Worm ID please

JennM;693033 wrote:
Are you that squeamish that the link made you woozy? :)

That's a 7 FOOT LONG worm Jenn!! The thing can eat your dog!! :eek:
 
Hey now... it was only 6' (72"). I thought it was fascinating, personally - I remember when Steve posted about it on TRT back in the day. When I read the subject line of his post... 6-foot worm, I thought he was exaggerating. Sort of like, "I pulled a 6' sliver out of my finger." I was pretty astonished when it turned out to REALLY be a six-footer.

Those, of course, are the rare exception. I have seen a handful of Eunicid worms firsthand but most were 6 INCHES or so long. They are smoother, have a distinct feeding organ and are much thicker/fatter than bristleworms, and fairly easy to differentiate. Regardless of size, IMO Eunicids should be removed.

Bristles - let 'em be. Think of them as little vacuum cleaners.

Jenn
 
Everytime I've seen one in my tank they are very skiddish. The second anything gets close to them they immediately shoot back in their hole. I was moving some rock around the other day and felt a shock. . Followed by some itching later on. I wonder if that's what it was. . Or I possibly touched an aptasia.

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I don't think it is possible to rid your tank of all bristleworms. They are kind of omnipresent in reef tanks, as far as I know. I think the best one could do is manually remove the large ones, but there are babies everywhere.
 
Will a wrasse even attempt to eat a large bristle worm?


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That one you have isn't large. But yes, they'll eat the big fat juicy ones too.
 
JennM;693065 wrote: That one you have isn't large. But yes, they'll eat the big fat juicy ones too.

Thanks Jenn, I know the one I have isn't big at all, but I wanted to make sure that they will eat the big ones in case I do have some big ones that want to come out. I was hoping my 6 line wrasse will eat it but it didn't. I saw my 6 line swim right by it and looked at it but he didn't bother to even touch the worm and the worm didn't seem to care about the 6 line either. That was really disappointing so now I'm off to look for the other wrasse that will. You don't happen to have any of those wrasses at your shop do you Jenn?
 
Not at the moment. Melanurus will eat them too (no I don't have one of those either right now)...

I really wouldn't fret about it.

Jenn
 
If you go to indo pacific sea farms web site they have videos of the 2 different types and the differences. I agree with Jen if it is a bristleworm then yes it is good for tank but if it is a fireworm then very bad for entire system. Most people don't know that there is 2 different types and people call them all "bristleworms".
 
There are plenty of things in a cleanup crew. Why would you want something that stings you? I had a lot of them, and no matter what if i stuck my hand in to move a clam or rock whatever they stung the crap out of me.

Plus they look awful in droves. I tried to trap them but gave up.

I know you shouldnt be sticking bare hands in there. ..
 
I think I'm going to add a few wrasses in my tank to help keep their numbers under control. My take on this from researching them all day and from most every ones responds on here is that their good in small size and numbers, so I hope the wrasses will help do that for me. I can do without them all together but since getting rid of them completely seems to be a bit of work, I'll go with the natural way and just let the fish take care of them as much they can.

Thanks everyone for your help. Happy reefing.
 
PFCDeitz;693101 wrote: Stop being a little girl

If I can catch one, I'm going to stick it up your (_Y_) and see how much of a man you'll be bro.... :lol2:
 
Barbara;693121 wrote: Yes, you got nailed! Did you see any small hairy looking things where the stinging/itching was going on? The itching is part of the after effects too.

I agree also with Gort. For some reason it seems that almost every time I reach in there I get stung by one, even if I'm just adjusting some corals around. Not fun!

honestly i didnt really look close.. i had some sand and stuff on my fingers so i just went to the sink and washed them off.. guess next time ill wear my gloves. its just so hard to grasp things with them on.
 
You'll never get rid of all of them unless you strip all the live rock and coral substrate out of your tank and begin again with a sterile Fish-Only with fake ornaments.

Don't worry - be happy. They're just worms... geez.

Jenn
 
My tank has lots and I will likely continue to use bare hands until i learn my lesson the hard way but have never been stung. I am careful not to stick my hands where I can not see. I lift rock from the top until I confirm that there aren't painful surprises. As for fears of over population, from everything I've read on this forum and others, they grow and reproduce based on amount of food. By that, the best way to reduce numbers is perhaps feed your fish less. Otherwise you'll always be chasing them down if your are trying to limit the number. I'd guess a better skimmer or filter system would help as well (but that cost monies).
 
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