Will bristle worms kill anemones?

[easydoesit]

I've had a GBTA for two months and he was doing well up until about a week ago. The tank is four months old and at my fiancee's house. I know you're suppose to have an established tank before adding one but he managed to survive and seemed to be coming around until last week. I had moved him to the top of the live rock and he hunkered down in a nice groove. He was in the middle of the cross flow of my Koralia 3's and bubbled up real nice. After a few days he started shriveling up most of the time and showing his guts. Two days ago I had my fiancee put him in a container to isolate him and last night he deflated and turned into a prune. Today he journeyed through the porcelain tunnel :sad1:

I know it's death could be the result of any number of things, but I think it was bristle worms attacking him. My fiancee said there was a bristle worm (of unknown size) that lived in a hole right next to him or under him and would steal food from his mouth. She also found 5 to 7 holes on his column when moving him into the container. She gave me an article last weekend about how bristle worms kill anemones and corals that didn't seem to have any evidence to prove this and I cannot place now.

I was just wondering if anybody has seen worms eat their anemone before?

I'm now on a campaign to rid my tank of bristle worms and their chaetae covered parapodia. Long live the brittle star!

[Toddrtrex]

I have never had any of my bristle worms go after any of my anemones -- and I have lots of them (( worms )). IMO, they will only go after an anemone that is already dying, but not a healthy one.

And the fact that the worm was able to steal food from the anemone indicates, at least to me, that the anemone wasn't fully healthy. Unless the food that was given to the anemone was way too big, the anemone should have been able to pull it fully into its mouth in seconds.

[Metal Man 1221]

when i first got my tank used it came with 3 nems, one turned white in the first day and stopped holding onto the rock, it started to develop holes which i belive was from just dying

but i dont think its very probable for the demise of your nem to have been directly caused by bristle worms

for instance, what type of lighting did you use? BTAs from what iv read need a decent amount of light, it could also have been from the fact that it did not get enough food if the worms were stealing it,
or it simply could have been unhealthy from the start and the stress from the move just pushed it over the margin

good luck

[easydoesit]

He was in good shape at the FS when I bought him. Green, bubbled and looking good. I think they keep their nems under MH but I'm not sure. I had mine less than a foot under a double T5 Glo (78watts total) actinic and 18000k bulbs. The LFS I got him from told me it would be fine. From my research it seemed this would be okay. What is the min watt/type they should be kept at?

My water parameters are good
8.0-8.2 pH
amm, nits : 0
RO with tropic marine salt mixed to 1.024 10% water changes every week.
My corals are doing well.

I guess it just didn't like my tank. He hid on the bottom back side for quite a while then moved into a cave until I moved him to the top rock where he seemed to be doing good. I'll do more research and wait for my tank to get more established before I get another one.

[Konolua]

I'm sorry to hear about the fateful last trip of the anemone down the white tunnel of porcelain....

Anemone's take a while to start dying, so you may have lost him a month or so ago, and it took him that time to actually die. When you said you moved him, did you move his rock or just him? Most anemones can't survive a move. Again, it takes them a while. Many times, the anemone will split asexually in an attempt to have a part survive.

I am not sure the bristle worm had anything to do with it, but i would guess no....

However, if you said it was at the top of the tank and bristle worm lives up there too, I would take the bristle worm out. Most aren't lucky enough to have one at the top of the tank for easy removal!!

[easydoesit]

I moved him to the top of the rock and placed a 2 liter bottle top on him with holes in it so he wouldn't move. My intentions were good as I wanted to get him under the light, but I guess moving him was not. Another lesson learned.

[Konolua]

I moved him to the top of the rock and placed a 2 liter bottle top on him with holes in it so he wouldn't move. My intentions were good as I wanted to get him under the light, but I guess moving him was not. Another lesson learned.

Do note, that certainly could have been a perfectly fine thing to do!!! But there could have been other factors involved too...anemones are tough to keep. If you had to "pry" him off of a rock though to get him up there, that is usually a sure sign that the anemone has a poor chance of survival.