Confirm Bristle or Fire

[bnord]

Know there is not much i can do in the long run, but just to know (and learn)

2 year old 180g which has had keys live rock added a while ago. Tons of bristle worms in the tank - have to wear gloves to remove excess chaeto, and have added an arrow crab to the sump to keep numbers on check

However, over weekend was doing the occasional more thorough cleaning of the sump during routine WC and vacuumed up this puppy from the return chamber.

Looked in the forum for a differential on fire worms and could not easily find it, but thought you might appreciate the picture anyway…

FYI, the second shot is in the bottom of a 5g HD bucket, it is @8 inches long

Thanks

 

[bnord]

And needless to say, i have added it to the septic tank biome, which means i am sure to have this happen next year while mowing the lawn..

 

[RedoubtReef]

Regular 'ol bristle worm. Put him back and let him do his job.

 

[bnord]

Regular 'ol bristle worm. Put him back and let him do his job.

Thanks,, plenty more where he came from… smile

 

[fishguy242]

could be wrong ,but thinking fire, not seeing the the other colors ??

 

[Cthulukelele]

It does not have the striking coloration of a fire worm in the wild. The general shape and coloration is right for fireworm, but the trouble with all these threads about bristleworms vs fireworms are there are thousands upon thousands of species of polychaete worm, and so many of them look nearly identical. The answer for even worms that look kinda like fire worms is "could be" but odds are still good it isn't.

 

[bnord]

It does not have the striking coloration of a fire worm in the wild. The general shape and coloration is right for fireworm, but the trouble with all these threads about bristleworms vs fireworms are there are thousands upon thousands of species of polychaete worm, and so many of them look nearly identical. The answer for even worms that look kinda like fire worms is "could be" but odds are still good it isn't.

thanks - and appreciate the taxonomy of the whole group is rich and complex. And as said, not much I can do about it at this point - know that bristles are great in detritus processing - at least turning it into smaller detritus - but understand (don't know if it is true) that fire worms are more likely to become coral pests. Is this your understanding?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

thanks - and appreciate the taxonomy of the whole group is rich and complex. And as said, not much I can do about it at this point - know that bristles are great in detritus processing - at least turning it into smaller detritus - but understand (don't know if it is true) that fire worms are more likely to become coral pests. Is this your understanding?

That's my understanding. From what I've heard, though, these guys in our tanks usually prefer eating other things first.

Yeah, to my knowledge pretty much anything that might be called a fireworm (genera Hermodice and Eurythoe) are coral or other sedentary invertebrate eaters - that said, the way they eat is pretty abnormal:

"Fireworms are voracious predators that feed on soft and hard corals, anemones, and small crustaceans. They engulf the last few centimeters of the tip of a branching coral, such as Acropora cervicornis (staghorn coral), in its inflated pharynx and remove the coral tissue right from the skeleton. They typically spend 5-10 minutes at each branch tip, visiting several, and the “skinned” branches are apparent by their white ends."
Source:

https://www.marinebio.org/species/bearded-fireworms/hermodice-carunculata/

That said, fireworms are opportunistic scavengers that eat pretty much anything they can get, though at least some of them seem to have a strong preference for fish - importantly, they also lack teeth, so they won't be preying actively on any fish in your tank; they have to be able to fit the entire piece they're eating in their mouth.

Tough, armed and omnivorous: Hermodice carunculata (Annelida: Amphinomidae) is prepared for ecological challenges | Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom | Cambridge Core

Tough, armed and omnivorous: Hermodice carunculata (Annelida: Amphinomidae) is prepared for ecological challenges - Volume 97 Issue 5

www.cambridge.org

Foraging and mobility in three species of Aciculata (Annelida: Polychaeta)

Aspects of feeding, such as food capture and ingestion, as well as mobility of the polychaetes...

www.scielo.br

 

[bnord]

That's my understanding. From what I've heard, though, these guys in our tanks usually prefer eating other things first.

thanks - have not seen this type of damage to any SPS, I loose them the old-fashioned way (smile)

 

[Cthulukelele]

That's my understanding. From what I've heard, though, these guys in our tanks usually prefer eating other things first.

I agree with all of this. Removal of polychaetes by hand is a pretty futile process though. For every one polychaete you see, there are many dozen more, and you likely have a dozen+ other species of polychaete worm living in your tank as well. Unless going nuclear on all your inverts or adding voracious natural worm predators who rarely play nice with other creatures there is little chance of success. All that seems pretty unreasonable to do prophylactically because a worm may be a problem.

Every single reef has these things in some quantity. Over the years I've seen worms that look like that and every other shade, thickness, and coloration. The percentage of reefers that get issues with it is in such small quantity in comparison to their prevalence as to make me question if they're ever really the root cause of problems.

I think it's good to be proactive. My main thought in all this I guess is don't get spooked looking at your shadow over something that likely will never be an issue.

 

[bnord]

I agree with all of this. Removal of polychaetes by hand is a pretty futile process though. For every one polychaete you see, there are many dozen more, and you likely have a dozen+ other species of polychaete worm living in your tank as well. Unless going nuclear on all your inverts or adding voracious natural worm predators who rarely play nice with other creatures there is little chance of success. All that seems pretty unreasonable to do prophylactically because a worm may be a problem.

Every single reef has these things in some quantity. Over the years I've seen worms that look like that and every other shade, thickness, and coloration. The percentage of reefers that get issues with it is in such small quantity in comparison to their prevalence as to make me question if they're ever really the root cause of problems.

I think it's good to be proactive. My main thought in all this I guess is don't get spooked looking at your shadow over something that likely will never be an issue.

Thanks and truth told, I am a Vet parasitologist turned vaccinologist and so squiggles don't bother me. Doing necropsies on a foal, and opening the intestines with care and suddenly have a handful of 10 inch Ascrids which are strong and muscular burst out will cure you of being squeamish. Smile. And don't get me started on hydatid cysts.

And I like finding things in tank I didn't put there, but this one popping through the shop vac was a bit startling.

And I do have an arrow crab in the sumps in the futile hope of keeping me from being too badly stung when I pull out excess chaeto or change sock - that's the extent of my verma-control - Smile

oh yeah, then there are heart worms.

thanks for your feedback, and Merry Christmas...

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Well... I am NO worm expert whatsoever, but it does look similar to the giant one I evicted from my tank a while back. Pretty certain this 10+" monstrosity was a fireworm. Glad I wore gloves because its bristles punctured the rubber tips of my long tweezers!