Bobbit Worm New Years Episode (Pending Removal)

[jmcdona6]

So about 6-9 months or so ago I noticed a small eunice worm of some kind in my 170G waterbox mixed reef. I don't really have any pictures of it because it is too reclusive to photograph well. I left it alone at the time...why? I really didn't want to tear my tank apart and held out hope it was one of the benign varieties. As it has matured, now roughly 1-2ft long and about sharpie marker thick, it looks suspiciously like a Eunice Aphroditois or the worst kind of Atlantic bobbit worm.

That said, it has never given me much of a problem which is not what you would expect from a classic bobbit. I've witnessed it slither right over a sleeping fish to go after other food sources. Several fish actually sleep with it in the same cave area. I have never lost a fish. No obvious clean-up crew losses. I did lose an alveopora to it once, not because it attacked it but because it pulled the small rock it was mounted on towards its den and inadvertently shifted the coral into a mushroom that stung it to death before I noticed. Otherwise...it was a model citizen.

I say was because I witnessed something spectacular last month. This thing is getting huge...not attacking fish or inverts... but there just isn't that much detritus for this thing to be thriving on. Especially considering it doesn't seem to leave its area of the rockwork. Then one night I saw it crawling out onto the rockwork...over to where my montipora are...and no joke start taking bites out of it. Not nibbles. Not eating just the flesh. FULL bites. Like the monti was a potato chip. Imagine the jaw strength required for this? Picture below of its food source.

So far the monti actually seems to be tolerating it and is outgrowing the bobbits appetite. How long before the bobbit's appetite outpaces the monti? What is next on the menu? Who knows...and as someone who has paid a premium for quarantined fish and starting to develop some nice colonies...I guess I don't want to find out.

So my plan...it appears...I think...to have always originated out of the red circled rock in the below photo at the head of my peninsula rockwork. I assume...hope...this is its home. Remove the rock, bust out the worm. Do reconstructive surgery on my reef.

Now unfortunately it sits at the foot of a three rock pyramid so I am going to have to remove the rock on top of it. Good news, I only used super glue when I built it so it should break with a little bit of torque. Also most of the corals on it are hammers which have easily detached mounting points. The only issue are the mushrooms.

I have guests over today for NYE so the operation is slated to commence tomorrow during the day. I will follow-up with photos of my prize or reports of my failure.

Open question remains...if I extract it alive what do I do with it?

 

[JoJosReef]

So about 6-9 months or so ago I noticed a small eunice worm of some kind in my 170G waterbox mixed reef. I don't really have any pictures of it because it is too reclusive to photograph well. I left it alone at the time...why? I really didn't want to tear my tank apart and held out hope it was one of the benign varieties. As it has matured, now roughly 1-2ft long and about sharpie marker thick, it looks suspiciously like a Eunice Aphroditois or the worst kind of Atlantic bobbit worm.

That said, it has never given me much of a problem which is not what you would expect from a classic bobbit. I've witnessed it slither right over a sleeping fish to go after other food sources. Several fish actually sleep with it in the same cave area. I have never lost a fish. No obvious clean-up crew losses. I did lose an alveopora to it once, not because it attacked it but because it pulled the small rock it was mounted on towards its den and inadvertently shifted the coral into a mushroom that stung it to death before I noticed. Otherwise...it was a model citizen.

I say was because I witnessed something spectacular last month. This thing is getting huge...not attacking fish or inverts... but there just isn't that much detritus for this thing to be thriving on. Especially considering it doesn't seem to leave its area of the rockwork. Then one night I saw it crawling out onto the rockwork...over to where my montipora are...and no joke start taking bites out of it. Not nibbles. Not eating just the flesh. FULL bites. Like the monti was a potato chip. Imagine the jaw strength required for this? Picture below of its food source.

So far the monti actually seems to be tolerating it and is outgrowing the bobbits appetite. How long before the bobbit's appetite outpaces the monti? What is next on the menu? Who knows...and as someone who has paid a premium for quarantined fish and starting to develop some nice colonies...I guess I don't want to find out.

So my plan...it appears...I think...to have always originated out of the red circled rock in the below photo at the head of my peninsula rockwork. I assume...hope...this is its home. Remove the rock, bust out the worm. Do reconstructive surgery on my reef.

Now unfortunately it sits at the foot of a three rock pyramid so I am going to have to remove the rock on top of it. Good news, I only used super glue when I built it so it should break with a little bit of torque. Also most of the corals on it are hammers which have easily detached mounting points. The only issue are the mushrooms.

I have guests over today for NYE so the operation is slated to commence tomorrow during the day. I will follow-up with photos of my prize or reports of my failure.

Open question remains...if I extract it alive what do I do with it?

Very interesting observation! I suppose give thanks that the monti is its focus for now. Doubt it will outpace the Monti.

