2x Worm ID - Brown/Green w/ Fuzzy Crown

[thesus13]

There are two worms in the picture below. The pink worm I'm pretty sure is a bristle worm - any idea of it would be harmful? I've got literally like 3 dozen of these guys varying from itty bitty to 5" in length in my 5G nano (which has had nothing but a few shrooms for the past 2 years).

The second worm is what I really have no clue on. It's in the center of the picture.

Thanks for your help and advice!

 

[venwu225]

the center one looks like a chiton

 

[LockeOak]

Yeah, the one on the top is a bristleworm. They're harmless (except to bare skin) and help keep the undersides of rocks and cracks clean, very beneficial Just don't touch them barehanded, they'll give you a rash-like burn. If you're ever moving live rock around, wear gloves, you never know when they'll be a bristleworm on the underside of it!

 

[charlesr1958]

Hard to make out any detail on the worm, but the odds are in your favor of it being a harmless scavenger. If you care to try and ID it further, the worm section of my hitch hiker pages may come in use.

Chuck's Hitch Hikers

 

[jaymz101]

Most bristle worms are beneficial, but if you see one larger than say a foot or so thats when you gotta worry about it eating corals. Bottom worm looks like a chiton...maybe. Is it hard or soft?

 

[thesus13]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9979949#post9979949 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jaymz101
Bottom worm looks like a chiton...maybe. Is it hard or soft?

It looks like it has bristles around the edge, so I wasn't gonna touch it = )

 

[Nitro350Z]

Bristle worms are beneficial, what jaymz101 is referring to are the larger Eunice worms which are predatory towards corals. Bristle worms are only suited to eat dead/decaying matter (no jaws) and cant eat anything alive. Out of the fire worms, one type is known to eat LPS, buts its rare and should be easy to catch as it takes them quite a bit of time to eat anything and they're stuck doing it until they're done. large Eunice worms on the other hand have jaws and can prey on corals and smaller fish, thankfully the larger variaties of these worms aren't seen too often in tanks and most of the smaller types are scavengers.

HTH.

No clue on the other worm tho. Sorry.

 

[thesus13]

I actually just put a small sixline wrasse in my tank to help reduce the # of worms. However beneficial they may be, if I feel like I can't put my hand in the tank, there's a problem = ) Interestingly, since my sixline is only about 4/5ths of an inch long, he looks at the big 5" worm curiously, swims up next to it, but doesn't do anything more than look.

There's lots of little worms that I hope he'll start to clean up though... or at least, make them go into hiding again.

Still lookin' for an ID on that second worm = )