$ Pit

[saltwatercoral]

These are the only 2 pics that after many tries I was able to somewhat get him in the pic. As you can see the little clump of coral that was on the LR when I got it is dying around it and this is exactly where he is. I als noticed after dark on that rock these tiny whitish looking legs / antena poking out of several holes throughout the rock... This is one messed up piece of LR. I even user Coral RX on all my stuff!

 

 

Now that I think about it I wonder if my coral that died had somthing to do with this worm?

[pschom]

Yuk. I hate the big ones. On first glance It looks like a big bristle worm. They are harmless and clean up at night. BUT they don't have anything sticking out of the front, like antenna looking things (sorry I don't know the real terminology). Yours appears to have that??! Cant member what the name of the worm is, but they can grow to several feet long and eat everything. Whatever you do, bristle worm or no, DO NOT TOUCH IT! The bristles break off and stick in your skin causing irritation, etc. I would use a worm extractor to cath it and toss that sucker. As I said, I hate the big ones.

 

You'll never find it if you take the rock out. I read once that bristleworms can sense vibration, so it knows to hide when your walking around. That's why they come out at night.

 

I could be way off on this, so if some one who knows more h a comment dont judge me.

[saltwatercoral]

Yuk. I hate the big ones. On first glance It looks like a big bristle worm. They are harmless and clean up at night. BUT they don't have anything sticking out of the front, like antenna looking things (sorry I don't know the real terminology). Yours appears to have that??! Cant member what the name of the worm is, but they can grow to several feet long and eat everything. Whatever you do, bristle worm or no, DO NOT TOUCH IT! The bristles break off and stick in your skin causing irritation, etc. I would use a worm extractor to cath it and toss that sucker. As I said, I hate the big ones.

 

You'll never find it if you take the rock out. I read once that bristleworms can sense vibration, so it knows to hide when your walking around. That's why they come out at night.

 

I could be way off on this, so if some one who knows more h a comment dont judge me.

Yea this thing def has about 4 or 5 antenas from the tip of it. Also the strange part is that even when this thing is out of it's hole thre is about 3 othe spots in the rock where it looks like there is other antennas sticking out. This seams like a rock full of not the stuff I like. I will pul it out today and use a hammer to see what this thing has hiding inside it.

[pschom]

Yuk dude. Just trash it. Others may disagree, but that is nasty. What if u grew 5, 4 foot worms in there. You couldn't keep anything but rocks. You'd have a worm species tank. Lol.

[saltwatercoral]

Yuk dude. Just trash it. Others may disagree, but that is nasty. What if u grew 5, 4 foot worms in there. You couldn't keep anything but rocks. You'd have a worm species tank. Lol.

Thats what I will do! I could "cook" the rock and then put it back in later on. Good idea or not? Either way The rock is coming out today and I want to find out what that Nasty looking thin is!

 

On a side not I saw a shrimp looking body in the rocks and thought... O no that worm killed the shrimp... But than I saw the actual shrimp and found out that he just molted. I will post picks today of the Naso tang as well as the molt when I get a free chance to post some Pics!

[Criley7]

Cool. How big is the Naso?

[saltwatercoral]

Cool. How big is the Naso?

He is a small little guy. Prob about 3-4 from nose to tail. Real nice looking colors ad gets along like a brother to the yellow tang, thankfully! I was worried about that but all the fish don't mind eachother at all!

[awpong]

These are the only 2 pics that after many tries I was able to somewhat get him in the pic. As you can see the little clump of coral that was on the LR when I got it is dying around it and this is exactly where he is. I als noticed after dark on that rock these tiny whitish looking legs / antena poking out of several holes throughout the rock... This is one messed up piece of LR. I even user Coral RX on all my stuff!

 

 

Now that I think about it I wonder if my coral that died had somthing to do with this worm?

Looks like a Eunicid worm

[saltwatercoral]

Looks like a Eunicid worm

That's def it! It's an Euncid worm! I looked up pics and videos and that is 100% it. After looking into these they eat sps corals and can eat snails and crabs. That makes total sence now because I have seen a few crab carcasses. I'm taking the entire rock out because from What i read they never leave there burrow. I'm going to find him and get some pics! That thing looks ugly!!!

[Criley7]

Instead of boiling the rock, try using Coral Rx in a bucket for like 20-30min. It should get him out, then just rinse out the rock very very good in RO/DI. Better then boiling first and killing all your beneficial bacteria

[saltwatercoral]

Instead of boiling the rock, try using Coral Rx in a bucket for like 20-30min. It should get him out, then just rinse out the rock very very good in RO/DI. Better then boiling first and killing all your beneficial bacteria

That may work but I already did Coral RX dip for 20min on this rock before I put him in and that thing just creeps me out thinking he is in my tank feeding on god knows what...

 

Here are some pice as promised...

 

Dead Lobo

 

Shrimp Molt

 

Buds

 

Looking through the rocks

 

Best close up I could get after a few shots

[Criley7]

Yea but he might have not taking residencey In the rock until after it was introduced into the tank. But boiling or baking the rock will work too!

