Tiny Mushroom eating worm

[A.m.P]

I don't have any pictures as I was lucky enough just to spot the bugger, but a small reddish-tannish worm, with no apparent bristles and no large head antennae I could see, slowly came out of the rock a newly purchased mushroom coral came in on. It extended some small mandibles and tore a big enough chunk out of the baby-mushroom to literally tear its' disk. The mushroom is now dead, but I guess I was wondering if any other folks had similar experiences with such animals, it was very thin and quite small still, nothing like the eunice worms you typically hear about and it went after the mushroom in the afternoon, so it wouldn't appear to be nocturnal either. 

The main reason I ask is that I initially tried to get rid of it just by cutting the half of the rock I spotted it on off entirely, in hindsight however I'm not sure whether that would have been enough since the animal could have been multiple inches long and retraced far into the center of the rock (though I didn't see any tubes for it after cutting the rock [rock is also generous, we're talking an inch, maybe two inch pebble here and a tiny-baby-shroom] may have seen parts of a dead shriveled worm in the rock a few days later, impossible to tell?)

So I guess my question would be, what're the chances it bailed into my rockwork after I disturbed its' home by cutting the rock, and I'll now have a nibbling-rampage to track (one of my euphyllia is going bailout atm actually with tears in its' flesh, so this might already be the case), or would these kinds of worms likely just sit put in their burrow and I likely either got rid of it when disposing of the shroom's corpse or when I actively tried to cut its' home off the pebble.

Probably inappropriate for this forum, but I just don't have enough hands-on experience to really have an answer for myself on this one, and I can't find too much information out there either. 

[WV Reefer]

15 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

I don't have any pictures as I was lucky enough just to spot the bugger, but a small reddish-tannish worm, with no apparent bristles and no large head antennae I could see, slowly came out of the rock a newly purchased mushroom coral came in on. It extended some small mandibles and tore a big enough chunk out of the baby-mushroom to literally tear its' disk. The mushroom is now dead, but I guess I was wondering if any other folks had similar experiences with such animals, it was very thin and quite small still, nothing like the eunice worms you typically hear about and it went after the mushroom in the afternoon, so it wouldn't appear to be nocturnal either. 

The main reason I ask is that I initially tried to get rid of it just by cutting the half of the rock I spotted it on off entirely, in hindsight however I'm not sure whether that would have been enough since the animal could have been multiple inches long and retraced far into the center of the rock (though I didn't see any tubes for it after cutting the rock [rock is also generous, we're talking an inch, maybe two inch pebble here and a tiny-baby-shroom] may have seen parts of a dead shriveled worm in the rock a few days later, impossible to tell?)

So I guess my questions would be, chances it bailed into my rockwork after I disturbed its' home by cutting the rock, and I'll now have a nibbling-rampage to track (one of my euphyllia is going bailout atm actually with tears in its' flesh, so this might already be the case), or would these kinds of worms likely just sit put in their burrow and I likely either got rid of it when disposing of the yuma's corpse or when I actively tried to cut its' home off the pebble.

Probably inappropriate for this forum, but I just don't have enough hands-on experience to really have an answer for myself on this one, and I can't find too much information out there either. 

 

Thats crazy. 

 

My eunice worm would never fully leave his home base so hopefully you got what ever it was when you cut his house up. 

[WV Reefer]

I was thinking about this last night......

 

what about a Medusa Worm?  They have been known to eat mushrooms and soft corals.  

[A.m.P]

Hmm I don't think so, I hadn't even thought of the possibility... The mushrooms came from a breeder/propagator supposedly so it would be odd for there to be juvenile Medusa worms on the rocks... That said in an established and dirty tank, who knows... I'll have to keep an eye out one way or another, but even in a nano spotting animals this adept at staying out of sight is a matter of luck, time, and their unfortunate and inevitable size increases... 

[A.m.P]

Whelp, haven't seen it since, hopefully that means that I'm just stuck with bristles from here on out... Though I did get an ID I think, pretty sure it was one of these buggers based on the appearance of the head, really makes me hope I got it out of the tank...

https://www.flickriver.com/photos/wolfgangdibiasi/23427743872/

[mcarroll]

On 8/26/2019 at 9:07 PM, Amphrites said:

The mushroom is now dead

That's the wimpiest mushroom in the whole world if it's really dead.  More likely it will grow into 2-3 new mushrooms, including some in new places of the tank.

