Eating my corals!

Help- something is eating my corals at an fast pace- first 5 of my 6 heads on my blastos were gone- next my entire plate coral (5inches) was eaten in about three nights and finally 4 of my 5 acan frags have been devoured (with some chewing on the last! I believe that this problem was introduced about three weeks ago when I brought home a couple of new pieces from my lfs.
I am not sure what to do at his point- I have tried getting up in the middle of the night with a flashlight several times- no large predators spotted- I did notice some 3/8 inch long white worms on the glass but not the corals- I do have a bristle worm population but they have never been a problem before- any ideas- It is an awful sight to see my babies being eaten 1 at a time!!!!!!!!!

 

Have you tested your water to make sure that it's not parameters that are causing the decline in some of your corals?

 

Eunicid worms are notorious coral eaters. By any chance did you get more LR with the corals attached?

 

I have a max amount of rock in my tank but 2 of my new corals were attached to small 2 to 2 1/2 inch pieces- all water parametrs are good- my unattacked corals look great- they are definately being eaten-

 

Not much info on the web about Eunicid worms - any ideas on how to proceed?

 

Check out Steve's worm. Oregonreef.com

Bottom half of this article Polychaete Annelid Identification, or “You Can Always Tell A Bristle Worm… by Ronald L. <b style="color:black;background-color:#99ff99">Shimek</b>, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

Reefkeeper's Guide to Invertebrate Zoology: by Rob Toonen Aquarium.Net January 1998

eunicid worm reef tank - Google Search

PS, they are VERY hard to catch because they move sooooo fast. If that's what you have, find the rock it's living in and remove it. Then put it in a bucket and wait for it to come out or pour seltzer water in the hole.

 

it's going to be a long night lol- thanks I check it out

 

Why not just put it in freshwater and force the sucker out. ;D

Wow, that oregon reef is absolutely beautiful. What sophistication. wow.

 

Some folks aren't willing to kill the piece of rock by soaking it in freshwater. I, on the other hand, would soak the bugger in bleach if I had one of those evil worms!

 

ok so I checked several times through the night- I thought I saw something moving away from my last blasto head but couldn't get a good look- however I took my new hydnophora out of the tank and found what seemed to be an extra large(compared to my other worms) bristle worm- all the ones native to my tank are brown - this one was a dark red. Anyway after removing him I am really hoping I nabbed the culprit. Inwall 75 your links were helpful and informative-thanks- although this didn't really exactly match those pictures I think it was a good place to start- anyway it wasn't something I was used to seeing in my tank either- I will keep you posted.
Amcarig and Ricktzer if I was absolutely sure which rock it was I would bring it to work and put it in the incinerator- lol. Truthfully I am not worried about any particular rock- all of mine died after Hurricane Katrina- I took them out , scrubbed them down and put them in an aerated barrel for 4 weeks- took them out and reseeded them with new rock and pods, etc and 1 year later they are absolutely covered with life!
Thank you everyone for your input- I will let you know how I make out!