I thought I've seen every nuisance pest over my 50+ years of reefing, but during the past year I had the misfortune of dealing with a new one: The Bearded Fireworm. I have a thread about these worms killing my SPS frags, one per night for about 30 days until I figured out why the corals were dying:
(You can jump to post #136 on page 7 for my discovery).
I never saw these worms before because in all my years of reefing I always purchased Pacific Live Rock. Last year was the first time I ever bought "Florida Rock" (KP) and that's where these worms came from. They love SPS and are a nightmare to get rid of! They usually only come out at night and if part of them is in a rock they will break apart if you try to pull on them. I got so frustrated with one that I smashed the rock into pieces to get to it. Inside the rock there were 3 huge adults and a bunch of babies. (Babies are black and very thin). I'm guessing it will be an endless battle to get rid of them, but now that I know about their presence I spend a lot of time looking for them (mostly after the lights go out) and occasionally catch one.
The first time I saw one I was fascinated by it's beauty......but not so much anymore:
White Tips on SPS Frags Every Morning for Past 15 Days
Warning: I tried to make this as concise as possible but it is a "long read", so continue only if you have a lot of patience and curiosity! PROBLEM: For the past 15 days, every morning I wake up to find a white tip that I have to snip, usually on one frag each day. Only once was there STN from...
www.reef2reef.com
I never saw these worms before because in all my years of reefing I always purchased Pacific Live Rock. Last year was the first time I ever bought "Florida Rock" (KP) and that's where these worms came from. They love SPS and are a nightmare to get rid of! They usually only come out at night and if part of them is in a rock they will break apart if you try to pull on them. I got so frustrated with one that I smashed the rock into pieces to get to it. Inside the rock there were 3 huge adults and a bunch of babies. (Babies are black and very thin). I'm guessing it will be an endless battle to get rid of them, but now that I know about their presence I spend a lot of time looking for them (mostly after the lights go out) and occasionally catch one.
The first time I saw one I was fascinated by it's beauty......but not so much anymore: