Warning: Why you shouldnt buy a Medusa Worm

GroYurOwn

New member
Just thought I would throw out a warning to noobs. Medusa worms are awesome. They are really cool looking, they serve a great purpose in the tank, and wont eat stuff you dont want them to. But they will kill all of your fish if/when they get destroyed by your power head.

I just went through this and lost a pair of very unique clowns that were very close to breeding. These worms seem to almost have no control over where they move in the tank, it is very fun watching them stumble about jamming stuff in their face. But if you have a lot of flow in your tank they can easily be sucked in to a power head. I witnessed it happen and took the worm out immediately. It wasnt really chopped up, but still released the toxin. I did a 15 gallon water change within 10 minutes, and only have about 40 gallons of water in my system. All of my fish still died.

If you keep one of these worms take ALL precautions to cover anything that may harm them. And if you have fish that tend to pick at polyps, they may pick at the tentacles on this worm, which could cause it to release the poison.

Just wanted to give a heads up, IMO it just wasnt worth my losses. I had the worm for one day. think about it before you buy it.
 
sorry about the loss man. hope everything works out. just remember to start from scratch and always read up well before any purchase on corals or inverts. never ceases to amaze me at how unfortunate mishaps can lead to an entire tank crash...
 
That's true of a bunch of inverts---nems, sea apples, cucumbers---any big fleshy invert when pureed and spread through the tank is really bad news.

Getting a shield on those intakes and overflow apertures is a good thing, too: you can stitch one with fishing thread out of Gutter Guard (Lowe's) or plastic needlepoint canvas (hobby store ---often in yarn/thread display)
 
Happening to me right now. I hope it won't kill my coral too. i seen a couple of small pieces of his tail floating in the tank, fish acting weird and some of my corals closed up.
 
Not really sure. I don't think the medusa is dead, just got cut. All my fish are dying though. When he comes out tonight when the lights are out I'm yanking him out of there though.
 
Medusa worms are different than anemones in that they actually release a toxin specific to fish. It coats their gills and they essentially drown. ALL of the fish in my tank died, and the worm was not killed, they can release their toxin even if they are picked at by a fish. Unfortunately your fish are probably done for, but I had no corals lost although the acted strange for a few days. Carbon did nothing for me in terms of saving the fish, I even took them out and out them in new SW and they still died, I think once the poison hits their gills its game over. Its sad, hopefully this thread convinces people to avoid these really cool looking worms.
 
The coral are all acting fine now. 2 of the fish are dead and the others I believe are on their way out. The lfs did not want the medusa so unfortunately it had to take a toilet bath.
 
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The mandarin goby is being eatten by the snails and the bigger of the 2 percs is showing signs of getting better. I don't know about the christmas wrasse atm.
 
Medusa horror

Medusa horror

I bought a medusa worm yesterday. The shop owner said it was completely reef safe. Not sure if it is the culprit but I can't find it today and I woke up to find all my fish dead. Parameters are all perfect.
 
Yes it is why, even if the worm didn't die it releases a toxin that is extremely deadly to fish. They suffocate. You will need to do a massive water change and chalk it up as a lesson learned. You should let your LFS know that they giving misleading information.
 
Didn't know you could buy them and I think there are different strains of cucumbers that are toxic. The pic I posted was found in my fuge. Came in as a hitchhiker on the chaeto I guess. I have been killing these little one inch critters and removing them as able. But no effect on anything in the display but as of yet I don't think any made it to the DT.


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Didn't know you could buy them and I think there are different strains of cucumbers that are toxic. The pic I posted was found in my fuge. Came in as a hitchhiker on the chaeto I guess. I have been killing these little one inch critters and removing them as able. But no effect on anything in the display but as of yet I don't think any made it to the DT.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thread necromancy! :)

You may want to start your own thread if there is an issue you want help with. Also, I can't see a picture.

I've never heard of a sea cucumber riding in on chaeto, would be interested to see pics. Further, really surprising (and interesting!) if they are reproducing.
 
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