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Need help on a worm ID
- Thread starter Nickjr000
- Start date
It depends on whom you ask, but my experience has been that they are good. Dr. Jim will agree with me.
I picked up a rock with about 12 of those monsters and I have picked off about 6 just in case, but really only because I used to have my hands in my tank too often.
They are true fireworms (some species) and in my reading there venom can cause permanent nerve damage.
...
I was actually sad when I got rid one of the really big guys. He used to just lay around my 15g tank and sun bathe in the open. He was a big boy, but some RC reefers suggested that he may have stunned my Mantis Shrimp. I now know that he was affected by a bad molting. All well.
When I feed my pistol, bta and serpent star silversides they often come out and look for food. Often they will beg for food, stretching out trying to catch the silverside as I'm teasing the pistol or star. In any case, that was part of the problem since I did not want to accidentally brush up against it.
I have not researched, or tried it, but I'm guessing that my rubber gloves would NOT stop their poison, but who knows?
Here is one of the shots I took of them
By the way, I could not find much research on them. There was one guy (edu researcher) that had a species tank of them and noticed that they come out mostly at night, but his article was very short and conflicted a lot of my studying of them. Yeah, I know I need to find better things to do, but when I first setup my mantis tank two of these guys were my only inhabitants with one chunk of live rock. So, I had new tank syndrome and they were the only thing to log.
As far as corals are concerned, I have never seen them eating any corals or go anywhere near my BTA - although they are supposedly natural enemies of them. They do seem to be good clean-up crew members. Most of them hide between LR and the crushed coral bottom and come out at night or early morning to graze on what is on the bottom.
If you do need to get rid of them.. good luck! It takes a lot of dedication and probably taking out LR that they are hiding in. The few that I have caught were roaming around the tank on the floor or roaming on a piece of LR that was not porous. Tweezers work well, but they are super quick at backing into a corner, but really slow going forward. So, don't bother trying to yank at one because you will loose.
Also, if you cut it into two, and loose both parts, it will turn into two worms. I have verified this by cutting one into two and both ends quickly scurried away before I could get it. Later I saw both with regenerated pieces. Not really sure how that works...
I picked up a rock with about 12 of those monsters and I have picked off about 6 just in case, but really only because I used to have my hands in my tank too often.
They are true fireworms (some species) and in my reading there venom can cause permanent nerve damage.
...
I was actually sad when I got rid one of the really big guys. He used to just lay around my 15g tank and sun bathe in the open. He was a big boy, but some RC reefers suggested that he may have stunned my Mantis Shrimp. I now know that he was affected by a bad molting. All well.
When I feed my pistol, bta and serpent star silversides they often come out and look for food. Often they will beg for food, stretching out trying to catch the silverside as I'm teasing the pistol or star. In any case, that was part of the problem since I did not want to accidentally brush up against it.
I have not researched, or tried it, but I'm guessing that my rubber gloves would NOT stop their poison, but who knows?
Here is one of the shots I took of them
By the way, I could not find much research on them. There was one guy (edu researcher) that had a species tank of them and noticed that they come out mostly at night, but his article was very short and conflicted a lot of my studying of them. Yeah, I know I need to find better things to do, but when I first setup my mantis tank two of these guys were my only inhabitants with one chunk of live rock. So, I had new tank syndrome and they were the only thing to log.
As far as corals are concerned, I have never seen them eating any corals or go anywhere near my BTA - although they are supposedly natural enemies of them. They do seem to be good clean-up crew members. Most of them hide between LR and the crushed coral bottom and come out at night or early morning to graze on what is on the bottom.
If you do need to get rid of them.. good luck! It takes a lot of dedication and probably taking out LR that they are hiding in. The few that I have caught were roaming around the tank on the floor or roaming on a piece of LR that was not porous. Tweezers work well, but they are super quick at backing into a corner, but really slow going forward. So, don't bother trying to yank at one because you will loose.
Also, if you cut it into two, and loose both parts, it will turn into two worms. I have verified this by cutting one into two and both ends quickly scurried away before I could get it. Later I saw both with regenerated pieces. Not really sure how that works...
Wow thank for the input, much appreciated. I actually think the one I have is cool, like you said he comes out when i feed . not every time but a few now. I have no problem leaving it in the tank as long as it's " reef safe ". Do you know how big they get, how fast they grow or how they reproduce ? My guess is that they grow fast because i cured all my rock and baked it in the sun for 2 weeks then cured it for another month. Then I seeded the tank with some nice live rock from a lfs. So if one got in with the rock from the lfs i'm imagining it was very small.
Nickjr -Looks like a common bristle worm you'd find in the most reef tanks. You'd be surprised how big of a worm could be hiding inside a small piece of LR.
That stated, larger worms tend to become a little more risky. For example, a eunice species will be a great scavenger when small, but has been known to grow very large (several feet) and capable of snacking on small fish.
I am not so sure about the one in the pic by duijver. If it were me - i'd take it out. I know worms are supposed to be great and all at cleaning - but that's why i purchase snails/hermits/conches etc. At least with the CUC, guests (or wife) don't freak out on sight (vs gasping at the sight of a worm).
Since we are sharing pics (lol)...
It got flushed.
That stated, larger worms tend to become a little more risky. For example, a eunice species will be a great scavenger when small, but has been known to grow very large (several feet) and capable of snacking on small fish.
I am not so sure about the one in the pic by duijver. If it were me - i'd take it out. I know worms are supposed to be great and all at cleaning - but that's why i purchase snails/hermits/conches etc. At least with the CUC, guests (or wife) don't freak out on sight (vs gasping at the sight of a worm).
Since we are sharing pics (lol)...
It got flushed.