Oenone fulgida, a type of bristle worm?

[sgoodine]

Good day folks. I recently added a new piece of LR to my tank. I noticed that 3 astrea snails that were on the new rock had not moved in a long time. I took a closer look to investigate and I found what appears to be a type of bristle worm on one of them. I think that worm was coming out of the snail's shell but due to the dark area where the worm was located, I can not confirm this. I did a search and found this article written by Ronald L. Shimek:

 

"Another type of worm that causes problems can be very large; I have seen individuals about 40 cm long and bright orange. These are thin compared to bristle worms, and although they do have small bristles along the sides, these are generally not apparent. These worms, Oenone fulgida, prey on snails and clams. They suffocate snails with a viscid mucus, and then eat the body, and apparently can bore into clams, such as Tridacna species and eat them as well (Delbeek and Sprung 1994). They live in holes in rocks and emerge to feed, but generally keep their posterior end in their home hole. They are nocturnal and feed in total darkness. When startled by a light they can retract back into their den with extreme rapidity. About the only way they can be removed from a system is by removing their piece of rock and manually pulling the worm out if it possible."

 

Have any of you seem this type of worm kill a snail or clam?

 

I will watch the snails closely for the next while to see if they are indeed dead. If this worm does prove to be an Oenone fulgida, any suggestions on how to remove it besides manually pulling it off (the rock has some mushrooms on it that I would rather not disturb unless necessary)?

 

Thanks,

Shane

East Coast Reefer,

Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

[sgoodine]

I forgot to add that Everything Shimek stated about the worm sounds like a match but it does have noticeable "bristles" on its sides.