Need advice...New to the hobby

jhast0n · Mar 10, 2015

Okay need your thoughts. I have had my tank for 3 months. I love it! But today my heart is broke. I just found my Flame Angel dead, I've only had her for 2 days. So sick to my stomach. I also noticed yesterday as I was looking for her I saw a worm which I'm 99 % sure its a bristle, I'd take a pic but the little fart hasn't come out since I saw him. Now today I also am not able to find my diamond gobie... do they burrow? I'm about ready to disassemble the entire tank to find him. Worms freak me out so therefore the bristle worm freaks me out. I'm not sure what to do. I'm on the edge of "search and destroy" mode. Would the bristle worm do anything to my gobie? What should I do. I'm just so heartbroken over the angel. I do have a clown fish and he kind of hangs out around the bottom, but really he's everywhere and he's doing great is having a wonderful time. Any advice for a newbie. (I have a 14 gal biocube with a protein skimmer and semi-pure fugi pack). Thank you in advance!

zoous · Mar 10, 2015

Bristle worms won't attack a fish unless it's dead or close to dying. Sure it's a bristle worm?

jhast0n · Mar 10, 2015

not 100%, but close. I only saw 3/8 of it and what I did see was pink/white. The coral it was attempting to crawl out of was a colony of zoas, which I've had for about month and I dipped them but it didn't apparently do any good.

jhast0n · Mar 10, 2015

Oh and the coarl it cralwed out of is "puttied" down how can I break it loose? Any ideas on that?

Chefbill · Mar 10, 2015

Leave your rockwork alone. If there is a worm, it's probably a bristle worm, which can't catch or kill a healthy fish. Your angel may not have been a healthy fish, with no QT, no way to know. I'd think it died from ploor acclaimation, stress or poor parameters, from the shipper, LFS or from you.