Massive bristle worm good or bad?

[Alexjones.aj99]

Is this a good bristleworm or one that I should try to remove? Looks like the mushroom at where his cave entrance is, is not doing to well and has been unhappy last couple of days and I wonder if this is why? Or just coincidence. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Alexjones.aj99]

It was in the moment so I didn’t have time to change the lights to white for different perspective before he retreated sorry

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Looks like a fireworm, generally harmless to tank inhabitants though I think they eat SPS if they're isn't much food avaliable (@ISpeakForTheSeas?) Also are covered in venomous hairs that irritate your skin. I'd say if you see it again to try and grab it though I wouldn't rip apart the whole tank looking for it

 

[Joe462]

personal preference. I usually pull the bigger ones if i see them, just because i don't like seeing the bigger ones, there are plenty of small ones to help with clean up.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Looks like a fireworm, generally harmless to tank inhabitants though I think they eat SPS if they're isn't much food avaliable (@ISpeakForTheSeas?) Also are covered in venomous hairs that irritate your skin. I'd say if you see it again to try and grab it though I wouldn't rip apart the whole tank looking for it

I can't say for sure if it's a fireworm or a regular bristle worm here (I'd need white light pics), but yeah, to my knowledge, fireworms generally prefer non-coral foods first, so they shouldn't cause problems unless they're underfed or their population gets out of hand.

You can read more about them and their diets below, but I wouldn't expect one to bother a mushroom coral; so regardless of if it's a fireworm or regular bristle worm, it's probably not the cause if the issues the mushroom is facing.

Fireworms are bristleworms from the taxonomic family Amphinomidae; generally speaking (this is not a hard and fast rule by any means), these have clusters/tufts of white bristles rather than the typical little spikes with a single bristle sticking out (if that makes sense); they also frequently have red/orange, fluffy looking bunches of gills mixed in with the bristles. Some good examples to look at are Hermodice carunculata and Eurythoe complanata.

As mentioned, there are exemptions to these guidelines, and some of the other fireworms can look a lot more like regular bristleworms, but this should give you a decent, general ID guide.

Regular bristleworms should really only ever pose a threat to critters that are already on death's door, so if you see regular bristleworms eating something in your tank, that thing was probably already dead/nearly dead regardless. Fireworms are a slightly different story though.

Encrusting SPS, crabs, and serpent stars should (to my knowledge) be totally safe from fireworms.

Very small, soft-shelled crustaceans (like pods or very tiny shrimp), snails, and clams could all be at risk with fireworms, especially if they're not in great health/if they're dying.

I haven't heard of fireworms going after Zoanthids or Xenia, but it's possible that they might; when they go after corals, they tend to go after branching corals (Acros, Millies, Gorgs, etc.) and anemones rather than encrusting corals (the way their mouths work, encrusting species would likely be very, very difficult for them to eat). To my understanding, though, most fireworms prefer other foods over corals and nems, so they're generally harmless/beneficial, acting as CUC for your tank and basically eating whatever your fish don't unless you have too many of them in the tank/they're not getting enough food.

In other words, keep fireworms well fed and with their population under control, and they really shouldn't cause many issues for you.

 

[kevgib67]

I’ve never had them bother corals but perhaps if crawls over the top of the shroom it could cause it to withdraw. Happens all the time due to my cleaner shrimps and hermit crabs.

 

[RedoubtReef]

I think he's cool. I'd name him Barry and let him be.

 

[Alexjones.aj99]

Sounds like I can let him be, I actually like seeing him every once in a while he’s a cool surprise, just wanted to make sure he wasn’t bad, as long as he’s not hurting coral. I probably over feed so I’m sure he has plenty to eat that is not my coral lol. Thanks for the replies everyone appreciate it!

 

[kjkszpj9]

Photo under white light would be better to get a pic of his colors and more clear id on his tufts of hair he has.