Worm ID Help Needed

[tbagnall]

I just noticed a oval shaped whitish colored worm about the size of the end of my small finger in our coral tank and possibly a second one which wasn't quite as large. It was eating algae on the back wall of our nanocube. I did a web seach, but I couldn't figure out what it is or if it may be harmful to our corals, although it seemed to gulping up algae and nowhere near our corals, but must be living in the sand, since there's no rock in that tank. Thanks!

 

[mltmtascp]

Need a pic. It could be a stometella.

 

[tbagnall]

With a name to look for, I checked out a picture on the internet and it does appear that you have named my critter(s), although I couldn't see a shell of any type. I wonder if I didn't see a shell, because it's fairly young? Maybe since this critter seems to be a "friendly" hitchiker, probably from one of the two small frags we bought in Nashville, in honor of Valentines Day, he'll survive. However, it's surprising that I just saw him for the first time tonight. It would be nice to have something to eat our hair algae, although we don't have much of it, since the only food going into the tank is Phytoplankton for the softies. All our latest frags have went into the 40 gallon tank with our fish and live rock. I guess I'll try to watch for it for a couple of days and make sure it's correctly identified and thus, harmless. Thanks for the help!

 

[mltmtascp]

We could not see the shell on the first one we saw in our tanks but when my husband squashed him he could feel the shell. Later we found out that he was ok. We now have several in our tanks.

 

[mltmtascp]

He did not mean to squish him he just wanted to see what he was and ended up killing the poor creature.

 

[jasontammy]

I have them breeding in our 75gal. They freaked me out the first time as well. We actually saw them shooting their clouds of sperm in the water. Done some research to find out what they were up to and if they were good or not. Tell Don to be carefull with little creatures from now on.
Jason

 

[mltmtascp]

That was went we first got our 120 and he did not have a clue what that strange creature in our tank was but we live and learn.

 

[tbagnall]

Now that I have the newcomer identified, will small bristleworms bother our softies? There is no live rock for them to hide in, therefore they are living in the live sand. However, the sand did have live rock in with it initially, which is probably the source from where they originated. I mainly see them at night on the walls of the aquarium searching for algae to eat (I assume). Henry at John's store told me the bristleworms would kill invertebrates, such as snails and hermit crabs, but since there are none in that tank, I'm not sure if the bristle worms should be removed as I catch them or if I need to launch an all out war against them. I suppose the stomatella is at risk from the bristle worms. Opinions or thoughts anyone? Thanks!

 

[tbagnall]

I'm trying to remember your name from the February meeting in Decatur. Would you remind me. You can PM if you prefer. Thanks! Teresa

 

[hammolw]

Yikes, Bristleworms!
Don't touch em with your bare hands... use a forceps or something to remove them. Arrow crabs are AWESOME too! If your fish will leave him alone, the Arrow crab will clean house.

 

[tbagnall]

I haven't done anything with the bristle worms yet. Still waiting for advice as to whether to leave them alone with the softies, since there's nothing else in there.

 

[jasontammy]

The day after we put our Arrow Crab in the 125 he came out from behind a big rock with a bristle worm in each claw, just munching away. We've been told the little ones are actually not bad for the tank, but they have a bad habit of growing into big ones. If we see 'em, we nab 'em, unless the arrow crab Jack (The Pumpkin King) beats us to it. And Jack's so much fun to watch in the tank.

I'm with you hammolw, Yikes! They creep me out.

Tammy

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Majority of bristleworms are harmless. They are good detritus eaters. There are some other worms such as Eunicid that eat fish and corals, but they are "relatively" rare. If you have the common type, you don't have to worrry about them. Just don't touch them with your bare hand. It will give you small bristers like fire ants do. Painful and itchy. If you did accidentally touch one, just pour some vinegar on the bristles they leave behind on your hand. If you see a lot in your tank, it is an indication that you may be overfeeding your tank.

If you must get rid of them, arrow crabs or some psudochromis will eat them.

Tomoko

 

[tbagnall]

Thanks, Tammy and Tomoko. I can't convince Fred to put anything in that nano tank other than corals, because, he doesn't want anything picking on his corals. So for now I guess I'll just keep my mouth shut and my hands out of that tank. I suggested a six line wrasse to him the other day based on something I read, but he shot that idea down quick. Tomoko thanks for the tip on taking the sting out; I am sure one of us will get stung at some point in time. I guess our corals and stomatella will just have to take their chances for now.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Have you seen this one? His name is Barry .

Here's an article on him.
http://www.bluereefaquarium.co.uk/news-from-newquay/coral-worm.htm

Tomoko

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Sorry for a double post.

 

[tbagnall]

Thank goodness our bristleworms are little pink things. Barry creeps me out! He's too much like a snake. I woder how he's doing on a diet of seaweed instead of devastating a coral reef?