 

How did you know it was dead vs trying to find a new place to settle, just trying to recover or whatnot?

 

I'm not aware of anything that'll kill em.....and without doing anything stooopid, I've tried to kill mine!!  A rip is a procreative event, not even "damage".  At least for me.  (Wish these things would die!   LOL)

[A.m.P]

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

That's the wimpiest mushroom in the whole world if it's really dead.  More likely it will grow into 2-3 new mushrooms, including some in new places of the tank.

 

How did you know it was dead vs trying to find a new place to settle, just trying to recover or whatnot?

 

I'm not aware of anything that'll kill em.....and without doing anything stooopid, I've tried to kill mine!!  A rip is a procreative event, not even "damage".  At least for me.  (Wish these things would die!   LOL)

It was ripped in half, dropped its' guts out and then melted over the course of about 24 hours lol.

[mcarroll]

I'll say that again:  Wow....

 

something that can kill a mushroom....

 

I had small hopes pinned on this guy that I rescued for a friend...thought maybe he'd eat my mushrooms someday:  

 

Neoglyphidodon melas, or the Black Demselfish.

 

Looks like this when you get em (and he's a nice enough fish as a juvenile):

 

But they grow up to become a 7" this, which eats soft coral:

Still nice looking, but aggressive and a coral eater....go figure.

 

 

Not gonna keep him that long....gonna have to find a new home for him before his colors change.

 

[Ratvan]

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

I'll say that again:  Wow....

 

something that can kill a mushroom....

 

I had small hopes pinned on this guy that I rescued for a friend...thought maybe he'd eat my mushrooms someday:  

 

Neoglyphidodon melas, or the Black Demselfish.

 

Looks like this when you get em (and he's a nice enough fish as a juvenile):

 

But they grow up to become a 7" this, which eats soft coral:

Still nice looking, but aggressive and a coral eater....go figure.

 

 

Not gonna keep him that long....gonna have to find a new home for him before his colors change.

 

Did not expect that transforamtion, at all! Gorgeous fish though love the adult colours and demeanour 

[A.m.P]

What an awesome fish, 7" is a bit much though haha, I imagine it would be exceedingly-difficult to keep it happy despite it likely also taking meaty or plant-based foods like most other damselfish alongside its' coral snacks.

 

What was most impressive was just how small the worm was as well, I can't believe how much damage it caused while still smaller than any bristleworm I had in the tank, now I'm almost positive it is a pure-predator with a nack for killing clams... Joy, hopefully my not spotting it since the rock surgery isn't just a sign of incompetence lol... Who knows, maybe my vicious little damsel had a taste for it, he frequently goes after bristles XD decides real-quick that they're too-pokey, despite their enticing wiggling.

[mcarroll]

You know funny enough, now that you mention clams....

 

Clam poop (pellets) are apparently the main item in the Black Damsel's diet, along with soft coral.  Read in a couple places now that they usually hang right by the clam.  Mmmmm.

[A.m.P]

Oh that wouldn't do at all, my current springers' has dibs on all clam and coral poop he can find.
Sure wish I could keep another couple damsels in my 20L but even if I mixed one-off, less-aggressive varieties in all my rockwork's caves it remains a dubiously-tenable, at-best, idea longterm.

Technically most of the smaller ones likely-have a desired territory of 6-10 "^2, I could accommodate 3 mathematically, why can't I just get the obstinate little buggers to read my floorplans? T_T 

Edited October 24, 2019 by Amphrites
I really like damselfish

[mcarroll]

There aren't too many folks who don't think about damsels outside of NOT buying them to cycle a tank.  

 

Dap to you.  👊

[A.m.P]

Just now, mcarroll said:

There aren't too many folks who don't think about damsels outside of NOT buying them to cycle a tank.  

 

Dap to you.  👊

It's their personalities, exceedingly intelligent and expressive animals if you know what to look for.