Bristle Worms attacking my sea Anemone?

[Sdot]

Good evening Family I need your opinion. I purchased a long tentacle anemone 2 weeks ago. My tanks conditions are rock solid. Zero nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphate. PH, salinity and all other stats are in perfect order. My tank according to many is “too clean” for the sps I intend to keep ( I have a few in there... so far so good). About a few days ago I notice the anemone shriveled up a bit, however I know they will do that from time to time. The following morning the anemone still looked the same which cause a bit of concern. I performed a few water tests to see if anything was wrong, and nothing. I inspected the anemone's mouth… it was tight and not drooping so I figured perhaps it was adjusting to something. Later the evening the anemone appeared the same….. however he slowly released from his location, he was there since the day I introduced him…. As the current moved him around I saw that he had a huge hole in his foot! I inspected the anemone when he arrived and he was fine. Is it possible bristle worms caused this? The reason why I ask, is at night and sometimes during the day I would see the worms when I was feeding. Im my experience I’ve never saw bristle worms during the day…. I assume they were hungry? As far as lighting, im using 2 radion XR30w gen 4…. Im sure lighting isn’t the problem. What do you guys think? I know its uncommon for bristle worms to attack a sea anemone but I don’t understand where the tear came from.

 

[GHsaltie]

From what I understand bristleworms are not even capable of "chewing" on something, they more suck up food. So with this in mind, no I don't believe it was bristleworms that caused this. Did you purchase it at a store? If so did you watch the person remove the anemone? I know you said you inspected it but I'm still wondering if there was a tear that got missed and now it's getting an infection.
#reefsquad @AcroNem

 

[Dom]

I know its uncommon for bristle worms to attack a sea anemone but I don’t understand where the tear came from.

You didn't try to "help" it from its mount... did you?

 

[Pittsford_Pets]

I had bristle worms eat my green star polyp

 

[Grey Guy]

I had bristle worms eat my green star polyp

Do you have any pictures to prove it? Did you see them pulling chunks off of your green star polyps? Something ate all my LPS corals, but I can't prove anything, because I never saw what did it. Was it my bristle worms? Probably not.

 

[Maritimer]

I suspect that it's more likely that the anemone had a small injury to its foot, unnoticed in the transfer to your tank, and that small injury got worse - again unnoticed.

Bristles are generally pretty harmless, unless you've got too many, or you grab one.

~Bruce

 

[AcroNem]

This was likely not a Polychaete worm causing this, definitely not a bristleworm. I agree that your anemone likely had an injury or got injured and is now spreading/ is infected. Is it possible you can snap a picture for us to see?

 

[mcarroll]

Don't hate me....I'm gonna give it to you straight.

Good evening Family I need your opinion. I purchased a long tentacle anemone 2 weeks ago. My tanks conditions are rock solid. Zero nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphate. PH, salinity and all other stats are in perfect order. My tank according to many is “too clean” for the sps I intend to keep ( I have a few in there... so far so good).

"Rock solid" in the wrong position for success. Time for a change!!!!

Just like corals and every other living thing on the planet anemones need phosphates to live. Without them, they die. In fact, anemones may even have an unusually large need for phosphates.

Phosphates are used for many many things, not the least of which is cellular repair.

More or less this all applies to nitrates too....they are used in large quantities during growth and repair, as well as for many other things in the tank.

Your anemone was probably damaged before or after the purchase. He has been in a hostile tank with no nutrients at all.

He has probably exhausted all of his stored nutrients trying to find a place where he could get sustenance for repair. By now it may be too late, if it wasn't already too severe when he was first damaged.

To have any chance with the anemone or the tank, you have to stop doing everything you're currently doing for nutrient removal. This means stop carbon dosing, stop GFO, remove excess bio-filtration, etc, etc.

To create a less hostile tank, put some phosphate and nitrate fertilizer into the tank ASAP. Seachem and Brightwell both make acceptable products, but there are DIY options too.

Target these levels:
PO4: 0.10 ppm
NO3: 5-10 ppm

Test daily and dose as needed to keep levels here for at least a few days or weeks. It's possible you could see an improvement in the animals overnight, assuming it's not already too late.

 

[AcroNem]

I'll throw out another option if you don't want to risk crashing your system by removing all your filtration and dumping fertilizer (what can be a toxin to corals and invertebrates) into it. Yes, phosphates and nitrogenous compounds are used in cell repair/growth and other biological processes, but they receive that from food and in small amounts from the water column. Not from having the numbers you posted in the water column. That could lead to plenty more problems than they have. Especially after suddenly removing/stopping all export methods.

So here's my idea. Target feed it with some krill or chunks of silversides every couple of days foods themselves have more than enough nutrients to do the same job of supplementing them.

 

[mcarroll]

@AcroNem Properly dosed fertilizers (like this) cannot do what you described.

While it's a little off-topic from bristle-worms, you might be interested in this thread just for the context on nutrient remediation: Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

FYI, if N and or P have been run down in the system, then feeding is not going to correct anything, generally speaking.

Think of it this way:

• You need nutrients A, B and C in the tank.
• Feeding the tank adds A, B and C.
• A and C get used up way more than other nutrients and end up at zero.
• B is almost not used at all and has been accumulating the whole time.
• If you simply add more food to get more A and C, then you end up raising B even higher.

That is not balancing your nutrients.

Adding A and C until you have enough in the tank is the corrective action you need.

That said, feeding the anemone is certainly a fine option if he's eating. Sine he's damaged, that might not work.

However, he will be able to use dissolved nutrients, and in the short term could even require them.

Keeping an anemone in a nutrient starved tank is definitely not optimal.