Elegance coral eating fireworm - safe?!

Saddler · 10/16/2007, 11:50 PM

So I came home from work today to find that my elegance coral was looking rather sad and deflated. At first I thought that it was because I got home early and the lights just hadn't been on long enough. But I just checked him out again and the left side is looking good but the right is still sad; and then on closer inspection I see something really abnormal. I thought maybe it was his internals - like maybe one of his mouths was infected and turned inside out. But I think it's a bristleworm - the portion that I can see which isn't inside of the coral is about the size of my pinky, tan and covered with rows of little translucent combs full of bristles going along the length of the body. It was a total surprise since I've never before seen any bristleworms in my tank.

How many silversides should I be feeding my elegance each week? I think it has about 8 mouths. I've been increasing feedings since he created a "snail graveyard" in front of him of more than a dozen large astreas in 3 or 4 weeks. Once I found him trying to eat both my royal gramma and a very fat 4" sea hare at the same time! Luckily the gramma survived, but the sea hare was already leaking purple by the time I found it. This is my favorite coral in my tank, but man he's one hungry beast. My clownfish have switched to him as a new host this past month, luckily they seem to be completely unbothered, and the coral isn't shrinking back either with his new mates.

I tried to reach in with a pair of tweezers but it's under the center brace of a 24" tall tank with rock shelves hanging above on either side so I couldn't reach. I was worried that maybe the bristleworm was trying to eat the elegance, but it's not moving when I prodded with a feeding stick and it's clearly being ingested by the coral.

10/16/2007, 11:50 PM	#1
Saddler Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 776	Elegance coral eating fireworm - safe?! So I came home from work today to find that my elegance coral was looking rather sad and deflated. At first I thought that it was because I got home early and the lights just hadn't been on long enough. But I just checked him out again and the left side is looking good but the right is still sad; and then on closer inspection I see something really abnormal. I thought maybe it was his internals - like maybe one of his mouths was infected and turned inside out. But I think it's a bristleworm - the portion that I can see which isn't inside of the coral is about the size of my pinky, tan and covered with rows of little translucent combs full of bristles going along the length of the body. It was a total surprise since I've never before seen any bristleworms in my tank. How many silversides should I be feeding my elegance each week? I think it has about 8 mouths. I've been increasing feedings since he created a "snail graveyard" in front of him of more than a dozen large astreas in 3 or 4 weeks. Once I found him trying to eat both my royal gramma and a very fat 4" sea hare at the same time! Luckily the gramma survived, but the sea hare was already leaking purple by the time I found it. This is my favorite coral in my tank, but man he's one hungry beast. My clownfish have switched to him as a new host this past month, luckily they seem to be completely unbothered, and the coral isn't shrinking back either with his new mates. I tried to reach in with a pair of tweezers but it's under the center brace of a 24" tall tank with rock shelves hanging above on either side so I couldn't reach. I was worried that maybe the bristleworm was trying to eat the elegance, but it's not moving when I prodded with a feeding stick and it's clearly being ingested by the coral.