There is a monster in my tank!

[MarlinHooker]

Was looking to see if I could see the new snowflake eel I got yesterday this morning while teh lights were still off but instead I saw this ...


anyone tell me what it is and more importantly to I need to get rid of it?

It is approximately 17" long BTW ....

[badbreath]

That is a bristle worm.

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[MarlinHooker]

Ok, that's kinda what I assumed but I've never actually seen one in any of my tanks ...

I understand that they are basically harmless and a useful part of the CuC but how big can they get?

[badbreath]

Originally Posted by MarlinHooker

Ok, that's kinda what I assumed but I've never actually seen one in any of my tanks ...

I understand that they are basically harmless and a useful part of the CuC but how big can they get?

They say ~2ft max

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[ncaldwell]

It almost has a green brittle star leg shape to it

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[MarlinHooker]

I actually have a fairly large brown brittle star. At least I thought he was large until I saw this guy ....

[badbreath]

Definitely not a brittle star's leg.

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[Tisbe]

I have one of those in my tank. It must have been in there 5+ years at this point. I found it one morning about a year ago, picking algae off my algae clip and passing the pieces down its body. It hates light and I usually see it early in the morning like you. I have been able to observe it for long periods with a red

In my research I found it to be harmless and defiantly not a bristle worm I have lots of those also. Sorry I can't tell you the name.

[MarlinHooker]

to get 17"+ he's had to have been in my tank for quite a few years .... I've seen long tracks in the sand from time to time in the morning and now that I've seem him they are most likely being left by him.
I'm sure that if I worked at it I could see him a lot more often but knowing that he's basically harmless I'm not all that concerned about seeing him .... now if he could grow to 3'-4' I'd probably get a lot more interested in trapping him for removal ...

[75mixedreef]

I'd try to remove it personally. They can attack other animals in the tank. I'd hate to lose a shrimp or small fish because it came across that thing in the rocks. They are not particularly aggressive, but as big as it is, it could sting things by accident. It might get hungry too if anything ever changed to reduce the available food for it. Plus it is just ugly and a risk for you if you were to ever move anything around. I would hate to get stung by that thing, just imagine how much of your skin it could come in contact with if it trashed the wrong way.

[MarlinHooker]

fair point of view .... I guess I'll need to think about it some more & look into traps, assuming they actually work ...

[MarlinHooker]

I am a little concerned about having to make the entry holes big enough for him to get into but small enough to keep my new baby snowflake out of ...

[ArtsyAxolotl]

I probably would have ****ed myself if I saw that while looking at my tank in the dark oh my god. Stuff of nightmares.

[MarlinHooker]

yeah, to be honest that was my first reaction too which is why I just didn't grab my 15" feeding thongs and grab the thing once it came out of the rocks ... i was half afraid it would attack me once I grabbed it ...

the more I think about it the more I'm convinced it needs to go .... I think there is a local place where I can rent some chain mail armor cheap and get prepped to do battle with the monster ...

[Dizzle63]

Watched one very similar crawl out of a rock 10 years ago in my tank. Through an upgrade and moving the tank 3 times, it has survived. Never once has it harmed anything. I vote keep it. Great part of my cleanup crew.

[MarlinHooker]

I keep going back and forth about it - it's certainly been there long enough with no apparent ill effects .... I have a brittle star that's heading toward monster proportions who lives in teh same rocks.

Don't tthink I'm going to do anything immediately since any trap I put down the entry ports would probably have to be big enough that my bay snowflake could get in as well

[MarlinHooker]

Well the debate solved itself this morning when I found the monster in one of my filter socks in my sump .... Could not bring myself to return him to the tank .... R.I.P

[ThroThra]

this looks like a fireworm, not bristle worm. Fireworms are no bueno, get your tongs, pull it out, and make sure to not touch it with bare skin

[Bma1972]

Defiantly a bristle worm. Just big and ugly. Shouldn't harm anything... However there are always exceptions. If you want to get it out put a table shrimp in a small soda bottle put on bottom at a 45 angle by its "hole" so as it can climb in all the way but can't have traction to get out. Some won't go in all the way if they realize there having no grasp on outside of bottle and some can stretch out long enough so don't have to enter all the way. If you break it by trying to pull out, the remaining piece left behind will still live. And also create chance of having bristles expel into water column and annoy fish and corals. Can also lodge into your skin and irritate. Not a fire worm but bristles are like fiberglass and really suck to get out of your skin


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[Rilelen]

Had one of those in my tank. That thing lived in my house for nine months before I talked my roommate into spearing it.

I know bristleworms are "harmless," but that thing was not harmless to my poor psyche. Everytime I saw the darn thing, the world went white and dizzy. Goodbye bristleworm!

[Bma1972]

Yea that one in bucket is an Euclid worm. Good catch



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[OoNickoC]

All nonsense. Nearly every single report of polychaete predation is flat out false, undocumented, and flat out finger pointing for unknown illness in tank denizens. Generally perpetuated from people who have a phobia or pre-disposition to not liking insects and creepy crawlies. The two times I have helped move an entire fish store with a large reef selection (and on multiple house moves) I have seen massive worms in excellent systems. That should be put up for sale if captured.

[OoNickoC]

Originally Posted by Rilelen

Had one of those in my tank. That thing lived in my house for nine months before I talked my roommate into spearing it.

I know bristleworms are "harmless," but that thing was not harmless to my poor psyche. Everytime I saw the darn thing, the world went white and dizzy. Goodbye bristleworm!

Do you have pictures of it's head? That actually looks quite different from most.all of the predatory Eunice worms. In the pic of the woman holding it in the bucket, what look like needles are actually the silica spines of a large"bristle worm", when out of water they clump together looking like a single protrusion.