Re: capturing it, good luck. They tend to stay anchored to their rock holes unless they are in a sand tube, in which case you can use plastic sheets to partition off the sand until you catch them--not so much your case, though. Keep in mond that those same mandibles that it is using to break off chunks of monti it will happily use to break off chunks of you. I nabbed one with tongs once and it attacked the tongs like a cobra. Also keep in mind that if you break it, it wilk regrow, including a new head, so you could end up with multiple Eunice worms from a failed catch.

Only thing that ever worked for me was complete rock removal. Tried injecting hydrogen peroxide and even hot RODI water into their holes. No success. Tricky to remove!

 

[fishface NJ]

Good luck!!! I had a mantis that was killing my fish. It took me months to capture it this year. When I finally caught it, it and a very expensive rock got thrown out.

Hope you have a wonderful new year!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

yikes! wishing you sucess! get that thing!!

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Maybe a large trap made of an extra long PVC pipe, closed on both ends, and with holes in it containing a large piece food (or a monti in your case) may work. May take a while to get it in it but worth a try to fish it out in one piece. I pulled out a Bobbit, the same way, around a foot long (it was in a rock less than 6x6 in. wide (!) and gave it to my LFS where they put it on display.

 

[CHSUB]

GL.. Mine is about a year old and still no damage. Watching it move rubble rock it is surprisingly strong and believe at some point it’s going to kill stuff including fish. I don’t want to destroy my tank because it is in a rock that would require huge amounts of work.

 

[jmcdona6]

Very interesting observation! I suppose give thanks that the monti is its focus for now. Doubt it will outpace the Monti.

Re: capturing it, good luck. They tend to stay anchored to their rock holes unless they are in a sand tube, in which case you can use plastic sheets to partition off the sand until you catch them--not so much your case, though. Keep in mond that those same mandibles that it is using to break off chunks of monti it will happily use to break off chunks of you. I nabbed one with tongs once and it attacked the tongs like a cobra. Also keep in mind that if you break it, it wilk regrow, including a new head, so you could end up with multiple Eunice worms from a failed catch.

Only thing that ever worked for me was complete rock removal. Tried injecting hydrogen peroxide and even hot RODI water into their holes. No success. Tricky to remove!

Yeah its rocked based which makes this harder...I am hopeful it is limited to this one rock. If so I am open to destroying / disposing of said rock if I have to in order to ensure no partial removals. But yeah...well aware of the various ways this could lead to failure or injury haha. One of the reasons I have been avoiding it.

 

[jmcdona6]

Maybe a large trap made of an extra long PVC pipe, closed on both ends, and with holes in it containing a large piece food (or a monti in your case) may work. May take a while to get it in it but worth a try to fish it out in one piece. I pulled out a Bobbit, the same way, around a foot long (it was in a rock less than 6x6 in. wide (!) and gave it to my LFS where they put it on display.

Good suggestion but I tried about a month or so trapping it with various methods including one similar to your suggestion. Maybe it would work with enough persistance and training but this guy is way too timid. I have never caught him more than 6" out of the rockwork even with baits like shrimp. The minute you even make a movement around him he darts back in faster than you can blink. He is very rock based...uses the holes in the rock to move around about a 1ft section of the tank. Sticks his head out of it a few inches to search for food then back in. It is crazy how seemingly smart and careful they are for a worm.

 

[jmcdona6]

GL.. Mine is about a year old and still no damage. Watching it move rubble rock it is surprisingly strong and believe at some point it’s going to kill stuff including fish. I don’t want to destroy my tank because it is in a rock that would require huge amounts of work.

Same...I guess I am at the point of tank maturity where things are starting to take off...its now or never.

You know, if it were just me I would let it be unless he became an absolute terror. But my Wife and younger daughter are invested in many of the fish, more than I am, so...I will never hear the end of it if I do nothing as favorite fish start biting the dust. Whether it was the bobbits fault or not.

 

[slingfox]

So about 6-9 months or so ago I noticed a small eunice worm of some kind in my 170G waterbox mixed reef. I don't really have any pictures of it because it is too reclusive to photograph well. I left it alone at the time...why? I really didn't want to tear my tank apart and held out hope it was one of the benign varieties. As it has matured, now roughly 1-2ft long and about sharpie marker thick, it looks suspiciously like a Eunice Aphroditois or the worst kind of Atlantic bobbit worm.

That said, it has never given me much of a problem which is not what you would expect from a classic bobbit. I've witnessed it slither right over a sleeping fish to go after other food sources. Several fish actually sleep with it in the same cave area. I have never lost a fish. No obvious clean-up crew losses. I did lose an alveopora to it once, not because it attacked it but because it pulled the small rock it was mounted on towards its den and inadvertently shifted the coral into a mushroom that stung it to death before I noticed. Otherwise...it was a model citizen.

I say was because I witnessed something spectacular last month. This thing is getting huge...not attacking fish or inverts... but there just isn't that much detritus for this thing to be thriving on. Especially considering it doesn't seem to leave its area of the rockwork. Then one night I saw it crawling out onto the rockwork...over to where my montipora are...and no joke start taking bites out of it. Not nibbles. Not eating just the flesh. FULL bites. Like the monti was a potato chip. Imagine the jaw strength required for this? Picture below of its food source.

