Bristleworm Attack

[DustOnTheBottle]

Ok, I've had my tank running for about a week and a half now, and I've noticed some bristleworms. They haven't bothered me since I've researched that they are a helpful part of my CUC....that is until now. Tonight I come in and have a huge one (maybe 8+" sprawled out of a hole.) Well, I look back in the tank and he now has one of my snails pulled up to his cave. The snail is shut in his shell, but the bristleworm has wrapped around his shell and appears to be trying to get into the shell after the snail. This has me kinda freaked out. What should I do? I keep shining a flashlight on him which makes him dart into his cave, but he's relentless......

[jfarabaugh]

turn your tank lights on

[jbb]

EAT IT !!

 

I have one about the same size , and i am scared it will kill me in my sleep. maybe i will hunt him down this weekend and get rid of it. you should do the same, unless you want mine to make a pair.

[DustOnTheBottle]

EAT IT !!

 

I have one about the same size , and i am scared it will kill me in my sleep. maybe i will hunt him down this weekend and get rid of it. you should do the same, unless you want mine to make a pair.

 

 

 

hahaha these things are beastly. The lights have scared him off...for now. But, should I do anything about him?....also I seem to have these spiderweb-like suspensions in my tank I'm noticing now. These "webs" are catching sand and stuff and becoming visible. They're pretty heavily concentrated around his cave, so has he done this too or is something else at large? Thanks guys!

[nick1912]

you are just under 2 weeks into the cycle? maybe the snail was dieing. When one of my snails was not able to flip over by the end of the day it was dead and hermits/brisstle worms came in for a meal.

[DustOnTheBottle]

you are just under 2 weeks into the cycle? maybe the snail was dieing. When one of my snails was not able to flip over by the end of the day it was dead and hermits/brisstle worms came in for a meal.

 

 

All the rock was "cycled." I've been reading 0 on both nitrites and nitrates for the better part of this week. Salinity is perfect and so is temp. I've already had the diatom bloom at the beginning of the week and now that's gone and algae was coming in. I acclimated all the snails and put them in on Wednesday and they've been doing fine. He may have gotten stuck on his back today, I don't know since I haven't really been here, but wouldn't it take a while for him to die like that?

[juniormmm]

I've had snails flipped for over a day and they were perfectly fine. Mind you I also have a tank that is heavy on hermits and quite a few bristle worms.

 

I've never had a problem with anything attacking my flipped snails. But then again I don't have a ginormous worm like you do either.

[DustOnTheBottle]

Ok, I may have found the problem, I'm not sure. My 3 snails are margarita snails (I remember the LFS saying that). I bought them with about 5 blue leg hermits. Well, I don't know anything about snails at all and other than nassarius I couldn't pick one from the other. But I just read these are cold water snails and don't take too well to reef tanks. Is this true? If so, that may have gotten him. (My tank is at 78.4 degrees and varies by less than a degree).

 

my source just came off another thread.... http://www.reefcleaners.org/

 

 

.....well I got risky and slapped the snail away from the cave. And the snail is alive. just crawling across the sandbed now

[reefer916]

I have huge bristleworms in both of my tanks. They help clean all of the uneaten food and decaying stuff in the tank. I wouldn't worry about them. However, their sting hurts like a bastard. Whenever I clean my filter sponges I always get one of those little bastards stinging me. My finger gets all itchy and it burns a little. You would think I'd where gloves, but it won't kill me:)

[DustOnTheBottle]

I have huge bristleworms in both of my tanks. They help clean all of the uneaten food and decaying stuff in the tank. I wouldn't worry about them. However, their sting hurts like a bastard. Whenever I clean my filter sponges I always get one of those little bastards stinging me. My finger gets all itchy and it burns a little. You would think I'd where gloves, but it won't kill me:)

 

 

 

 

I watched the tank for a while last night, and saw lots of bristleworms, and that's when it sank it that he wasn't at all like them. They were all orange and blackish and fairly small with bristles. He was a fast joker who looked more like a long millipede with a small set of "jaws". Definitely was a lot thicker and more rounded where they were flat. (And I'm blaming him for the mucus in the tank). So I researched and this guy is a eunice worm. I don't really know if their close kin or anything, but I read some horror stories and decided to remove his rock, which is now sitting in a jug full of salt water until i figure out what to do with the beast. I've done enough research last night to ease my worries on bristleworms though.

