GIANT WORM in my tank!!!

[igotsalt]

We started tearing down my 125 this morning to bring in the 230. All animals were moved to different tanks, so I started taking out the bottom pieces of live rock. I had gloves on and grabbed a rock that did not want to come out. Usually you can tell by the rock color and texture on how heavy it is. This was a light weight compared to others I had already pulled out! This giant worm started rolling around and scared me to death! This thing is 12 -14" long and irresdescent. It looks like a giant earthworm with paddles/bristles/featherduster arms??. It's maroonish colored primarily and segmented. I found a picture on the internet that called it a "ragworm". I will research it futher and try to get some pictures. We also found a very small blue mantis shrimp.


I borrowed a camera so I can finally start taking some pictures to document my tanks! I don't think a camera can do this worm justice! It is unbelievable! It must be all the legs flying around that makes it look so gross!

 

[ahoyhoy239]

probably a eucnid i think its spelled i had one adn ive heard of one that reached 6 ft in someones tank

 

[LtPiper]

Salt you always get the intereing critter don't you.

 

[carb850]

I have seen some photos of those monster worms. Stories like this makes me think more and more about using dry Fiji rock to finish out my tank. Looking forward to seeing some pics.

 

[igotsalt]

Your right Piper! I would like to know how to calculate it's age. I have bought rock straight from the islands a couple times. It is always interesting to see what crawls out! We've gotten home from the airport and opened boxes at 4:am to get the crap scared out of us. It's not a big deal once you see it coming out from under cardboard, it's when it takes off and startles you! We have had small octopus's come out in one piece but sadly they were dead.

I will get pictures up after I get this 125 down and 230 in it's place. It will be a couple days. I do not think the mantis will make it. It's not moving very much. Looks like I might have more since this is sooo small. There is probably a mom mantis somewhere! I have not done any research on the mantis. Is it a egg layer? Does the small size usually mean there are going to be more that have not come out yet?

I typed in ragworm last night on goggle trying to get worm informatiuon. It brought up a picture from reef central with this worm in the corner of the tank and a green chromis in background. I would like to get to that thread to see the rest of the information. wetwebmedia had very little information, and several other sites I visited. Most talked about using it as bait. This is where I found the picture on reef central. How can I track this down on the forum? If the link does not work I typed in "giant bristle worm on goggle" and it was the heading that said Egads! Giant bristleworm.

http://reefcentral.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?s=&postid=529294

 

[igotsalt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11594687#post11594687 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ahoyhoy239
probably a eucnid i think its spelled i had one adn ive heard of one that reached 6 ft in someones tank

thanks for the information! I will look it up! How big was yours and what did you do with it?

 

[coralreefer]

Sounds like a Eunicid worm. Steve Weast had one that was 7 feet long when he removed it.
The worm incident.

I would like to know how to calculate it's age.

Sounds like a baby. Steve estimated his grew 3 inches a month in his tank

 

[odoprelude]

That's nothing, Harold, my bristleworm lives in a little cave in my reef tank stretches 18"-24".. no comparo to the 7 foot worm, but still... gross, huge and somewhat charming.. comes out at night.. eats detrius.. model citizen.. should be able to get a proper size when I do the change over to the new tank... whenever I get some lights for it...