So far the monti actually seems to be tolerating it and is outgrowing the bobbits appetite. How long before the bobbit's appetite outpaces the monti? What is next on the menu? Who knows...and as someone who has paid a premium for quarantined fish and starting to develop some nice colonies...I guess I don't want to find out.

So my plan...it appears...I think...to have always originated out of the red circled rock in the below photo at the head of my peninsula rockwork. I assume...hope...this is its home. Remove the rock, bust out the worm. Do reconstructive surgery on my reef.

Now unfortunately it sits at the foot of a three rock pyramid so I am going to have to remove the rock on top of it. Good news, I only used super glue when I built it so it should break with a little bit of torque. Also most of the corals on it are hammers which have easily detached mounting points. The only issue are the mushrooms.

I have guests over today for NYE so the operation is slated to commence tomorrow during the day. I will follow-up with photos of my prize or reports of my failure.

Open question remains...if I extract it alive what do I do with it?

If you remove the rock with the worm inside, you can also try putting the rock into very high salinity water. That has help me get a census of inverts from live rock.

 

[Freenow54]

Very interesting observation! I suppose give thanks that the monti is its focus for now. Doubt it will outpace the Monti.

Re: capturing it, good luck. They tend to stay anchored to their rock holes unless they are in a sand tube, in which case you can use plastic sheets to partition off the sand until you catch them--not so much your case, though. Keep in mond that those same mandibles that it is using to break off chunks of monti it will happily use to break off chunks of you. I nabbed one with tongs once and it attacked the tongs like a cobra. Also keep in mind that if you break it, it wilk regrow, including a new head, so you could end up with multiple Eunice worms from a failed catch.

Only thing that ever worked for me was complete rock removal. Tried injecting hydrogen peroxide and even hot RODI water into their holes. No success. Tricky to remove!

what about enclosing it with acrylic sheets and see if it will enter a bottle trap with a shrimp or something in it frozen food ?

 

[Freenow54]

Mouse trap ?

 

[Freenow54]

Good suggestion but I tried about a month or so trapping it with various methods including one similar to your suggestion. Maybe it would work with enough persistance and training but this guy is way too timid. I have never caught him more than 6" out of the rockwork even with baits like shrimp. The minute you even make a movement around him he darts back in faster than you can blink. He is very rock based...uses the holes in the rock to move around about a 1ft section of the tank. Sticks his head out of it a few inches to search for food then back in. It is crazy how seemingly smart and careful they are for a worm.

did not see this before I posted crazy stuff

 

[Freenow54]

Same...I guess I am at the point of tank maturity where things are starting to take off...its now or never.

You know, if it were just me I would let it be unless he became an absolute terror. But my Wife and younger daughter are invested in many of the fish, more than I am, so...I will never hear the end of it if I do nothing as favorite fish start biting the dust. Whether it was the bobbits fault or not.

get them to catch it

 

[Danjoethepirate]

 

[jmcdona6]

did not see this before I posted crazy stuff

Your mouse trap post wasn't that crazy though. I considered it...because it might work. But (A) would require engineering something more complex than I want to deal with. I would rather just remove all the rock and rescape vs spending a weekend on a crazy contraption that *might* work. And (B) there is a chance on a smaller worm it could cut it in half...which doesn't solve my problem.

I saw a video of someone doing it in the ocean with a humongous one and it worked well. I think they were trying to capture one for research...cool contraption.

 

[jmcdona6]

get them to catch it

Haha. Yeah. My daughter still screams when lady bugs land on her. That would be rich.

 

[Freenow54]

Your mouse trap post wasn't that crazy though. I considered it...because it might work. But (A) would require engineering something more complex than I want to deal with. I would rather just remove all the rock and rescape vs spending a weekend on a crazy contraption that *might* work. And (B) there is a chance on a smaller worm it could cut it in half...which doesn't solve my problem.

I saw a video of someone doing it in the ocean with a humongous one and it worked well. I think they were trying to capture one for research...cool contraption.

wondering if you could get a contraption that would create a vacuum ?

 

[jmcdona6]

wondering if you could get a contraption that would create a vacuum ?

These things basically become one with the rock they are in. All those little spikes along their bodies lock them in. The critters in the movie Tremors comes to mind. The marine biologist video I saw used some sort of clamping trap that after it was set released a buoy to provide constant but gentle pressure upward to work it out of the hole. It still took hours.

My assumption would be, whatever contraption that could provide enough suction or vacuum to force the worm out, is probably also strong enough to turn your tank into hurricane.

 

[JoJosReef]

what about enclosing it with acrylic sheets and see if it will enter a bottle trap with a shrimp or something in it frozen food ?

Maybe. I've seen them long enough to reach out into a bottle trap and pull themselves right back out though!