Im jealous of the Naso.

[saltwatercoral]

Quick update! I'll post pics in a few but I did take that rock out last night and broke only half of the rock up and found 6 worms in half the rock! That rock is not going back In the tank at all.

[Criley7]

WOW hopefully you got them all.

[Degener8]

Jeez they are cloning in the tank... Hopefully they did not spread and colonize in other rocks as well.. Do they have any natural predators?

 

How big are the ones in your tank. Those can get quite large.

[saltwatercoral]

Here is a pic of these ugly things... They are a lot smaller in person but when they stretch out when they were alive they are much bigger. You can see the antennas/feelers off of the one worm.

 

[NewZealandReefie]

Ew. Eunicid worms freak me out.

 

Nice to see things coming together in your tank.

 

If I wasn't on the other side of the globe I'd pass you on some frags of my larger colonies of SPS , got a fair few nice pieces these days.

 

Where's your second MP40 huh?

[saltwatercoral]

Ew. Eunicid worms freak me out.

 

Nice to see things coming together in your tank.

 

If I wasn't on the other side of the globe I'd pass you on some frags of my larger colonies of SPS , got a fair few nice pieces these days.

 

Where's your second MP40 huh?

Man!!!! I just did another lights out check tonight and found another rock full of these worms. I have a low night vision led red light that I was able To see enough to see these worms coming out of the holes. I saw 3 at one time! What the Heck? Is this Normal to have a Eunicid worm rock infestation? Ironicaly these rocks were the most I payed for and I removed one completely yeterday and now again tonight. I took the other rock out, put it in some fresh RO water and about 3 trays of ice. I am letting it sit all night in a refrigerator to kill everything on it. Will it be safe to put it back in tomorrow morning? It will be sitting in the freezing water for about 6-7hrs if I put it in in the morning. If I wait untill the evening it will wait and additional 10hrs.

 

I never thought worms would be my problem here but I guess buying better rock gets you "everything". I was going to remove my Rock tomorrow but decided to do it now because of the amount of Eunicid worms I could see and that one of the worms was suck g on a slug that it must have cought. To be honest these things creep me out and make me second guess if I did the right thing with getting this tank going... I'm not giving in but these things worry me because I have only over 7k invested in this setup and Now the worms are killing my inhabitants. Can someone please tell

Me if these things spread and if I need to pull everything out or not?

 

 

As for the 2nd Mp40wEs... I'm Thinking within the next 2 weeks I will have an extra $500 to blow on one if these Darn worns don't kill my corals/fish.

 

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pschom]

Whoa guy, don't have a meltdown! Honestly I don't think every one of those worms is something to concern yourself with. Some look like harmless bristle worms. Of which I have plenty! The ones with the 'feelers' in the front IMO look like eunicid worms and those are bad news.

 

Look at www.wetwebmedia.com that's a good resource for id's and info.

 

If you think your having problems now....it's because you are! And that's normal. No amount of money spent, IMO, will keep you from having a learning curve and getting things just how you want them for a successful aquarium. Honestly I think everyone is still learning, whether they've been in this for years, or not. Think of it like this: if you got promoted and immediately thought it was too much responsibility and quit...you'd be out of a job.

 

I think the simple lesson here is DIP EVERYTHING!

[21093r53]

those things arent the end of the world bro arrow crabs are ugly but they eat them

[Degener8]

arrows eat bristle worms Eunicid worms are a different story I believe. His are small in comparison to some I have seen so arrow crabs may work.

[saltwatercoral]

O... I thought these things could devastate a tank from what I was reading. I guess its not as bad as I was reading then! It's still bad I take it though. And yes these are the same worms with those antena/feeler things coming from it's head. I pulled the rock out of the fridge this morning to let it get room temp today. If I put the rock back in the tank will the die off create a problem with the water parameters? I didn't see any other worms in the tank but will keep checking every few days to see.

[saltwatercoral]

Would it be ok for me to put that rock that I had sitting in fresh freezing RO water all day back into the tank? I'm def assuming all the worms would have died within the first hr or so. Would this mess my water parameters with the die off?

[saltwatercoral]

I just put my other piece back in after being in fresh ice water for about 12hrs ad then getting to room temp before putting it back into the tank. The rock looks Awsome! I know the coraline has died because the color under the SOLs looks like a fluresent orange instead of purple. I also saw some dead worms hanging slightly out of there holes...YES!!! The rock may be dead of all benifitial bacteria now but atleast I can count on the eunicid worms Being dead to! After checking the photos and close examination of the worms, not all were eunicid worms. I believe some to Be bristle worms, but it was in the rock that was trashed so they all died by my choice. I will do another lights out check here soon to see if I see any more worms Anywhere else.

[mpsti05]

Those freakin worms use to freak me out the last time i had my biocube setup for 3 years at night id see all these huge ass worms crawling outta the rocks.. So when i set it back up last September i used brs eco live rock so there was no chance of them at the time. So far so good.. They may be good but i hate them!