Bobbit worm

jaybk5211 · Jul 23, 2015

Caught this guy last night, was about 2 ft long. I have been seeing Dead Sea hares and a couple fish over the last 6 months and would see him attached. Assumed they died and he was just opportunistic, was it a bobbit killing them?

143MPCo · Jul 23, 2015

Could have been... check this one out..

WetWhistle · Jul 23, 2015

It is a type of Polychaete worm and I would not touch it. They can cause permanent numbness if you do. Most of them that turn up in the hobby are scavengers. Unless it is the Bobbit worm, those bury themselves in the substrate. Keep in mind they also inject narcotizing or killing toxin into their prey animal. Regardless don't touch them.

jaybk5211 · Jul 23, 2015

I didn't touch em, I flushed him. Lol

I'm just trying to confirm it was a bobbit if anyone can tell. Thought it was a big bristle, but I I kept seeing Dead Sea hares or decent sized fish dead after less than 24 hrs in the tank. They would usually be dead in this same spot, behind a rock right at the sand bed and this guy would be attached and a hole eaten in them. I thought they died and he was just opportunistically scavenging, but now that I can see more than just a couple inches of him I'm thinking it's more than that and not just a bristleworm.

twilliard · Jul 23, 2015

Oh my lord in the years I have been doing this I have never ever seen such a thing!
and I thought my hells fire anemone was bad!

WetWhistle · Jul 23, 2015

They are pretty nasty. Good thing they don't come along very often. Mostly in new live rock.

What did the head look like? Did it have an appendage that looked like clamps with jagged edges? Or just thick whisker looking things? If it was in your crushed coral and it had that appendage it could be the bobbit. But more then likly it was on of the scavenger kind.

jeffp1 · Jul 23, 2015

Makes me scared to put my hand in my tank now. lol

kacrocorals581 · Jul 23, 2015

when I was helping my Buddie break down his 180 for a move to his new house found one that had to be pushing 4ft Idk how it went that long undetected , glad it wasn't me lifting that last rock cause I probably would of dropped it and busted the bottom out the tank

Cleo642 · Jul 23, 2015

143MPCo said:
Could have been... check this one out..

Kill it with fire!!

143MPCo · Jul 23, 2015

Cleo642 said:
Kill it with fire!!

[emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]

Cleo642 · Jul 23, 2015

143MPCo said:
[emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]

Lol!

bsr2430 · Jul 23, 2015

It's a bristle worm, I had one, never touch it, it will cause a temporary numb, followed with a slight pain, nothing more though. But these guys will attack your fish only at night. Go in your tank and lift your center rocks and there's probably more, that same size...

My tank had many, find and kill them so the smaller ones can be eat by your selected crew for them. If you don't have a clean up crew for them, buy some. There's so many options for clean up crews.

Hopes this helps.

bobbychullo · Jul 24, 2015

i have read numerous stories of bobbit worms in tanks, I wouldn't assume its the scavenger type especially if you had fish disappearing on you...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...rium-staff-mysterious-attacks-coral-reef.html

bobbychullo · Jul 24, 2015

all are images I found on the internet, they are not mine.

Cleo642 · Jul 24, 2015

bobbychullo said:
all are images I found on the internet, they are not mine.

Kill it with fire!!! It looks like an alien.

bobbychullo · Jul 24, 2015

these are bristleworms. the above are polychaete. i think one of the defining characteristics is the difference in the head (among other things). polychaete has a more defined and obvious head. the difference is pretty obvious to me. bristleworms eat detritus, polychaete have a varied diet depending on species. they leave behind mucus where they kill their prey i believe, its more obvious on something like a snail shell (if they have eaten the snail) or on a coral.

bobbychullo · Jul 24, 2015

Cleo642 said:
Kill it with fire!!! It looks like an alien.

lololol!!!
i un-want them for sure

jaybk5211 · Jul 25, 2015

It must have been a bobbit then if it leaves behind a slime coat area. I repeatedly found dead snails in the morning with stringy we like slime all around and over them.

bobbychullo · Jul 25, 2015

yea sounds like it, pretty strong evidence. Thats the reason I posted the photos, in your photo I could not see the head but it didn't look like a bristleworm.

Keep your eye open and count your livestock, there can be more. especially if you had a large one there's usually some small ones, from the stuff I have read. I'm not trying to make you scared or frustrated, just don't want you to let your guard down. Some guy designed a sweet trap that supposedly works, I read this a few years ago tho. I'm going to google it now but it basically involved nylons and an inverted 2 liter bottle i believe. You put bait inside and they go for it and get caught in the nylons.

EDIT: Search for Eunicid worm. I haven't found the trap yet but I seem to remember now it was a pvc pipe with a cap on the end maybe, nylons inside. Its been a long time since I researched these guys lol