I can't beleive that I've got another giant worm !!!!

I have one exactly like that in my tank. I'm certain that it came in on my Fiji LR about 3 years ago. Don't know how long it is, but I've seen well over a foot of it, and from it's girth I'm guessing that there are several more feet. I have been loosing zoos on the end of the tank where it lives, but other corals seem to be doing fine.
Dr. Ron had one and said that they were detrivores, but I'm not
too sure, expecially not after reading your experience.
Any tips on catching/removing mine?
I think I could remove the rock on one end of the tank and expose it's lair, but I'm not sure if I could catch it.
Mariner
 
Mariner


Eunicids are carnivorious. They will eat all soft corals, left over food and even threaten sleeping fish.......acros tend to be left alone.....afterall, acros don't have that much flesh. I have had sections of mushrooms as large as 4 inches square disappear overnight.....and I've watched that head mow ricordea mushrooms down like a goat eating daisies. Dr. Ron has confirmed their carnivorious diet many times. These worms tend to have a central lair from where they will stretch out and take a few bites. When an area becomes totally consumed, they will move and create another lair. It is impossible to catch these things in the tank since they are so contorted throughout the rock.....at best, you'll just get a piece. The best way to solve the problem is to do what I did both times.....find the lair (a rock this time....but my closed loop last time).....and remove it from the tank.

In the wild, these worms also will secrete a muscous in the sand that creates their own tunnels in the sand. So.....rocks are not their only homes.

The way these worms reproduce is through their tails. When mature, the tails will break off and swim to the surface where their eggs/sperm are released. These tails are reprortedly quite the Fijian delicacy.......it pays to read those Fijian menus carefully.
 
Just a thought, after it's frozen of course, why not just recycle? I relocated a 2' Hermodice to my sump about 2 or 3 years ago. It promptly made it way through the strainer and into the return pump. BBBBBBBBRVVVT. Corals ate very well that night, and it was sweet justice. :D
 
That worm could fetch a bundle on ebay. I'd feel safe calling it rare.......or well done if you were in Fiji! lol

I will occasionally go into my tank at night to do some house cleaning that some snail undid for me. You make me scared to go into the tank in the daylight let alone at night.

Good luck on the recovery process. I hope you got all/both of them now.

Russ
 
Wow, thats the most disturbing thing on reef central. I'd be worried he'd go on the offensive and I'd wake up in the middle of the night to find him around my neck.
Creepy bro, Creepy.
 
Thanks Steve. Very helpful!
I'm obviously not up on all my Dr. Ron reading, but I was referencing this this column in which Dr. Ron mentions his own pet eunicid named "Max" and says this about these worms:
They will extend from rocks to feed and appear to be mostly scavengers or detritivores. However, little is known about their diets in nature, and if any are found in aquaria, they may well be able to eat small fish or shrimp. On the other hand, there is no hard data that they do so.
Click to expand...
Obviously, we've learned more about their diets since that was written.
thanks again,
Mariner
 
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