what is this?!? please help asap!

Cloudburst2000 said:
To tell you the truth, I would remove the daisy polyp rock as this seems to be where the hitch-hiker (my bet: eunicid worm) is hiding out. I don't think traps are very effective on eunicid worms since their tails don't usually leave their burrows, and if it is by chance a spearing mantis, they are often too smart to fall for traps. Remove the culprit by removing the rock. Flush the rock with club soda to get the culprit out of its lair. If you are unsure what rock the sucker is in, then stake out your tank at night with a red flashlight until you see the bugger then watch where it heads home to. Then you'll know exactly where it is in your tank.
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^^That. Thought I had seen that suggested already. Get a piece of shrimp or something & put it close to the rock & do a stakeout to see if you can see it. Then if that's what it is you can either try a trap (there's a thread on here somewhere about a worm trap) or you can remove the rock & flush it out like Cloudburst said. Some people have even broken open rocks to get them out.
 
SushiGirl said:
^^That. Thought I had seen that suggested already. Get a piece of shrimp or something & put it close to the rock & do a stakeout to see if you can see it. Then if that's what it is you can either try a trap (there's a thread on here somewhere about a worm trap) or you can remove the rock & flush it out like Cloudburst said. Some people have even broken open rocks to get them out.
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If I was him, as soon as I found its hideaway rock, I'd take it out and nuke the thing to death. Screw any coral or bacteria populations on it, I'd just want revenge.
 
No offense but it is a 55 gallon tank and there are 2 of you get a tub pull out the rock and look through it with a light if you are convinced something is killing your live stock. Seems silly to waste all that time, money, and the lives of fish to avoid the inevitable. I work part time at a saltwater store and there is no better way to get rid of a hitch hiker.
 
Crkbaby said:
No offense but it is a 55 gallon tank and there are 2 of you get a tub pull out the rock and look through it with a light if you are convinced something is killing your live stock. Seems silly to waste all that time, money, and the lives of fish to avoid the inevitable. I work part time at a saltwater store and there is no better way to get rid of a hitch hiker.
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As someone else said too, was hoping for a resolution without having to tear the tank apart. I also stated earlier, we don't plan on adding anymore fish until the problem is solved, so we're not wasting anymore money or lives of fish. And, stated somewhere in here as well, we plan on buying a house in the very near future, so then we will tear apart and do a dip. Seems silly to me to disrupt everything in there now, and stress everything by tearing it apart now when we will have to anyway in a few months. Wouldn't it be better (for the sake of the livestock in there) to do the tear apart when we're already doing it rather than now and again in a few months?
 
Yeah, if your going to move in a couple months, just do it then...no sense in tearing it down now.

I like the flashlight idea at night. That could be fun!

bottle of wine, flashlight, and two rolling computer chairs....;)
 
Reefahholic said:
Yeah, if your going to move in a couple months, just do it then...no sense in tearing it down now.

I like the flashlight idea at night. That could be fun!

bottle of wine, flashlight, and two rolling computer chairs....;)
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I like the idea too! Ha! I just said, I'm going to see about finding a red flashlight tomorrow... and camp out in front of the tank tomorrow night... would a regular flashlight still work if I can't get my hands on red? And, if we try to bait it, any tips on keeping the hermits away from the bait while waiting on the troublemaker?
 
CoralReeferGal said:
I like the idea too! Ha! I just said, I'm going to see about finding a red flashlight tomorrow... and camp out in front of the tank tomorrow night... would a regular flashlight still work if I can't get my hands on red? And, if we try to bait it, any tips on keeping the hermits away from the bait while waiting on the troublemaker?
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I would recommend a red flashlight since there would be less stress and the culprit would be more likely to come out, You can use a normal flashlight but with red plastic on it.

To bait it I would use tongs and grab a piece of silverside or shrimp covered in garlic as they seem to like the smell.

To catch it use a a trap ( 2Litre water bottle traps work well )
 
I figured the red would be better, didnt even think of red plastic to cover a regular flashlight! Thanks! We did have a trap like you described in the tank for about 2 months, but baited with a snail... will def have to try to shrimp if I can see what's sneaking around in there and know what it is for sure. What's the best way to cover it in garlic?
 
Oh, and will my lionfish come after a garlic shrimp? I just thought of that... will he make it much harder to bait it with tongs as opposed to using just the trap?
 
one other question... if it is indeed from the daisy polyp rock, is there any way to kill that little sucker without killing the rest of the rock? There's a sponge, a mushroom and a feather duster that have sprouted from that rock :/
 
CoralReeferGal said:
one other question... if it is indeed from the daisy polyp rock, is there any way to kill that little sucker without killing the rest of the rock? There's a sponge, a mushroom and a feather duster that have sprouted from that rock :/
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I think if it is the daisy polyp rock, that you should watch it with the red flashlight to see where it is hiding at in the rock. Figure out which cavity in the rock the sucker is calling home. When you do pull the rock, you should just be able to shoot some club soda into the area the culprit is hiding. You don't have to dip the entire rock in club soda. Just aim the club soda where the thing you want gone is hiding.
 
Hope you find what is ,I am like what others have said about it being a eunicid worm.I remember seeing a pic where someone removed a 6' worm from their tank .
 
Thank you so much everyone for all of your suggestions! I'm on a mission tonight; I'm finding some red saran wrap or other sort of red to use on the flashlight and staking it out tonight... wish me luck!
 
Thanks! Ugh, bought a worm trap, and nothing so far. (well, except a bubble that looked like a worm in the dark, but when the tank lights came on, it was just an air bubble) Heading to the beach tomorrow morning for 2 days, so hopefully with no one staring into the tank or shining anything in there for 2 days will provoke it to come out and get trapped... lol :)
 
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