Worm ID

[daleksec]

Hi, can anyone identify this? Are they safe?

I have a royal gramma that has been missing for several days. I decided to start removing rocks to try to find it and the rocks are infested with them. I never found the royal gramma. He completely disappeared.

I have a 30 gallon tank with 5 snails and 1 diamondback goby.

Could these worms have eaten my royal gramma? He was behaving strangely before he disappeared. I sifted through the sand, checked the sump and around the tank but still no royal gramma.

Thanks for your help!
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[lmm1967]

I think - just plain old bristle worms. Harmless to healthy stuff, but ugly.

How old is tank and was the RG a new addition? If he died the worms and CUC could have disposed of the carcass fairly quickly.


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[daleksec]

The tank is 1 year old. The RG has been in the tank for 6 months.

 

[xilez]

Yep definitely Bristles...pretty harmless, until they poke you

 

[bcavalli]

Here's a couple I pulled from my tank a few weeks ago. They stretch out about 4 feet. They get really creepy when they get big like this.

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[axio]

Yup good old bristle worms. Pretty much the best sand sifter in the game! In my opinion all reef tanks need a good crew of bristles doing the true dirty work under the sand and deep inside your rock.

Did they eat your gramma? There is a very good likely hood that they did eat it, but almost assuredly they didn't kill it or were not the cause of death. More then likely your Royal Gramma passed away from some other cause and the worms just came in to clean up the dead body.

 

[jennm]

Daleksec has bristleworms.

Brett - those look almost like Eunicid worms - have you lost any mushrooms lately? If it's a Eunicid, they eat mushrooms.

Jenn

 

[bcavalli]

I'm not sure if there Bristle worms or the other ones. I fortunately don't have any mushrooms. Lol