Clove Polyps and Xenia being eaten?

chris17

Member
Hi, I have a Xenia colony that I have had going on 2 years but was not in the proper conditions to grow for about 2-3 months :(. I have improved the conditions drastically in the past few months by adding new T5 lighting. The Xenia have responded exceptionally well and have begun to thrive. Prior to the lighting the colony was slowly disappearing as if something was eating them. This caught my attention because I have seen Xenia "melt" before but this time the stalks were literally there one day and gone the next. I didn't panic at first because i knew the conditions were poor and change was in the very near future. Once the lights were changed i still noticed them disappearing for about another 3 weeks. Within the past few days the areas that appeared to be gone have regrown,but now I'm seeing the same issues with my clove polyp colony. I have had them for nearly a month and while the Xenia was struggling the clove polyps looked perfect. Now as the Xenia begins to come back the clove polyps are disappearing like the Xenia had been. I was curious if there is anything that could be eating these, if not would there be any other reason for them to vanish??
 

flower

Well-Known Member

Moonlights would let you see if something is eating them at night. It sounds like a Bobbit worm to be honest.
 

chris17

Member
Thanks for your quick reply Flower. I have not seen a worm like that before....
Kinda scary. I have seen a worm on the Xenia rock before that was very small, about a half inch long and maybe a millimeter thick. It was not eating them at that time so I wasn't worried about it. I have also seen this same worm floating/swimming thru the water before. Please help, I really don't want to loose either colony.....
 

chris17

Member
Today the clove polyps look the worst ever... I am thinking about putting them in a freshwater dip in hopes that the culprit is on their rock. Which would be better for them, a freshwater dip or a hypo dip?
 

calbert0

Member
Originally Posted by chris17
http:///forum/post/3186688
Today the clove polyps look the worst ever... I am thinking about putting them in a freshwater dip in hopes that the culprit is on their rock. Which would be better for them, a freshwater dip or a hypo dip?
ummm neither..... look into an Iodine dip
 

chris17

Member
OK, I have done the iodine dip. I dipped the rock with the clove polyps and my rock of Xenia. I also dipped 2 of my large rocks. I found 1 worm at the bottom of the bucket, but it was way too small for a picture or even being able to see any distinctive markings.
The other day I noticed 3 worms. 2 about 1.5 centimeters long and a small one about half that. They all moved pretty fast, in a centipede fashion. They had a distinctive reddish tail and a white band/ ring behind its head. I don't have a camera that can take a picture of it so I am stuck with a description.
 

flower

Well-Known Member

I have to run off to work. What you described is a bristle worm and harmless (red two toned). The other you described (centipede) does sound like the bobbit worm when it is young. It most likely has matured and is eating coral now. You need moon lights to see where in the rocks it is hiding and then get it out.
 

loopy101

Member
personally until you can see a critter eating the corals its hard to say what could be happening. one thing i do know is clove coral can be pretty sensitive and doesnt like alot of change in water conditions. so i would continue to work on water conditions and keep a close eye out for other critters munching on them. at this point i think thats about all you can do.
i agree with flower the worms you have seen are more then likely bristle worms and are pretty harmless.
 

chris17

Member
Thanks for your replies. We have seen 7 of them all out at the same time all across the tank during the day. Some are fairly long and others are very small. I have seen them eating algae, but not the corals. They don't mind the light at all. I wish I had a camera that could take half way decent pictures to help... My rock of clove polyps had a few survivors, about a dozen of them had come back after 2 weeks. They are now completely gone again...
 
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