phyllodocid

[Ektor1]

Hi,

I have a phyllodocid in my tank.
You can check his description here :
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

This worm is attacking everything it can catch in my tank, this night it's eaten one snail (it does catch it like a boa, bring it near it's rock and eat it).

I have tried to put the rock in freshwater, but without success, I think that the worm is smart and dive in sandbed when it does fell his rock moving, it does move damn fast.

Does anyone had this foe in his tank? how can I kill/remove it?

Thanks

 

[musty baby]

How long did you put it in freshwater? How big is the worm? How big is the rock? Is there anything keeping you from simply taking the rock out of the tank for a while?

What I'd do is pull the rock out and put it in a small tank to see that the worm came out with it, then see if anyone wanted to buy it (there may be someone) and if not I'd set the rock outside to dry for a couple months.

 

[Ektor1]

20 minutes by rock in freshwater.

it's 6 inches long (at least, have not seen it completly), not really large.

I'm going to try to trap it, and if needed will move the rock to another tank, empty.

 

[musty baby]

I'd say that's a good start. Polychaete worms are tough, in general, i often wonder if some of them would even care if they were put into fresh water temporarily. Good luck on getting it out of your main tank.

 

[Random Aquarist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8622706#post8622706 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ryansholl
then see if anyone wanted to buy it (there may be someone)

I wouldn't buy it, but it would be a pretty cool/unique pet. Also, if it layed fertile eggs, you could put them into your enemies' tanks. Whahahahahahahahaha!!

 

[Ektor1]

have caught it, while it was eating a third snail.
I have put the rock in a cold&freshwater but nothing, really tough one.

I'm going to put it in a near empty tank, with just a sandbed, like this it should starving.

 

[LeslieH]

I'd really love to see a pic of your worm, Ektor. Eating snails is unusual for the group - they're more likely to be scavengers or eat other worms. They're also thin-skinned which means they would be easily knocked out by fresh water. On the other hand, Oenone fulgida loves to eat snails & is very thick skinned so it can handle fresh water much longer than other polychaetes.

 

[Ektor1]

here are the pictures :

http://www.dolci.org/data/phyllodocid.jpg
http://www.dolci.org/data/phyllodocid2.jpg

have caught two actually (one in my refugium...) and a third must be in the quarantine tank.
You can see the small head, with a pair of eyes, it's fluo when lighted.

You can check the green tubes too, it does create it, a lot of, I think it's his intestin, and must help him to move faster.
We see that the sand his like glued in a pack, with this glue it does create natural tunnel in sandbed.

 

[LeslieH]

Thanks, Ektor. When you mentioned it was eating snails I suspected it was Oenone fulgida and your photos prove it.

Phyllodocids have 2 eyes and several easy to see appendages at the head end. Oenone also have 2 eyes and the head is a sleek cone; it has 3 antennae but these are small enough that you probably couldn't see them without a magnifying lens.

Here's recent discussion about Oenone
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8658749#post8658749
And this page has a close up of the head of a phyllodocid worm.
http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/research.html

Incidentally, if you take pictures of the animals in water they will look better because the appendages will spread out in their natural position. Without water the appendages cling to the body which makes it harder to identify them.