Bristleworms dead/dying..Where do I begin?

[loislanetx]

Where do I begin...?? Water change, testing for ???

Bristleworms (and there were MANY) seem to all be dying...This cannot be good. 75G tank. 1 lg Naso Tang, 1 small yellow tang, two engineer gobbies (10"), two blennies, 2 small (forget their name), 1 yellow with pink (also forget the name-small) two small damsels, 1 fire shrimp, (Think that's about all)

1 nudibranch (Need to know what to feed him!!!)

Thanks, Lois

[GaryP]

We need pH, salinity, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, calcium, alkalinity, & temperature. Do you have a skimmer? What type of lights? How often do you do water changes and how large are they? What is the source of your water? Live Sand, Live Rock?

We'd be glad to help, just give us some info to work with.

Without knowing anything else, I'd say that you should do a pretty large water change (15-20%) and run carbon.

[matt]

How are your other invertibrates? Especially corals? If they are also apparently dying, i would strongly suspect copper poisoning; in fact, I'd still consider copper in your sand to be the prime suspect. This is assuming a few things: A) Many of your bristleworms are dying at the same time, after having been healthy in your tank for a long time. B) Your fish seem unaffected, and your water tests okay, especially with regards to salinity.

You should probably test for copper using the best kit available. (Salifert)

Carbon's probably a good idea. Use ALOT in a canister filter under some pressure.
15-20% is not a large water change IMO. Do much more than that if you find copper, only make sure you're not adding more copper with your make up water, and make sure you match salinity and ph carefully.

good luck, and welcome to Maast!