I thinks its a BIG Bristle Worm

[thirty5]

Other night my wife saw something go into a rock, she said that it looked like a BIG worm. The other morning i looked in tank and i saw what appeared to be the end of a worm and after looking at pictures i think that it is a bristle worm. It is beige in color, but it looks kinda flat. I have not seen it since, and i have been checking the tank after lights go out with a flashlight but cant find it. The part that i saw was probably the width of a pencil and had to be at least 2 1/2- 3 inches. So i can only imagine what part is in teh tank.

I have also noticed that i have a bunch of empty turbo shells in that area of the tank. I have seen my larger hermit attack the turbos but they close up, never seen one get the snail.

Any ideas? I saw something about a trap. I want to get this thing out if it is going to kill my snails. I know that the bristle is a cleaner but just dont want to have it kill my other clean up crew. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[JHOV2324]

I've read that bristle worms are scavengers, not killers....if they are going after shells and such then its cause its already dead...

 

[seamonkey]

um, does it look like this

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/files/1/5/5/9/eunicid1.jpg

or this?

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/files/1/5/5/9/050611Shaws_Worm_w.sized.jpg

cause then it may be a bobbit worm (eunicid worm).

we have one in our 75g. it killed six cardinal fish and a few snails (at night) before we found it. it doesn't bother with our two shrimp, boxer crab or purple spiny lobster. supposedly the only way to get it out of the live rock is to soak the piece of rock in freshwater. this is supposed to drive it out looking for saltier waters. and of course kill a lot of stuff on that particular piece of live rock. which is part of the reason we never restocked the tank with new fish. (other reason is we moved and are upgrading to a 210g).

they are NOT scavengers, they are nasty little predators. the one we have has never completely emerged from the rock, but we have seen it (with moonlights) crawl out about seven inches, and it is the diameter of a pencil. it has iridecent skin, and these gross tentacle-jaw things on its face. it usually emerges after feeding our inverts mysis. but if it sees any movement from something inside or outside the tank it darts back into its hole. i hate it and can't wait to extract it from our rock.

the book that i have says that they can grow up to 20-50 ft in the wild, yes feet. and they will eat fish up to 4in and sessile animals. gross.

 

[thirty5]

um, does it look like this

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/files/1/5/5/9/eunicid1.jpg

or this?

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/files/1/5/5/9/050611Shaws_Worm_w.sized.jpg

cause then it may be a bobbit worm (eunicid worm).

we have one in our 75g. it killed six cardinal fish and a few snails (at night) before we found it. it doesn't bother with our two shrimp, boxer crab or purple spiny lobster. supposedly the only way to get it out of the live rock is to soak the piece of rock in freshwater. this is supposed to drive it out looking for saltier waters. and of course kill a lot of stuff on that particular piece of live rock. which is part of the reason we never restocked the tank with new fish. (other reason is we moved and are upgrading to a 210g).

they are NOT scavengers, they are nasty little predators. the one we have has never completely emerged from the rock, but we have seen it (with moonlights) crawl out about seven inches, and it is the diameter of a pencil. it has iridecent skin, and these gross tentacle-jaw things on its face. it usually emerges after feeding our inverts mysis. but if it sees any movement from something inside or outside the tank it darts back into its hole. i hate it and can't wait to extract it from our rock.

the book that i have says that they can grow up to 20-50 ft in the wild, yes feet. and they will eat fish up to 4in and sessile animals. gross.

It is the width of a pencil. looks more flat, def not round. If i had to guess it is the bristle. I thought that i read that they will go after snails. Guess i read wrong.

If it will do no harm to corals and stuff then i will let it be. But if there is a chance that he will harm something then i dont want to take that chance. and i want to get him out.

I am going to continue to try and see him and try to get a pic of it.

 

[EmilyT]

does it look like this?

if so, they're safe!!!

 

[EmilyT]

sometimes the ends or babies are the color you described. these can range anywhere from an inch to a little less than a foot long

 

[thirty5]

The body looked beige in color under the Actnics. But it was BIG! BUt it looked similar i would have to say

 

[EmilyT]

try and get a picture it might be a fireworm of some sort.

 

[EmilyT]

does it look more like this? oh and dont touch it. its spines will sting you.

 

[thirty5]

Yes, that MIGHT be a better resemblence. But the little bristles werent white. i think. They looked more like teh color of the body. But i only caught the back end ran away when i put the flash light on it. What is that a pic of?

 

[thirty5]

Well you did what "I SHOULD HAVE" google image search. I did find a few that do closely match what i have. I do not have any red on this one. But it just makes me nervous, cause what i just read said that it MAY eat things. I dunno. I am gonna try to set a trap for it to get it out.

 

[EmilyT]

the worst ive heard of were big thick flat ones nibbling on zoas. i dont think you should have a problem

yeah:hug: :google: