self-made cocoon, and I assume (but don't know for sure) that it will swim out of its cocoon if disturbed.

I suggest a water change when you get the chance.