Help Identifying a Worm

[Freshy]

I just started my first reef tank, the other day I thought I saw a worm coming out of one of the pieces of live rock. I removed the rock as from what I've read any worm over a couple of inches is not beneficial.

I tried feeding the rock to see if the worm would come out, no luck, I put the rock back in the tank and last night I see it come out again. At this point I'm a little frustrated, long story short, I have lots of smaller pieces of rock and am now in possession of these worms.

Can anyone identify them? I don't think I want to put them back in my tank, does anyone want them?



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[icy1155]

these are your common bristle worm it looks like... and no... you can keep them im having enough fun getting rid of the monster one in my tank

 

[JustinRice]

Yes he looks like a common Bristle worm. As ugly as they are they normally don't bother anything in the tank. People have been trying to rid them for years and it seems near possible. Defintly dispose of him now that you have the chance though. Just don't touch them with your hands. The bristles are like fibre glass and very irratable in yoru skin.

no need to worry about having them in the tank but if you have the chance to nab one go right ahead and dispose of them. If you break them in 2 you then have 2 large bristle worms...

Good luck.

-Justin

 

[Sk8r]

Beneficial to your tank. I have hundreds, including 4 10"-ers. They'll never harm your corals, might give a fish a bristled chin for a day or two, will definitely sting your fingers. And generally they'll save your tank from disaster if you have a megasnail or fish jam itself under massive rockwork and die.

 

[cchoffman]

They are some of the best clean up crew you can have. Leave them in your tank.

 

[dc]

[welcome]

Well I'm not sure they're regular bristleworms or not. I believe the experts here need a head shot. I've got some like that that are snail/clam killers. I've kept mine.

 

[LeslieH]

Debi's right, they're not what most reefers call bristleworms which are amphinomids & mostly beneficial scavengers. Yours is the mollusc-predator Oenone fulgida. If you prefer molluscs to worms & especially if you have giant clams get rid of it.

 

[cchoffman]

How can you tell that? They look like every bristleworm in my tank and they have never touched my clams.

Per a Reefkeeping article by Dr. Ron Shimek
"Whatever its status, animals that we presently refer to as Oenone fulgida may be easily recognized. As with the rest of the eunicid group, these worms lack the white tufts. In fact these lysaretids tend to look relatively smooth, often without obvious appendages on their sides."

Here is a link to the article

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

Just looking for how you can tell the difference.

 

[LeslieH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8648481#post8648481 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cchoffman
How can you tell that? They look like every bristleworm in my tank and they have never touched my clams.
Just looking for how you can tell the difference.

Worms are my speciality. When you look in your tank you see bristleworms where I would see individual species.

Oenone is round in cross section. It has shiny iridescent skin, orange or green or a combination of the two. Each body segment has 1 parapodium ("leg") on each side above which is a club shaped appendage. There are two eyes and 3 tiny antennae (which you can't see without a close up lens). The head is is a rounded triangle. The bristles are small & don't show without a close up lens. If the worms in your tank haven't touched your clams then they might not be Oenone.

If you do a RC search on Oenone you'll get a list of 100 posts, some of which have images like this one:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=847248&highlight=Oenone
:

 

[Freshy]

Thank you all! I'm glad I pulled them out now as I have some snails in the tank.

I'm going to go home tonight and make sure I don't have any more of them. Other than my rock breaking are they any other ideas for catching them if I do happen to have any more?

Andrew

 

[LeslieH]

Oenone are hard to trap because they tend to extend the front part of their bodies to get food but leave the posterior part back in the burrow. That means they have leverage to quickly retract when threatened. Maybe if you used a narrow necked bottle with snail meat inside & left a pair of big forceps wedged by the bottle mouth so the worm had to go between the prongs to get to the meat you could grab the worm.

 

[Freshy]

Thanks for the Tip, I hope I don't have to attempt to catch any more of them.

 

[Tommy Tang]

I think I have this in my tank and it looks like what you've described. What other damage can it do? My mushrooms have disappeared overnight! Now, my zoanthids are beginning to go. Can this be the cause?

 

[LeslieH]

From what I've learned here on RC the culprit is more likely to be an eunicid polychaete. Check your tank at night using a red light. If it is an eunicid you'll need to trap it/them or use another method to get it out. Other animals will eat softies as well.