techreef
Premium Member
Couldn't believe it last night. Didn't really see it coming, but in hindsight it was a long time coming.
The scene: Dark (and stormy?) living room. I'm shutting things down, getting ready to go to bed, when I take one last look at the reef tank and WHOA, right against the front glass is a big tunnel underneath the sand, and what do I spot in said tunnel? One of the eunicid worms that hitchhiked in on my LR 18 months ago and I've been moderately freaked about since! This worm was about 5" long, but not very thick. Maybe a 1/4" thick. Definitely eunicid, w/ the five antennae sticking out of its head, the mandibles underneath the head, and the lightning fast withdrawal reaction to perceived danger.
So, I'm presented with an obvious choice, right? Use this golden opportunity and snag this worm out of my display tank, and send it packing! And that's what I start gearing up to do. Pulled out a stepstool to get extra height on the tank. Got a plastic bowl to dump the worm into after capture. Pulled out two sets of forceps. Got a paper towel to mop up any drips from my wet arm. I was all set to do this thing, and then... :hmm2: I start wondering if this eunicid was definitely a bad critter.
So, i fire up the computer and google eunicids, read a couple more Dr. Shimek articles, and low and behold he says that while in the wild they can and do catch and eat fish, many/most found in aquariums are detrivores. He listed two subspecies of eunicids, and I couldn't tell which mine was. Both descriptions matched my worm.
Bah!!! It's a cold-blooded killer! I've had gobies go missing! Coral frags die! We STONE THE WITCHES!! So I grab some forceps and chase the little devil around until I can get a good grip, and pull the sucker out of the tank and into my plastic tub.
I have tossed four mantis shrimp, countless whelks and gorilla crabs, (when I didn't just spear them w/ a chopstick) and two stone crabs off of my balcony since I started up this tank. I've had cirolanid isopods hitchhike into my tank. I've still got at least 3 pistol shrimp in there (hitchhikers). I've already begun to wonder if that was a smart move on my part. So I've pretty much had it with unwanted critters causing havoc in my tank. This euni would have been a goner a year ago.
But of course, after reading too many worm articles and postings of people advising posters to not kill, but add to their sump, any questionable critters, I have succumbed to the softer side of reefing. This worm is now living in (terrorizing) my refugium. Was this stupid? Quite possibly. But the chance that it actually cleans up my tank and doesn't kill things made me think twice. Sheesh. I actually took a good look at it before I dumped it in the fuge, and it was cool to see the gills and the little white patch behind it's head. (caruncle?) You never see so much of them when they're in the tank. Where do I go from here?
The scene: Dark (and stormy?) living room. I'm shutting things down, getting ready to go to bed, when I take one last look at the reef tank and WHOA, right against the front glass is a big tunnel underneath the sand, and what do I spot in said tunnel? One of the eunicid worms that hitchhiked in on my LR 18 months ago and I've been moderately freaked about since! This worm was about 5" long, but not very thick. Maybe a 1/4" thick. Definitely eunicid, w/ the five antennae sticking out of its head, the mandibles underneath the head, and the lightning fast withdrawal reaction to perceived danger.
So, I'm presented with an obvious choice, right? Use this golden opportunity and snag this worm out of my display tank, and send it packing! And that's what I start gearing up to do. Pulled out a stepstool to get extra height on the tank. Got a plastic bowl to dump the worm into after capture. Pulled out two sets of forceps. Got a paper towel to mop up any drips from my wet arm. I was all set to do this thing, and then... :hmm2: I start wondering if this eunicid was definitely a bad critter.
So, i fire up the computer and google eunicids, read a couple more Dr. Shimek articles, and low and behold he says that while in the wild they can and do catch and eat fish, many/most found in aquariums are detrivores. He listed two subspecies of eunicids, and I couldn't tell which mine was. Both descriptions matched my worm.
Bah!!! It's a cold-blooded killer! I've had gobies go missing! Coral frags die! We STONE THE WITCHES!! So I grab some forceps and chase the little devil around until I can get a good grip, and pull the sucker out of the tank and into my plastic tub.
I have tossed four mantis shrimp, countless whelks and gorilla crabs, (when I didn't just spear them w/ a chopstick) and two stone crabs off of my balcony since I started up this tank. I've had cirolanid isopods hitchhike into my tank. I've still got at least 3 pistol shrimp in there (hitchhikers). I've already begun to wonder if that was a smart move on my part. So I've pretty much had it with unwanted critters causing havoc in my tank. This euni would have been a goner a year ago.
But of course, after reading too many worm articles and postings of people advising posters to not kill, but add to their sump, any questionable critters, I have succumbed to the softer side of reefing. This worm is now living in (terrorizing) my refugium. Was this stupid? Quite possibly. But the chance that it actually cleans up my tank and doesn't kill things made me think twice. Sheesh. I actually took a good look at it before I dumped it in the fuge, and it was cool to see the gills and the little white patch behind it's head. (caruncle?) You never see so much of them when they're in the tank. Where do I go from here?
