Worm killing miyagi tort?

[oneradtek202]

So lately ive seen some bleaching starting on my miyagi tort. It has been growing fine, i havent messed with it, however i have a worm that lives in another sps colony next to it. the type that the sps encrusts around the work tube (not sure what species). anyway, i have a few of them in my tank, but every day i had been seeing slime stringing from the work tube to the miyagi colony. so anyway, i took care of the worm and broke its tube and killed it. not sure if that was the cause of the bleaching, but hoping i dont lose this tort, its from Copps tank!


i did recently deal with some high alk (13) and got it back to 10.5dkh but that obviously put some stress of the tort with burnt tips, so not sure if the worm was just being opportunistic or not, any ideas?

 

[Capt_Cully]

Those are vermetids. The are unsightly, but IME not bothersome. Never fear, if it was an all swing, I've got it too. I need to hit you back for fragging your $500 Efflo when mine cashed out.

 

[oneradtek202]

Efflo take off on ya? Mines gottenn so nice and is growing fast. Along with sarmentosa

 

[oneradtek202]

Ya I notice all my Sps flesh is a Lil tore up from the spike, currently back in the 11s but looking to hold 10s

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

jmo

jmo

I don't think the worm is causing the damage you're seeing BUT anything is possible

 

[tmz]

Those vermetid snails are a pain. Not just because the tubes can be sharp. The web they put out catches a lot of crap. Fun to watch at first. Tube forms are very intricate and interesting at the base. I cleaned most of them in my tanks out a few months ago. I suppose that could irritate acoral,probably not but maybe. I'd bet on the alk shift. Hope it recovers.
It should now that you've fixed the alk and removed the possible irritant.

 

[Subw00er]

They are good cleaners and generally reef safe and considered good filter cleaners but the strings can sometimes cause polyps to stay closed and that will kill coral eventually. I'd just pinch it off if you're worried about it..

 

[E_rock]

tmz how did you clean the worms out? I have a ton of them in my tank.

 

[tmz]

I used my frag cutters and careefully pinched them or under them if I could. Sometimes they were just crushed ; most times if they were on a smoother surface the whole structure popped loose. Picked out the pieces with tweezers as needed. BTW, have a cup of water handy or a little bleach and water . They smell bad when you just leave em out of the water for a little while. Some were growing in overflows and gathering detritus leading to algae growth . I had a lot of them in those locations and on powerhead housings ;some on rocks after years of leaving them be and was concerned the accumulations would eventually block a drain. Some appeared to be irritating corals. I enjoy watching a few of the m but there were too many and they were spreading.