Bristle worm solution?

[churro]

I have dippe

d all corals. Positive I've never had bristle worms in my tank until I added my scoly and two were in it's skeleton.
Didn't think the first dip wasn't sufficient until I saw scoly chewed up after it was fed earlier. Not a scratch on it prior. Flipped it over and saw a small worm on it. Dipped it and my acan in a stronger solution.
But I need serious opinions.
I am contemplating buying a frag rack to move these guys off the sand, and moving all fish and inverts to my 35 that I have as a spare. And spot feeding my corals as minimally as possible for a week or two, maybe longer if needed, to prevent any food from reaching the sand and well starve any potential worms out. As well as dipping my rocks in a hyposalinity solution.
I know so many like bristle worms, but I don't care for them if my corals are being eaten. And I will take any measures to remove them before they are an issue.
Opinions or critique?

 

[SDReefer]

Did you see the worms actually eating the coral, or are you assuming that since there were worms underneath the coral, they were eating it? Usually it's another factor so I would check water parameters first before doing anything drastic. Also, make sure that one of your fish isn't nipping at the Scoly, especially since they are particularly meaty corals.

 

[Jason mack]

Each too their own ,personally I don’t mind them if they are small , they are part of clean up crew .. if you don’t like them you can buy or make traps for them you can put in your tank at night and then remove in the morning .. plenty of films on you tube on how too do this ..
Happy Reefing !
Mack

 

[churro]

Did you see the worms actually eating the coral, or are you assuming that since there were worms underneath the coral, they were eating it? Usually it's another factor so I would check water parameters first before doing anything drastic. Also, make sure that one of your fish isn't nipping at the Scoly, especially since they are particularly meaty corals.

No fish are nipping the scoly.
Nothing has touched it, I have tested all parameters already.

 

[Globalbutterfly]

I DESPISE them...BUT when I expressed this feeling at my LFS, they told me that part of why some really DO like them is that they will eat necrotic (dead) or diseased coral tissue and can actually save a colony. Kind of like cutting off a gangrenous limb before it has a chance to spread further and kill the patient. Can’t say whether or not this is accurate, but if it is, might explain why it was “eating” your scoly. (Still don’t want them in MY tank!)

 

[churro]

I DESPISE them...BUT when I expressed this feeling at my LFS, they told me that part of why some really DO like them is that they will eat necrotic (dead) or diseased coral tissue and can actually save a colony. Kind of like cutting off a gangrenous limb before it has a chance to spread further and kill the patient. Can’t say whether or not this is accurate, but if it is, might explain why it was “eating” your scoly. (Still don’t want them in MY tank!)

I'm positive this wasn't due to dying tissue on the coral. I fed a little less tonight, and the places that are eaten were the same spots where food touched the coral

 

[churro]

I DESPISE them...BUT when I expressed this feeling at my LFS, they told me that part of why some really DO like them is that they will eat necrotic (dead) or diseased coral tissue and can actually save a colony. Kind of like cutting off a gangrenous limb before it has a chance to spread further and kill the patient. Can’t say whether or not this is accurate, but if it is, might explain why it was “eating” your scoly. (Still don’t want them in MY tank!)

Literally taken yesterday. Which is why I'm sure it's following the correlation of me feeding more conservatively and not coral health

 

[churro]

Did you see the worms actually eating the coral, or are you assuming that since there were worms underneath the coral, they were eating it? Usually it's another factor so I would check water parameters first before doing anything drastic. Also, make sure that one of your fish isn't nipping at the Scoly, especially since they are particularly meaty corals.

Stocking is only 3 mollies, 2 ocellaris clownfish, a watchman goby, skunk cleaner and blood shrimp. And 3 nassarius snails. Lights went off for awhile, the fish all settled down. Came. Back after the lights were off for a fee hours and saw the tears in the flesh

 

[Globalbutterfly]

As I said, I was only passing on what I was told by LFS. I CAN say from personal experience, that they are really, really resilient and hard to get rid of. I am trying to get them out of some really nice live rock I bought without just totally nuking it. It has soaked for over an hour in coral dip - keep pulling worms, dropped it in a fresh water dip - keep pulling worms, dropped it back into the coral dip - keep pulling worms, been soaking in the dark in saltwater for over a week- just saw another one today.

