Trumpet12
01/18/2004, 03:04 PM
I have a tank with a lot of Florida cultured live rock that is loaded with life. I have not added fish or invertebrates to the tank yet. I originally had four small stony corals that came on the live rock. One of them died several weeks ago, but I do not know why. On another of the corals, half of its polyps seem to be doing fine and the other half appear to be dead.
One of the corals has looked good, with polyps extended, for about 5 months. A few days ago, some its polyps appeared to be cut down/shaved and after the next night the whole coral looked like that. I suspect that predation may be the problem. Do you think that this is the case? Is there any other possible explanation?
If it is predation, who is doing it? My list of most likely culprits are an unidentified crab (body size of a quarter, "hairy" appearance), lots of bristleworms of different types (some of which I think are bearded bristleworms (Hermodice carunculata)), and some other worms whose heads look sort of like those of Long Bristle Eunice worms (Eunice longisetis). I once observed one of these latter worms grab a 1/8 by 1/8 by 1/2 inch piece of cocktail shrimp, pull it against the entrance to its burrow in the rock, and proceed to eat it from behind in about 15 minutes --- it was a remarkable display of voracity.
Do I need to resolve this problem before I put Xenia in the tank? Would I need to resolve it before I added a Bubble-Tipped Anemone to the tank?
One of the corals has looked good, with polyps extended, for about 5 months. A few days ago, some its polyps appeared to be cut down/shaved and after the next night the whole coral looked like that. I suspect that predation may be the problem. Do you think that this is the case? Is there any other possible explanation?
If it is predation, who is doing it? My list of most likely culprits are an unidentified crab (body size of a quarter, "hairy" appearance), lots of bristleworms of different types (some of which I think are bearded bristleworms (Hermodice carunculata)), and some other worms whose heads look sort of like those of Long Bristle Eunice worms (Eunice longisetis). I once observed one of these latter worms grab a 1/8 by 1/8 by 1/2 inch piece of cocktail shrimp, pull it against the entrance to its burrow in the rock, and proceed to eat it from behind in about 15 minutes --- it was a remarkable display of voracity.
Do I need to resolve this problem before I put Xenia in the tank? Would I need to resolve it before I added a Bubble-Tipped Anemone to the tank?