Cirolanids on live rock, not yet in tank- suggestions?

[JoJosReef]

The feelers and jaws are pretty much what all eunicids look like. There's some that come in on Florida rock and usually mind their own business, and some that will go after snails but not fish. Bobbits are an outlier, not the norm for eunicids.

I've never seen my FL rock eunice worms attack anything, but I'm always wary of snail deaths... I've gone in at lights out with red lights to observe. They especially like leftover food (one of mine was nuts for flake food that I'd feed the serpent star at night). Super freaky. I nabbed one with pincers (lost it too) and it attacked the pincers like a cobra. Nearly had to call the cardiologist!

 

[Jeeperz]

The feelers and jaws are pretty much what all eunicids look like. There's some that come in on Florida rock and usually mind their own business, and some that will go after snails but not fish. Bobbits are an outlier, not the norm for eunicids.

The 5 feeler I've always read are the bad ones, especially with the white band. The ones with 4 feelers and no white band are supposed to be safer, as far as I remember.

 

[Tired]

I will preface this by saying it's entirely possible that there's a 4 feeler/5 feeler rule for eunicids, but are you sure that wasn't something saying that a worm with 4 feelers is a dorvilleidae worm? Because dorvilleidae worms look a lot like small eunicids, have 4 feelers, and are definitely harmless.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

The 5 feeler I've always read are the bad ones

No, 5 feelers are eunicids while 4 feelers are dorvilleidae. As @Tired said, the majority of eunicids are harmless to everything but the smallest crustaceans; I can understand not wanting to risk it regardless, but just because it's related to a bobbit doesn't make it a problem.

 

[Jeeperz]

Leodice torquata?

Looks like this, kinda. The white band is wider and not as red for the couple I see consistently and the one I see every night definitely has mandibles. I have seen some very tiny ones that are almost black in the sand. I need to just suck it up and seltzer soak the holes they are in until they come out or epoxy them in, although 1 has several holes it comes out of and then use a fine net in the sand going through it with a fine tooth comb.

They may not be traditional Bobbitt worms but not taking a chance on them eating a couple $$$ in corals and then it being impossible to get them out without killing coral or them ending up killing snails or whatever. Best to get them out now or dumpster the rock/sand.

Oh, I've caught a few isopods and worms and they've been in a cup for several weeks in a 65 degree house and are still alive

 

[Jeeperz]

Sorry, that didn't quite right

They are in a QT tank, but have gotten two worms out of the rock I moved. With trying to grab them with pinchers we actually have a little hoard of moving parts, but it was two to start, lol. Here's the best pics I managed.

 

[fishywishy]

Cleaner wrasse will probably eat them, you can try a hypo dip but they didn’t do anything for me. Ive heard of people doing soda water dips and they have had success with them but ive never done it.

 

[Tired]

A cleaner wrasse might or might not eat them off the fish, and either way, won't thrive in the absence of large customers. As to dips, like I said, I both don't want to kill everything else and don't trust the dip to get 'em all.

I've decided to just put it in a separate little setup and tinker with making the most low-maintenance reef possible, emphasizing hitchhikers.

 

[Nick711]

I recently purchased 8 pounds of live rock and have also been battling these guys for weeks. Easily 35+ removed thus far. I’ve tried all the methods, but my most successful has been after dark with a small net & flashlight.

Unsure of their reproduction cycle, but every time I feel I may finally be close to eradicating them from my tank… another couple pop up. I’m currently fallow, but thats not the long term plan.

 

[fishywishy]

A cleaner wrasse might or might not eat them off the fish, and either way, won't thrive in the absence of large customers. As to dips, like I said, I both don't want to kill everything else and don't trust the dip to get 'em all.

I've decided to just put it in a separate little setup and tinker with making the most low-maintenance reef possible, emphasizing hitchhikers.

Dip has never killed anything for me. ive even tried to kill things with a dip but nothing ever dies they just crawl out of the rock occasionally. A dip might take care of some them and a cleaner wrasse will keep the population down if it ends up eating them. You could also just contact gulf reef and ask them if they can send you some more rock because you cant use it if it has parasites on it. I know kp aquatics would probably do something like that but i dont know about gulf reef. Cleaner wrasse don't need big fish to thrive, mine is with only small fish and i can tell he's happy.

 

[DHill6]

I had a long bobbit, completely black living inside live Tonga rock, when it was still imported. Clam, rhizos, disappeared overnight. A helrichi fire fish had a chunk taken out of its side maybe also this worm. Finally saw what was doing it at night with a red flashlight. Rock was dismantled with a hammer and screwdriver. Worm had tunnels back and forth through the interior of rock. Lost alot of $ on the 3 rhizos alone not counting the clam and fish. To this day I evict all worms.

 

[Tired]

A dip strong enough to severely harm any undesirable critters will damage things like the sponges and tunicates on the rock, all the little organisms that can't get away. It may also soak into the rock and leach back out later.

I have other rock that I'm using, this was more of a bonus biodiversity thing. I don't think the place offers a warranty on excess creepy-crawlies, either- this is kinda the gamble you take with live rock. It's not as though this is the result of poor handling practices, it's just something that happens sometimes.