Do bristle Worms Ever Eat SPS Polyps?

[BrianH]

I have a couple orange montipora digita frags that were doing pretty well in my tank for the last 6 months. During the last month, the largest and healthiest frag I had started loosing it's polyps. The frag didn't bleach, the polyps just started dissappearing and revealed a brownish/gray skeleton. Tonight, when I got home from work I say a small, 1" bristle worm searching, or picking on the montipora frag. The bristle worm is almost the same color as the montipora polyps, a orange pinkish color. Is it possible that this worm is eating the polyps of this frag? The other 2 frags I have are not loosing any polyps like this one. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Brian

 

[fishfreek]

I do not belive the common bristleworm will do this. From all that I have read and experenced is that the common bristleworm will go after fishwaste, uneaten food and any other dead or decaying materal in your tank.

From what I have read many misunderstand their behavor and see a bristleworm(s) all over a recently dead fish or a dieing coral and blame the worms. In my mind the worms are being blamed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They are often the first cleanup critters to a recent death and their speed at this seems to cause them to get a bad wrap.

My guess is that this particular frag was going down hill on its own and the worms picked up on this and started to consume the dead or dieing portions.

What has changed in your tank recently?

Do you have any angels or anything else that is known to be a soft coral nipper?

 

[OrionGirl]

I agree. We have a healthy population of bristleworms, and I've never seen them kill a coral. They will eat the dying tissue, but leave the healthy tissues alone completely. If anything, this is helpful. The dying tissue will cause water quality problems, and any disease could certainly spread to healthy tissue. By removing it, the bristleworms may help stop the problem. Kind of like maggots with gangrene, I guess.

I'd look at other factors--including any damage it might have experienced in shipping, or a difference in water movement in that area.