I reitterate... ITS IMPORTANT TO DIP!!!!!

[ct_vol]

Most of you all know I'm an advocate of dipping all of your frags/colonies that you get in, before you put them in your tank... I got a few new additions today and of course I went about my normal dipping procedure... I looked into the brown TMPCC water and saw something unusually large moving around on a good size colony of Yumas I got... I picked up the rock and saw a worm, and figured no big deal, another fireworm/bristle worm... Upon closer inspection I discovered that it was in fact a Eunicid worm... For you newbies, these are coral munching meanie worms that will devastate your soft corals and grow HUGE!!! Right now its only 3 or 4" long... If you want to see how big they get, check this out...

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm

Oh, and here's Scott's incedent with one...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=887746

I've taken some pics, but have to upload them to Photobucket... I'll post them in a little bit...

 

[ct_vol]

 

[Runner]

If he is still alive, I could put him in my tank at work for a little while. There are some people on this board that would love to have him.

 

[fishdoc11]

Nice save Randy....and nice pics.
I pulled a couple out of my 75 a few years ago.....nasty buggers.

 

[gflat65]

3-4". He's just a wittle guy. Eunicids are some scary things the first time you come across them.

 

[goreefer]

Great save Randy!
Didn't the Yumas come out of the small tank?

 

[EvilMel]

NEAT!

 

[fishdoc11]

Looking for canopy pics I dug up these old ones of the one I had:

Can't see the mouth real well but it was a snail eater.

Chris

 

[acrodave]

those are some nice healthy worms there Chris

 

[ct_vol]

I'm glad I only had to contend with a baby...

 

[Runner]

I finally got home and had to wait patiently for 5 minutes for these pics to download on dial-up. Ugly little critter you got there. I can see the resemblance between him and the one I had. I about pulled what's left of my hair out trying to figure out how to keep snails, zoanthids, green star polyps, and xenia alive before I realized I had one of those things eating them all.

 

[ct_vol]

Are the GSP you got from me spreading like wildfire now???

 

[EvilMel]

Seriously...I pulled a worm outta my tank when I only had the 55g that was over 2 feet long...not stretched out! Each section was about a foot and it was all shrunk up because I accidentally squashed it in half with my giant tweezers (due to being COMPLETELY freaked out at having to reach in there and get it).

I don't remember it having those tentacle things on the end of it that Randy's does though.

 

[goreefer]

Is there any way to treat an established tank for these type of worms?
Or do you just need to see them to catch them?

 

[Runner]

There is no way to generally treat an established tank for worms like this. Anything that would kill them would wipe out everything else. The eucinid worms like in the pictures above are too fast to grab. To get them out, you need to figure out which rock they are in and take it out. If he doesn't come out when you remove the rock, you'll have to freshwater dip it. I think the Mel tongs method only works on goliath bristle worms.

 

[samuraiguytn]

something to look forward to huh?

 

[Runner]

If we can't whine and comiserate about our trials and adventures, what fun would the hobby be?