Huge Bristle Worm...

[Reefer420]

Just wondering what you guys thought of this...

Today I was looking in the tank before leaving for work - what do I see but I think was a HUGE bristle work. It was easily longer than 6"+ and thicker than my thumb. :eek1: Where this guy was hiding in my 16g tank I have no idea but I had to flush him since I was in a hurry- I wish I had taken pics!

My question is - could this guy be the cause of the missing zoos, etc. in my tank??? I know there is a mystery shrimp and a crab in my tank, but this guy was crawling over one of the zoo colonies which is almost completly gone...

Second question- how do I tell bristle worms apart from fireworms? This guy had a neon orange body, and really large white bristles in small clusters up and down the side of his body - which when I picked him up with my tweezers really protruded from his side- you couldnt' really see much of his body anymore- it was just a big poof of white bristles!

Thoughts?

 

[Reefer420]

-well just saw a post on fire worms in the beginners forum - so no need to educate me on fireworms now!

Just wondering what the thoughts were about removing these guys? I think that worm was way to large for my tank- it took up about a third of my tanks length! Have healthy corals been known to be consumed by these guys once they get that large? I am sure there wasn't enough detrius in the tank to keep it fed- as I have lots of hermits, coceopods, smaller bristle worms, etc. Could it have moved on to healthy corals since it was hungry?

I wonder what the bioload of a worm that big is??

 

[Savager]

Was it look like this one?

Check this guy out from http://www.oregonreef.com/

 

[Reefer420]

Well it looked very similar to this- it seemed to have more pronounced bristles though...


I've seen that worm from Oregonreefs before- that is crazy! I guess if you compare tank sizes though mine was proportinatly similar in size...

 

[Deanos]

Was it look like this one?

There are no white bristles on that worm :fishhit:

 

[Reefer420]

I actually am not sure if it looked like this...


I wish I had taken pics of it- b/c if it was this one, then it certainly was a Hermodice and therefore harmful. It was almost certainly a solid dark orange or red color.

Back to the question- even if it was a 'harmless' fireworm, would it be possilbe for a large worm to get hungry due to a lack of detrius to eat and to start munching on healthy corals?

 

[Deanos]

Back to the question- even if it was a 'harmless' fireworm, would it be possilbe for a large worm to get hungry due to a lack of detrius to eat and to start munching on healthy corals?

Yes, it's possible.

More reading material: Fireworm Husbandry

 

[Reefer420]

So whats the consensus on that type of thing- remove the worm once it gets too large?

Wish I had a fuge to store things in while I do research on them...


Deanos- thanks for the link, I'll read it shortly...

 

[Reefer420]

Read that article Deanos link to... This is what I had in the tank, but it looked to be more of a solid orange color...again, wish I had taken pics

I've noticed my gorgonian having been eaten lately too- one of its branches is gone now.. this is what the author of the article has to say about these...my rocks come from the Gulf of Mexico, so this is another clue. I now see why the shrooms and zoos were targets of this guy.

Fireworms, especially Hermodice carunculata and Eurythoe complanata, can be found throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, and the Caribbean. H. carunculata is a predatory species feeding on almost any sessile animal it can catch, but having distinct preferences if given an option. In particular they feed on corals, hydrocorals, gorgonians, and anemones (Is it any surprise that reef-tank owners detest them?). They also have preferences of species within those groups. The effects of predation on certain groups can be substantial. Witman (1988) calculated that tissue predation by this worm on Milleporid Hydrocorals (firecoral) exposed 12.9cm2 per 1.0m2 per day of skeleton to algal colonization.


I have others in the rock too - just much smaller from what I've seen. I think I will be on the safe side and remove them as I find them - I have enough detrius eaters as it is and don't want to stress about the danger of my frags!

 

[GQ22]

as for the little one why dont u get a fish or predator of such worms, six line, etc.. or even a coral banded shrimp. my fish love these worms..whenever i lift a rock and some fall off, my fish usally hyas them eaten before it hits the ground.

 

[Reefer420]

as for the little one why dont u get a fish or predator of such worms, six line, etc.. or even a coral banded shrimp. my fish love these worms..whenever i lift a rock and some fall off, my fish usally hyas them eaten before it hits the ground.

hmmm... good idea!

The shrimp will have to wait until I get the mantis in my tank :tank:

How would a sixline fair in a smaller tank (16g) w/ a firefish? Compatible?

 

[GQ22]

i think a six line is a perfect fish for a small aquarum like that..however it may be tough adding more fish as it becomes aggressive. You should have that many fish any in a 16.

 

[Reefer420]

I wouldn't keep more than 2 small guys in that tank - though I will be upgrading soon to a 37g so I'm not too concerned...

My real concern is if it feeds more off pods... I had a scooter blenny that wouldn't eat cyclopeeze and only fed off pods in my tank - he eventually starved before I realized what was going on. Don't want to make that mistake twice!!