TiGs Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Hello I got some new live rock and I found a bunch of fire bristleworm (Eurythoe complanata). Out of all the bristleworms that I could get, I got one of the bad ones, sob sob :*( I'm pretty sure that it is Eurythoe complanata worm because my worms matched a picture in a hitchiker faq. I attached a pic for all you to see. I used tweazers to try to pull a worm out but only got the head section of it before the rest broke off. part of the worm in the pic is about 1/2 inc in lenth. Guess it's time for me to plan my attack on these worms. I was thinking of doing a fresh water dip on my rock where these bad boys reside. Any other suggestions are welcomed. Link to comment
arpanlib Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 hey, what is the site that you mentioned ??? hitchhiker or something. thanx for the help. arpanlib Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Why are you determined to remove it from the tank? As long as you dont go rubbing his belly they are pretty beneficial to any reef tank. Link to comment
TiGs Posted February 24, 2003 Author Share Posted February 24, 2003 I got the hitchhiker faq from reef.org. I want to remove these worms because they tend to eat corals and multiple very fast. i already counted around 10 on a live rock which weighs no more than 3 lbs. I dont mind other kind of benificial brislte worms but these fire worms must go. Link to comment
ReefMatrix Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 "Lose" terminology is a bad thing. Bristtle Worms are the common name for Fire Worms. They are one in the same. Do some searches and you will see 90% of the world keeps these because they are beneficial. The stories of them eating corals are far and few. Unless it gets to about 6 feet. Highly unlikely. If you don't want bristtle worms, don't setup a reef tank! Bristtle worms bore themselfs in rocks and live there. There is no way you will get rid of 100% of them. NONE. Lastly, unless you are an educated biologist, you couldn't tell a bad worm from a good worm if it was written on a piece of paper. Closeups of the worm are needed. Take a step back, research and THINK! Link to comment
TiGs Posted February 24, 2003 Author Share Posted February 24, 2003 Took a step back, thought about it, still gonna kill them. Reef matrix - Did I use "loose" terminology? You might be right that 90% of the world keeps bristle worms, but im the 10% especially when I have the bad ones. Some stuff to read http://www.aquarium.net/0697/0697_2.shtml http://www.aquarium.net/1096/1096_3.shtml Link to comment
TiGs Posted February 24, 2003 Author Share Posted February 24, 2003 Originally posted by ReefMatrix Do some searches and you will see 90% of the world keeps these because they are beneficial. The stories of them eating corals are far and few. Unless it gets to about 6 feet. Highly unlikely. THINK! Tell my why a worm cannot eat corals unless they reach a length about 6 feet? I find that statement ridiculous. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 If this is what you read http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_page...es/faq_sand.htm then you didnt read it thoroughly is states "There are only a few notable exceptions to this rule that aquarists should be aware of, and even these exceptions are somewhat rare in aquaria. The primary exceptions are a few species of the Family Amphinomidae. One species in particular has become the stereotypical bad "bristleworm", the Caribbean Hermodice carunculata, but is rare in aquaria (probably due to the small amount of Caribbean rock used in our tanks) and it's diet is primarily gorgonians" and if you kept reading a little more.... "Well, after that dire warning, I have to reiterate that the vast majority of polychaete species are at worst harmless to a reef tank, and at best beneficial in maintaining a healthy environment. The simple fact is that, along with a multitude of small arthropods, polychaetes are the marine equivalent of insects on land; there are some insects (like wasps) that you'd prefer to avoid, but for the most part we ignore "bugs" and many of them are beneficial. Polychaete worms are extremely abundant in all marine habitats, and I doubt there is ANY reef tank in existence that does NOT have polychaetes in it. Most reef habitats that have been censussed have on the order of 10 to 20,000 worms per square meter, and in some muddy-bottom areas with high organic input, densities of worms can reach over half a million per square meter. " If you feel they are that much of a harm to you then do what you must, but you really dont have much to worry about. Unless your crakeur and you cant keep your hands out of your tank (joke). If you see one that is getting half the length of you 10g then maybe its time for it to go. Otherwise most are benign. Link to comment
ReefMatrix Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Originally posted by TiGs Tell my why a worm cannot eat corals unless they reach a length about 6 feet? I find that statement ridiculous. Well, if you did a OMG a SEARCH You will have noticed a thread about a 6foot worm eating corals. That I can understand. Something has to sustain the guy. As far as smaller worms being reported eating corals - virtually none. Occasionally you will get a thread or somone that says my fish was being eaten by a worm. Thats because your fish was already dead or dying. Bristtle worms are EXCELLENT scavangers and are beneficial to reef aquaria. They WILL EAT dead or decaying matter. It doesn't matter if the fish is alive or the coral. If its dead or dying, it will be eaten. However, that point is null and void as my origional point was to tell you that NO MATTER how hard you try and remove them - YOUR NOT GOING TO GET RID OF ALL OF THEM!!! Its that simple. Not unless you use rock and corals that are sterile. You can pick all day long at the rocks - your not going to get them all! Link to comment
TiGs Posted February 24, 2003 Author Share Posted February 24, 2003 DeskJockey- Actually I do have my hands in the tank a lot, but my hands aren't clumsy like crakeur =) This is what I read.. This is the family of polychaetes which is primarily responsible for having given "bristle-worms" a bad name. Aside from the fact that these animals are voracious predators, and some are capable of ingesting entire branches of Acropora and digesting all the tissue from the skeleton, it is also to this family that the dreaded "fireworms" (Hermodice carrunculata and Eurythoe complanata ) belong. ...Obviously, these worms should be carefully removed if possible when discovered in your tank, but for small species that breed rapidly, such as Eurythoe complanata , that can often prove a difficult task. I provided pictures of some of these species and suggested a number of alternative strategies for eradication of problem polychaetes in Part 8, the first polychaete article in this series. I have read many post from people saying bristle worms are good for your reef, but do you think 90% of them would be saying that if they got the two genera, Hermodice and Eurythoe the unwanted bristle worms? Reefmatrix- I know that bristle worms are benifitial but the one I have Eurythoe complanata will cause more harm than good IMO. Thanks for pointing the search thing out for me, now how would I use it? If you noticed, the thread about the 6 foot long worm was started by me on this board. Link to comment
sjpresley Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 These worms eat what they eat. Most species eat detritus and carion. As far as I know ONE, yes ONE, species from the Caribbean will eat coral. It eats coral when it's one inch and when six feet. Detritivores eat crap when small and still eat crap when large, more crap...but crap nonetheless. Link to comment
Xavier Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 Hey.. I just say, if you wanna spend all day trying to get the bugger out, go for it.. this is an argument that will get no one anywhere.. people are already set in their opinions about whether they are good or bad.. There are many things that can go wrong with your tank.. so far I've managed to hit most of them.. bristle worms are the least of my worries.. but hey, if you've got time to waste, go for it, and when you're done, let me know, I've got PLENTY you can do for me... Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.