This probably isn't even my weirdest story since I worked with aquariums professionally for a decade+. Managed a petland aquatic department, worked for petco corporate, worked at Atlanta aquarium and ran a maintenance and installation business on the side the entire time. So here's another wild story.
This occurred in my reef show tank. My personal one in my home. I had probably 10 tanks that were 55g or larger at that time. One day I'm feeding my reef and I see a little nub poking the tiniest bit out of a hole in a 40 lb piece of lr that had 6 or 7 different types of zoanthids completely covering it. I'd noticed the zoas around this hole were staying closed 24/7 while all the rest were healthy and happy. There had also been something eating my tanks smaller/weaker inhabitants. They'd just be gone in the morning. This starts bothering me so after about 15 minutes of sitting and thinking angrily I grab a flat head screwdriver, my trusty rubber mallet, some gloves and a 5 gallon bucket half full of saltwater.
I take the beautiful zoa rock out of my tank and carry it to the bathroom and use the screwdriver and mallet to split the rock into right down the middle. I ll never forget what I saw after that. At first it appeared the rock was full of what looked like a cross between some devil worm and a centipede. As I pull the rock further apart i realize it's not many worms but one huge one! It'd burrowed a hole to live in all throughout the rock. It had like 5 tentacles on its mouth and black hairs that looked like legs going down each side of its body. As I slowly eased it into the bucket I got it to a point where I could hold the half piece of liverock as high as I could and the worm reached all the way to the floor. I'm 6ft tall. Now i had to get its head out of the rock. What to do? Then I remembered how some marine worms really freaking hate carbonated beverages. I asked my gf if she could please bring my a sprite bc I had my hands full. When she came in carrying a sprite and saw that worm . . . .you ever witnessed someone's brain break temporarily?
She was speechless and watched in fascinated horror as I poured sprite on the worms burrow and it fell into the bucket. I said to myself out loud "I should set up a species tank for this guy. I'll name him big worm like the dude smokey owed money to in friday" then I quietly chuckled at my goofy reference. That's when my gf went off on me. She said I absolutely wasn't keeping that in the house. She was still asking questions about that thing for weeks "what was that?" Probably some sort of eunicid worm"where'd it come from?" probably Fiji, came in on the liverock as a baby and grew up "are there more in there?" I highly doubt it "can it hurt people?" I really don't think so but there isn't a whole lot of info online about it. "Is that as big as they get?" No, some marine biologists believe some species may grow up to 50 feet long but there's not a ton of info on these creatures since they're highly secretive, living in rocks and under the sand in the ocean.
There are a few videos of these living horrors online. I think most people here know what a Bobbit worm is. This looked very very similar but lacked the pincers jaws. I've heard that some of these are among the fastest if not the fastest creatures alive when retracting into their hole.
Disclaimer: lots of this information was learned over a decade ago so if somethings changed or been proven false my bad. I haven't kept up my studies in the last few years. I saw a picture of a fish the other day and thought of its scientific name only to learn that wasn't it's scientific name anymore. It'd been reclassified or possibly had a separate genus made for it.
I'll return to hobby someday. Soon I hope. Working/managing a LFS can be awful just like any job interacting with the public. A grown man with his child with him once physically attacked me bc he thought a fish from South America was from Africa. I gently and politely corrected him but he kept on and i wouldn't give in bc I'm a fish nerd and I knew he was wrong for a 100% fact. How's that for the craziest reason to get in a fight? Also someone let a small copperhead snake loose in the store. I have a ton of weird aquarium stories. Working at a LFS can be rough at times but the hobby is so amazing and rewarding. Hopefully anyone who spent the time to read this wall of text enjoyed it. If not, I'm sorry plz don't punch me.