[lakshwadeep]

A better picture is necessary to ID what kind of bristle worm it is. There are thousands of species, and it's best to find ID at least down to the family.

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchworms.html

[NorCalNano]

I have huge bristleworms in both of my tanks. They help clean all of the uneaten food and decaying stuff in the tank. I wouldn't worry about them. However, their sting hurts like a bastard. Whenever I clean my filter sponges I always get one of those little bastards stinging me. My finger gets all itchy and it burns a little. You would think I'd where gloves, but it won't kill me:)

 

Haha yea the other day i moved some rock around, and one of the little ####s sting me. Kinda creepy but I thought about killing his a**

[blasterman]

As per above, there are a variety of bristleworm types, and while most are harmless detritus eaters that don't grow that big there are larger ones that can be destructive.

 

I had a prized sebae anemone killed by a large bristleworm a few years back, and have a serious issue with anybody claiming they are always harmless.

 

I had a large coral banded shrimp that eventually caught and disposed of the bristle, which was about the size of a night crawler and hitched on some bad live rock. Anybody that tells you coral banded shrimp aren't mean is lying as well :-)

[aquaman7]

As per getting the bristles getting stuck in your hand... dip your hand in a bowl of distilled (white) vinegar, it will dissolve the bristles pretty quickly. Being 'stung' by the bristles doesn't really hurt much unless the bristles move around or something once they're in your skin. They actually go in pretty easy and it isn't too easy to notice that you've even been 'stung' until you touch something or move your hand around with the bristles stuck in your skin.

 

In my experience, I've always found bristleworms to be harmless and effective scavengers. I have some rather large ones in my tank and have never had a problem.

[GokesReef]

I watched the tank for a while last night, and saw lots of bristleworms, and that's when it sank it that he wasn't at all like them. They were all orange and blackish and fairly small with bristles. He was a fast joker who looked more like a long millipede with a small set of "jaws". Definitely was a lot thicker and more rounded where they were flat. (And I'm blaming him for the mucus in the tank). So I researched and this guy is a eunice worm. I don't really know if their close kin or anything, but I read some horror stories and decided to remove his rock, which is now sitting in a jug full of salt water until i figure out what to do with the beast. I've done enough research last night to ease my worries on bristleworms though.

 

Sure it's a eunice and not a bobbit? Some bobbits come up when you google image search eunice.. and from what's been posted in other threads, they're no bueno.

 

I'm interested to see what you end up pulling out of the rock now that it's isolated!

[jbb]

I still say EAT IT !!

[lakshwadeep]

Sure it's a eunice and not a bobbit? Some bobbits come up when you google image search eunice.. and from what's been posted in other threads, they're no bueno.

 

I'm interested to see what you end up pulling out of the rock now that it's isolated!

 

Bobbit is another term for worms in the family Eunicidae. More info:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

[GokesReef]

hm.. delicious.

[mrbigshot]

freshwater dip the rock, he will come out and you can put the rock back in your tank.

[DustOnTheBottle]

Alright guys sorry it took me so long to notify you of the outcome. I busted up the rock the next day and got the beast out. I believe he was a eunice worm. He measured in at 17" which was way off from my initial estimate of ~8" when I first saw him hanging out of his rock...and that was the parts of him I could successfully remove.

[zulusnano]

Alright guys sorry it took me so long to notify you of the outcome. I busted up the rock the next day and got the beast out. I believe he was a eunice worm. He measured in at 17" which was way off from my initial estimate of ~8" when I first saw him hanging out of his rock...and that was the parts of him I could successfully remove.

WOW!

Pics please

[jbarr2000]

I peeked in my tank last night and saw a bunch of worms, for the first time really. Then I noticed that one of the worms had a hold of my nano conch by the shell. He was smaller than the conch, but he wasn't letting go. Even the light wasn't scaring him. Do the worms eat algae? That's what I was hoping because his shell is covered in algae and I was hoping the worm was just trying to clean him...

[Degener8]

bristle worms eat deterius (left over food and poop from other inhabitants) if it was actually attacking your snail it was hungry.. but generally from what I have seen they do not hunt but are opprotunists.

[jbarr2000]

bristle worms eat deterius (left over food and poop from other inhabitants) if it was actually attacking your snail it was hungry.. but generally from what I have seen they do not hunt but are opprotunists.

 

Mine was probably hungry, tank has only been up a week so no food or waste to take care of really. I really dig my little nano-conch, hope those dirty worms don't get him.