worm eating my hermits?

susan2626

New member
hi - i am new to this forum...please forgive this dumb question: i have had a slow but steady die-out of my red leg hermits - had about 10-12 but now down to 3. all water is perfect, no new predator fish so i was stumped. but just now when feeding my (sick) BTA a piece of krill, i saw a pink and white worm coming out of the rock. it retreated right away but i saw enough to go on line and see photos and it matches this photo: http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=178112i ... is this what is eating my hermits? thanks
 
Is that exactly what the worm looked like? There are some common pink bristleworms that are harmless and there are also some others like the fireworm in that last pic that are predatory. How long did you have the crabs? Maybe they weren't properly acclimated somewhere in their transit from the ocean to your aquarium and died off as a result of those injuries.

Kevin
 
kevin - not sure if that's exactly what it looks like - only had a very brief glimpse but it was for sure long, thin and pink+white. The hermits have been in the tank several months. Yesterday I got 4 more just to see if they are affected so we'll see... everything else in the tank is fine. thanks
 
They may have very well been killing each other off. If the food source is not enough to support the quanity then there is a chance they could thin out the group. The strongest surrvive. IMO

Plus I also find they are very good hiders. You may have more than you think.
 
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