Identify This Worm

[Sherri]

After lights out tonight on my 30 gal...noticed this worm coming out from under the rocks onto the sand. It just kept coming out...it's about a foot long. I had earlier in the evening fed my pistol shrimp some krill. There was a small piece still there when lights went out. Apparently this worm came out for the krill. It grabbed the krill like a snake striking. Its' "head" wrapped around the piece and it's eating it. Is this guy good or bad? And will it mess with my pistol & watchman goby?

Freaky.... :shock: Never know what you're gonna see....Took a few pics to help identify it.

Thanks!

[Tim Marvin]

Bristle worm.

[Polkster13]

Definately a very large bristle worm. The piston shrimp "should" be okay but I would definately be worried about the goby or any other fish as this "worm" is a carnivore. It is also an oppurtunistic feeder so if it can catch a small fish asleep, then bye bye fish. He would make a nice addition to a refugium but not a very good inhabitant for a reef tank with fish. You might want to trap him and if you don't want it I am sure there are others here that will take him off of your hands.

[DeletedAccount]

I had that huge one that was as wide as my middle finger and over 24 inches long. He traveled in the pistol / goby tunnels and never hurt them. Was in there for over a year that I knew of, possibly longer.

[JimD]

Shoot, thats a baby! Ive got some 2-3 times that size! They are benificial omnivours that feed mostly on detritus, they will however seek out anything injured, sick or dead. They are NOT preditory hunters. Mine have never bothered anything.

[Jenn]

Mine have never bothered my burrowing goby or any other fish, but if you have a clam in your sandbed, watch out. They got one of mine a while back. I have put the clams on the rocks and added a purple psuedo. for bristleworm population control.

[Instar]

Good observation Jenn. They will collect under the clam hinge and wear a hole in there eventually and kill the clam. You gotta keep that area under the clams cleaned out of those "bristle pockets". A large bristle worm can accidently sting the eyes of a poorly burried scooter blenny at night and hurt it a lot, possibly killing it. Its not a predator thing, just and accident. Normally they don't hurt anything and do clean up fish food that gets in the rocks, dead snails, etc.

[JimD]

Negative on the clam thing, if that were the case nowhere in the tank would be safe for clams, bristleworms dont prefer the sand, they're mostly rock dwellers that come out when food is available, they do not attack healthy tissue. If they are collecting under the clam causing its demise, its most likely theres a necrotic issue, chances are the clam was already ailing. ie: sick, injured, dieing or dead. Ive never heard of the "collect under the clam hinge and wear a hole in there" phenomenon, Larry, is it possible to provide a link describing this in greater detail?

[DeletedAccount]

I do have bristle worms under my clams, but they do not seem to bother them at all, and my clams are very healthy. I have always heard that they attack the clam when they are dting, not healthy....

[JimD]

Probably using the clam as shelter the same way they would use a rock.

[CD]

Shoot, thats a baby! Ive got some 2-3 times that size! They are benificial omnivours that feed mostly on detritus

Heheh...and cookie crumbs! :-D :-D
(kidding)

Jim, I think I'm going to try and trap a few of these buggars tonight. I know most of you guys say they are benificial, but now, *every* time I feed my sun coral (after lights out) the B.worms are stealing the mysis right out of the coral's mouth. Since the BWs are pretty strong, guess who usually wins? I have spent about the last two hours reading info procured from a Google search, and get a lot of mixed opinions. General consensus seems to be they are of very little harm when they are small, but it is best to try and snag the really large ones from your system. Most of the best info came from Wet Web Media - Bob and Anthony seem to lean towards natural predators to keep them in check. Since I have to feed this sun coral at night (it only comes out when lights are off), and I don't want to add predators (to create an entirely different problem in the long run) I figure it couldn't hurt to dispose of "some" of these worms. I figure I will try the "shrimp in pantyhose" trap method, and see if I'm successful tonight. May even try and take some pictures of the process if anyone is interested.

Wendy

[Jenn]

Jim, this was just my personal observation and experience. I disagree; the bristleworms in my system are far more populated in the sandbed under rocks than they are on the rockwork itself. I had 2 healthy clams in the sandbed with bristleworms underneath them just as Larry described. I never thought much of the bristleworms and would observe them come from under the clams at feeding time. I started noticing that their mantles were not extending as much as they could as well as a decline in the hippopus. I lifted both him and my derasa up to a rock ledge, but it was too late for the hippopus. The derasa has since shown exceptional growth and there are almost no bristleworms on the rockwork now thanks to the purple pseudo.

[Instar]

There have been recent articles about the bristle worms sheltering under the clams. They do pack a sting, they do eat the old bistel threads and they do eat the mucous. I don't know at what point it becomes a problem for the clam, but, some people have reported bristle worms making a hole at the normal bistel opening at the hinge and entering the clam there. Perhaps feedings, light and other shelter areas are contributors to the clam's overall health that makes the difference between tanks? Ask Felipe (one of our popular lfs owners), he'll tell you the same thing as Jenn and I have. It didn't happen to my clams, but, then I didn't let the worms shelter there and my clams were growing new shell all the time before I sold them all.

[mathias]

I heard hawk fish also eat these things....

[JimD]

Ah, ok, lets seperate the two issues here, one being that the bristleworms are actually consuming a healthy animal preditor style, the other being that the bristleworm is irritating the animal with its formitable "bristles", now that I can agree on, I would imagine that if the tissue had become irritated enough to the point of actually penetrating the flesh causing a wound, the worms would indeed congrigate and feed resulting in the demise of the animal.. Sounds very logical.

[mathias]

actually sounds kind of urky.... (is that a word if not I just made it :) )

[Sherri]

Figured it was a bristle worm...just my first "sighting" of one. I believe he was longer cause he never totally came out of the rocks. Just stretched across the sand and retracted like a rubberband. He's apparently been in this tank for quite a while...no rock has been added for 8 mos or so and that rock was transferred from my 100 gal. Both the pistol & goby have been in for a least 6 mos or so. Now that I know he's there, will keep an eye on it.

Thanks

[GaryP]

Sherri,

Try looking at night with a red lensed flashlight.

Gary

[beareef19]

I have two worms that I know of approx 10-12 in long and they do travel through the pistol shrimps holes. I have witnessed them eating and hunting never anything alive only food or crab moltings. I did have one clam die that was on the sand ,healthy one day dead the next. tThese worms pack a punch to, I grabbed a rock one day and one was under it .My finger swelled up and hurt for about four days felt like prickly pear cactus.

Barry

[mathias]

sherri trust me if you got one that big you got a lot more....