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| Bristleworms, why I hate to love them; Baby Blues | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 5 2008, 10:48:13 AM (233 Views) | |
| Post #1 Dec 5 2008, 10:48:13 AM | Amie |
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I normally wouldn't even share a story like this because it's completely my own stupidity that caused the loss of 8 4-month old banggai cardinals yesterday. But I've heard so many of you say how much you hate bristleworms and don't have any in your tank, so I thought I'd go ahead and share. I had a 10 gallon tank set up that had 10 4-month old banggai cardinals and 2 baby clownfish in it. (Rod's clowns that I just got) I changed 2 gallons of water just 3 days ago. The tank has a HOB with 1-week carbon in it. The temperature is around 80. Everything seemed fine. But there was one banggai that was born with a defect that I knew would eventually die. On Tuesday morning, I noticed that it was 'bobbing' which is a bad sign for banggais. I knew that it's days were numbered. But since it was the first day that it had started to 'bob', I figured it would take 2-3 days before it died. Well, as most of you know, Tuesday was fish club day. Alot happened that night and I didn't get home until late. I was exhausted and since I had already fed the fish, I turned out the lights and went to bed as soon as I got home. The next day, I didn't check on them until later in the day. That's when I discovered that 8 of the banggais were dead. The one that was dying the night before had obviously died on Tuesday night, because of the extend of decay, and the others just barely died. I was able to save 2 banggais and the 2 clownfish, but the rest were gone. Here's the sad thing...a single bristleworm in the tank would have prevented this from happening. This is a barebottom tank, like some of you have. I have live rock in there, but just recently took out any bristleworms that I found. If there had been a bristleworm in the tank, it would have eaten the dead fish and the ammonia wouldn't have spiked and killed the rest of the fish. So, I don't know about you, but I'm going to put a bristleworm in my new seahorse tank, and in my baby maroon tank. I don't like them because they are disgusting and ugly, but the alternative is pretty devastating. |
stormy, stormy nights
  ![]](http://z4.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)
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http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/interns.html Tell them Adam sent you. | |
 
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| Post #2 Dec 5 2008, 11:25:13 AM | Crystal |
| so sad :( i'm suprised that one fish spiked the tank enough to start a reaction. i think of all the dead baby clownfish i get after a hatch that generally sit on the bottom for a few days until i can see them to get them out. |
breeding stock
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| Post #3 Dec 5 2008, 11:51:03 AM | Nate |
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all things have their place, and unless you had large bristleworms in a fry tank I don't see where they would cause any problems, and would help with waste control. So sad to hear that you lost that many fish. But in a 10 gal, I'd think one fish wouldn't kill off that much--maybe it was the straw that pushed the tank to toxic levels? |
fry baby
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| Post #4 Dec 5 2008, 09:24:42 PM | Don |
| Thanks for the story Amie. I was just looking in my seahorse tank and saw two bristalworms and wondered if i should take them out, after reading your story I think I will leave them in. I also have some crabs in the tank, that should help with uneaten food or a unfortunate death. |
breeding stock
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| DON | |
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| Post #5 Dec 5 2008, 09:33:21 PM | Shane |
| amie your building a new seahorse tank? |
breeding stock
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| Post #6 Dec 7 2008, 08:13:10 AM | Suzy |
| Amie, do you think they would eat fry? |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #7 Dec 9 2008, 12:13:03 AM | Amie |
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To answer a couple of questions, these weren't really small babies. I call them babies because they are only 4 months old and I raised them from eggs. But their main body size is about the size of a dime. The dead fish was in the water for about 15-18 hours before the other fish started to die, from what I can tell. When I found them, there were still 4 fish alive, and the others looked like they had just died (except for the one that had died the day earlier). [Suzy]Amie, do you think they would eat fry?[/Suzy] I don't think they would. They wouldn't be able to catch them and the fry would have to be laying on the bottom before they could eat them anyway since there aren't any rocks in a fry tank. But if I put them in a fry tank, I would probably only put one in there and make sure it was a pretty small one. It would be an interesting experiment to try with brand new fry. They could eat dead brine shrimp or left over food. |
stormy, stormy nights
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http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/interns.html Tell them Adam sent you. | |
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| Post #8 Dec 9 2008, 06:26:13 AM | Suzy |
| As long as they are small, I would feel safe. |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #9 Dec 9 2008, 03:59:17 PM | Don |
| Would a few small crabs be safe? I know they are great for cleaning up dead food and better looking than worms. |
breeding stock
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| Post #10 Dec 9 2008, 04:17:45 PM | Suzy |
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That would make me really nervous! Tiny starfish, little worms I could live with but nothing with pinchers! I might be a bit over protective, though.... |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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