ID PLEASE!!! The Scary Worm

[DeletedAccount]

Remember when I said that there was a scary worm in my tank as big around as my middle finger and really long????? We weret aking the stuff out of the 120 to replace the stand and found him! Yuck!!!

He is about 14 inches long and 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch wide. He has tons and tons of legs and feelers on the sides and appears segmented.

[DeletedAccount]

Sorry about the picture quality. I am trying to learn my new camera.

Here is a slightly closer image.

[StephenA]

Set your camera to Macro, for close pics. Looks like one like I found in my tank. I made the mistake of finding him under a rock with my finger! He never did any harm that I could see.

[Tim Marvin]

Bristle worm

[StephenA]

That's what I pulled out of my fingers! Bristles

[DeletedAccount]

That is my only non-red bristle. WOW! Since he is so huge should I put him back in the tank when I reassemble it or leave him out? Is this who keeps killing my mandarins?

And, sadly, this is on macro. I just cannot hold still. Need to find my tripod.

[StephenA]

I've only seen my big bristle eat stuff that was dead. I guess he could stun a small fish. It didn't really hurt when he got me, I just spend 20 min pulling out the bristles. He hit the pavement after that.

[samiam_orami]

They gotta eat right ? …

I can’t prove it but I have a sneaking suspicion they are responsible for the mysterious sliming of snails and crabs …

Ever find a dead snail (or crab) engulfed in a gelatinous ball of clear slime? When you remove the snail from the water, the ball of slime stays around it like some sort of slime balloon …

I blame these guys ? ….
Am I wrong ? ? ?

[DeletedAccount]

Would make sense. He sure slimed up really bad when I messed with him!

[kaiser]

Misti,
You might want to set the shutter speed to 400.

[DeletedAccount]

I just took the camera out of the box to try and take this picture. I will actually read the directions this weekend and get it down. I actually do lots of photography, this is just my first semi-point and shoot camera.

[StephenA]

What kind of Camera is it?

[DeletedAccount]

Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom, 4.0 Megapixel.

[malofish]

I blame large bristles on the death of my small clowns, Ive read that certain species will
attack fish at night. I'm sure that he can do some damage if he stung a small fish?

[StephenA]

I'd play with the settings, That camera can take good pics. It took me several months to get the hang of our Sony. My first tank pics looked like yours.

[Tim Marvin]

More than likely the critters were dead or dieing already. I have never seen one actually attack anything and I have a good amount of these guys one about a foot long.

[DeletedAccount]

So, when I put everything back in the tank, put him back, too? I like the way the cute red ones look much better!

[matt]

Yeah, put it back in, or if you don't want it, I'll take it.

[Instar]

Don't put it back in if its a bristle worm. They definitely kill mandarins and scooter blennies at night. Not on purpose.
Its just that when they are so big they roll the sand over and uncover the mandarins and blennies at night and inadvertently sting them.
If its a bad accidental encounter, the mandarin or scooter blenny is dead in the morning or you never see it again.
Quite often you will see a healthy mandarin or scooter blenny that went to bed fine and in the morning has an eye
out or bad sore on its side. Thats from giant bristles a lot of the time. I would also ditch it if you plan to keep wrasses
or any other fish that burrows into the sand. Its just too large for a closed system.

[Tim Marvin]

I have to agree with Instar. I usually try to get them out when they get that big if they are in an easy spot to catch them.. Just been lazy lately and have left them alone.

[DeletedAccount]

Thanks everyone!

[StephenA]

Our mandarin showed up dead one morning for no reason. We blamed the worm!

[Tim Marvin]

I can't beleive an overnight death could be the worm. Like Instar pointed out I can see the fish being stung or irritated and succumbing over a couple days......