How to catch an eunice worm? In 8 inches of sand...

Calappidae

Calappidae

Harlequin Shrimp
I have a L. maculata setup with a sandbed of about 8 inches tall. Conviently, a 1.5 foot eunice worm that I never knew existed in there decided to dig a tunnel at the very bottom up against the glass of the tank. Well, it's obvious in 8 inches of sand I'm unable to dig him out, and certainly he has no reason to come to the surface to the bottle trap, so I'm a little open for ideas on how I should remove this guy (and maybe his friends too as I know there has to be more.)

I can provide pictures, but they will be of very low quality due to lighting.. but I can confirm it as eunicid due to raptorial jaws and antenna visible on the head.
 
I think perseverance is the key here. I wouldn't give up on the bottle trap. Just give it juicy bait like half a shrimp in the bottle but make sure the hole in the lid is tight enough so he can't get back out. If he hasn't taken the bait the following day throw it out and use fresh bait but set the trap at night just before lights out. The mouth of the trap should be level with the sand so he can crawl in easily. If you catch it please post a pic. GL.
 
I second the jar trap idea. Also, if you're game they do come out at night to probe around for food so you could lure it out with a piece of bait on a skewer and have the forceps ready in your other hand. There's a small (3-4") specimen that lives in a piece of my live rock and I've managed to lure about 3/4 of it out of the hole with a piece of shrimp. You have to be careful and quick though as they react to light and vibration pretty quickly - a moonlight works wonders in these situations.
 
Unforunately, all atempts to catch the worm has failed.

Bottle trap did not work as expected, the worm is 3 feet long (expanded across a dug tunnel from one side of the tank to the other) and easily reached in, grabbed food, then retracted back out. I did catch only half a million bristleworms tho.

I'm tempted to get the gloves, and grab the worm out by hand. Just so quick he leaves with the slightest disturbance.
 
what about a large piece of pvc and drill holes in the top, fill it with food and put caps on both ends. very similar to the bottletrap but its dark and more room in there maybe it will work better.

what are you doing with all your bristle worms btw?
 
Wow! 3 feet? You could punch a hole through a metal lid so the jagged edges are pointing inside. The hole would be a bit narrower than thickness of the worm. The worm would enter but get stuck in the jar when trying to get out. I think this would work.
 
hotelbravo said:
what are you doing with all your bristle worms btw?
Click to expand...

They are released back into the system as my only CuC.

I'll give the PVC method a try, but I can only picture similar results to the bottle trap. If I'm lucky he might stay in there long enough to atleast get a good grip on him.
 
i just dont think bottle traps work as well as the pvc method. in my opinion it would be more desireable for the worms to stay in a very dark cavelike contraption where they are getting fed vs a clear/semi clear bottle when light passes through and makes them want to retreat back into their holes.


i was asking about what you do with the bristleworms cause many people get rid of them but i find them as my most beneficial clean up crew and hell if you were tossing "half a million" i was going to offer to buy them off you lol
 
hotelbravo said:
i was asking about what you do with the bristleworms cause many people get rid of them but i find them as my most beneficial clean up crew and hell if you were tossing "half a million" i was going to offer to buy them off you lol
Click to expand...

Forget about buying, I'd pay you to take a million of mine lol, and I'd probably still have 10 million, but I probably live too far away.
 
rt67ghy said:
Forget about buying, I'd pay you to take a million of mine lol, and I'd probably still have 10 million, but I probably live too far away.
Click to expand...

yea your deffinetly in a far corner of world from me lol. i cant seem to get enough of the bristleworms they are my favorite clean up crew
 
Found 2 more, they're only 3 inches-5 inches in length however, and close to the top of the sandbed while the 3footer is all the way at the bottom.

When I build these two L. maculatas a new tank, I'm not bringing the old rock or old sand with me.
 
Never going to,

If CUC crew consumes the decaying worm or worse, it doesn't affect the worm and my L. Maculata gets it, loses years of its life eating copper. Honestly, I shook my hand reading that thread with the introduction of toxic chemicals, regardless of how little the dose is.

Besides, I'd prefer a live specimen caught and rehomed in a separate display over here or by somebody else. 3 footer is a beauty. Quite the odd thing to keep, but studying the creatures behavorial patterns is my passion, just the guy isn't welcome in any of these systems.
 
Is it possible to remove the rock and put it in tubs along with the other critters? Perhaps give him only one hiding place, a big piece of PVC, and put food in it? Maybe a really long piece of PVC with only one opening and food at the other end, a big hunk of food so the bristles won't eat it all.
Glad to hear you'd rather take him out alive. That's always the best option, since it's not the critter's fault it ended up in your tank. Besides, these worms are really cool.
 
That's the problem, there is no rockwork. It's all sandbed, I'd have to dig out all these worms if I had any hoping of ridding them without starting a new system.
 
I have another suggestion which hopefully does not include killing the worms. Since you stated there are no rocks, only a DSB you may consider using a hook (a snake hook would be ideal) and run it through your sand quite rapidly to bring the worm(s) to the surface and then pulling them out with a long pair of tweezers. You may need someone to help you who's not too squeamish to hold the tweezers ready. It'd be best to have a bucket with tank water at hand to put them into. These are pretty slippery customers and you wouldn't want to chase them across the floor.
 
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