 

[myzislow]

I have roughly a million in my tank. Love them, they allow me to feed super heavy. You seem convinced, but i doubt the bristle worm ate your scoly, especially if its healthy. I have a blasto vivida that's struggling at the moment, pretty much on it's way out and i never see any bristle worms on it or eating it..

 

[churro]

As I said, I was only passing on what I was told by LFS. I CAN say from personal experience, that they are really, really resilient and hard to get rid of. I am trying to get them out of some really nice live rock I bought without just totally nuking it. It has soaked for over an hour in coral dip - keep pulling worms, dropped it in a fresh water dip - keep pulling worms, dropped it back into the coral dip - keep pulling worms, been soaking in the dark in saltwater for over a week- just saw another one today.

That is true. And I understand completely. Atleast for the scoly, it didn't seem like much of a coincidence to feed much less and then see my scoly torn soon after when just the night prior it was opened up the lines seemed too clean to match my fish or inverts.
I don't think I have much of an issue Yet, but I may try the coral dip method myself to be safe. And I have a frag rack on order to atleast keep it off the sand in the future even if I can't remove the worms entirely

 

[myzislow]

Do you know what type of bristle it is?
If they are Eurothoe complanata then its very unlikely they are eating your scoly.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

I have never had a problem with bristle worms eating corals, but maybe you have a different species in your tank.

I have always thought they were good for reef tanks as a part of the overall natural clean up crew.

 

[don_chuwish]

One thing for sure, no amount of dipping will kill them. Or even make them get the sniffles. Even feeding lightly is unlikely to starve them out.
I brought home a zoa covered coral skeleton from an LFS. Did the usual dips and carefully inspected. Looked good.
Once in the tank I saw a HUGE bristle worm come out of a hollow cavity. I didn't want it in my tank so I took it out again and dipped in RO, then stronger Coral Rx, stronger Lugol's, and finally even Bayer. Nothing hurt it. I ended up physically removing - in chunks. Digging it out with bamboo skewers and surgical clamps. Found several others in the process too.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Any rocks or flat base are favourite hiding places for bristle worms. It's dark and that's where they hide when the lights are turned on but come darkness ... you'll see them crawling out from underneath the rocks or flat bases. Flip the flat base or rocks around ... it's one of the few ways to get rid of bristleworms ... not with fingers but a scalpel.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

If you’re thinking something is eating your coral, I’d be highly suspicious of the shrimp. Shrimp can really be jerks and I’ve actually watched them tear into corals before.

 

[Orbela]

If you just dipped them and you saw fleshy tissue then it was the dip and the bristle worm was just eating the dead matter. I had this happen before when I dipped my acan.

 

[Iqyax]

If you’re thinking something is eating your coral, I’d be highly suspicious of the shrimp. Shrimp can really be jerks and I’ve actually watched them tear into corals before.

+1
I was thinking the same thing

 

[Jorgehiram]

I am no expert actually always learning from you guys, but I eradicated all of my bristle worms by accident ;Dead; I lost a healthy fish for no apparent reason found it dead in the morning with a chunk of the tail missing and other strange wounds, then months later my daughter and I actually saw a bristle worm attached and eating the tail off a sleeping healthy fish. Nothing work so one day I removed the rocks I knew they where in placed them in a 5g bucket to dip and clean.
In between I had few beers and totally forgot the rocks outside (no dip).
That night temperature in Florida dropped to about 45 degrees and every single worm 9 in total popped out dead or numb and completely out of the rock in the bottom of the bucket. After cleaning the rocks I placed them back in the aquarium added some MicroBacter to replace any dead bacteria.
1 year latter and zero bristle worms.
Maybe you can try removing the rock lowering the temperature with ice in a bucket.
Also last weekend at the Frag show I met the rep for Fauna Marin got some of their “The Dip” already tried and works great and worms of any king hates it, just pull them out.
Sorry for the long post... I am a bristle worm hater.

 

[CindyKz]

I have them in my tank...they don't overrun it or anything, my melanarus wrasse keeps the population in check. But they aren't any big deal, definitely not worth upsetting the balance in my tank by moving rocks around, etc. I've never observed one eat a coral, even a dying coral.