I think something is eating my damsel

[davidmwj]

My other 3 damsels died from ich. I think the tank is clean now, but my last damsel is missing "meat" right behind his head. It looks like something has gotten hold of him. At first I though he was scraping the live rock or something but now he is missing more on both sides of his "neck" . It's very weird.
I'm going to try to attach a picture.
Any ideas what it could be??

 

[tome]

what else is in the tank with it?

 

[davidmwj]

That might be helpful, lol. I have a coral banded shrimp, an emerald shrimp, a curly q anemone and some other things I'm not sure of.
I think one is a bristle worm based on pics. Some strings that go out at night across the tank that look like spider webs. They retract when I turn the lights on. Also, another small bug that I am not sure what it is and a snail that I haven't seen a picture of. Kind of difficult I know, but these all grew off my rock so I don't know what they are.

 

[dmc888]

Looks like thats from scratching. I had an ich outbreak before. My green chromis's looked the worst from scratching. They seemed to scratch the hardest of most of my damsels. The ich parasites tend to stick to their wounds. Try some stress coat to help heal his scales.
I thought the same thing when i seen them with so much damage.

 

[davidmwj]

Ok, thanks. What is stress coat?

 

[reefnut]

I moved this to Disease and Treatment because it seems to me he may have Hole in the Head Disease...
If you decide to use stress coat of any medications it would be wise to move him to a QT tank for treatment.

 

[davidmwj]

Well, I just got home and found him dead. The bristle worm was eating him, but when I tried to position myself to catch him with the net he crawled into the rock. After he left, one of my scarlet hermits I just bought moved in. So, I let him have a few nibbles and pulled the fish out.
I don't know if the bristle worm killed him or was just eating him. I know which rock he is in and am thinking about taking it out and trying to get the sucker.
How can I get the thing out and still preserve the rock? Since all the fish are dead, can I change all my water without harming the crabs, shrimp, or curly q?
If that "hole in the head" disease killed him, is it something in the water?
thanks

 

[beth]

The bristleworm did not kill this fish or cause injury, it is simply doing what it should do which is clean up detritus. Don't worry about the bristleworm.
How did you treat the ich? You don't have any other fish in your tank at this point, correct? You should leave your tank fishless now for a month.
In the meantime, try setting up a quarantine tank.

 

[davidmwj]

I treated it with Ich Attack that my LFS sold me. Yeah, I figured I would leave it fish free for a month at this point. I assume I can leave the invert in the tank since they don't seem affected by ich.
I'm trying to figure out what to do for a QT tank. I really don't have the space for a permanent one. Is it possible to set up a 5 gallon bucket for a temporary one?
BTW, I'm glad I don't need to get that worm. It would be a pain because he is in the middle/center rock.