Eunice worm?

[Michael Hughes]

Managed to get a quick video just before it disappeared. Thoughts?

 

[rayadog]

Yep definitely looks like it but you know there’s better experts than me. Great quality shot.

 

[EnterName]

A bright "collar" around the neck is usually a bad sign. I would try to catch it.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Thanks for your feedback. I guess it's time to do some searching and see if anyone has any clever tricks for trapping these guys.

Good news is this is in the 14 g frag tank, not the 125 g display. So it should be a little easier to track down... Hopefully...

 

[PolypPocket]

Same kind as me, finally caught one but there’s at least one more that I haven’t been able to get. I used seltzer water on the hole it was in and it came out (and died from the exposure which I hear doesn’t always happen). I had to take the rock out of the tank. It was a small piece compared to the rock the other one lives in. I tried doing the same on that one and it didn’t work.

But the bait traps, nylon trick, “fishing line” method, etc did not work whatsoever . These anchor their nasty little butts deep in the rock and only ever expose the front half of their body unlike regular bristle worms. If they’re near the sand you may see them make tubes from sand so they can extend even further without truly exposing themselves. It’s too bad in a way because it’s kind of fascinating. But they have this sharp pincers so not safe.

On the positive side, they don’t become predators until they are bigger. The ones I have really haven’t done any damage yet other than eating a bunch of my expensive macro algae. But I wanted to try to get them before they get super big and predatory.

I bought some rock putty and am going to try to entomb the other one by sealing up the holes I’ve seen it in since the other methods haven’t worked. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Same kind as me, finally caught one but there’s at least one more that I haven’t been able to get. I used seltzer water on the hole it was in and it came out (and died from the exposure which I hear doesn’t always happen). I had to take the rock out of the tank. It was a small piece compared to the rock the other one lives in. I tried doing the same on that one and it didn’t work.

But the bait traps, nylon trick, “fishing line” method, etc did not work whatsoever . These anchor their nasty little butts deep in the rock and only ever expose the front half of their body unlike regular bristle worms. If they’re near the sand you may see them make tubes from sand so they can extend even further without truly exposing themselves. It’s too bad in a way because it’s kind of fascinating. But they have this sharp pincers so not safe.

On the positive side, they don’t become predators until they are bigger. The ones I have really haven’t done any damage yet other than eating a bunch of my expensive macro algae. But I wanted to try to get them before they get super big and predatory.

I bought some rock putty and am going to try to entomb the other one by sealing up the holes I’ve seen it in since the other methods haven’t worked. I will let you know how it goes.

@PolypPocket My apologies, somehow I missed your reply!

Thanks for the info. I found it's hole (videos to come) so at least I know which rock it's living in. I may end up tossing the whole rock eventually - it's smaller than a baseball, so not much harm done. Unfortunately there are some cool bivalves that have survived 3+ months so far, and any time I picked this rock up out of the water they squirt little water jets at me, haha. But I really don't want to risk transferring the eunice worm to the display tank.

 

[Michael Hughes]

 

[Michael Hughes]

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This one was pretty cool. It seemed to be lining it's burrow with this piece of operculum or shell.

 

[jmcdona6]

I had one in my large display for a year. It was over a foot retracted and could extend to over twice that size by the time I removed it.

The issue with these guys is how uninformed we are about them. There are many types, they are hard to identify and science has really only studied a handful extensively.

The one I had never touched a fish. It would slither right by sleeping fish at night and pay them no attention. It did however love to eat montipora. It would take bites out of it like a potatoe chip. Pretty cool actually. But out of caution I decided to remove it. Maybe he would have been fine as a cool member of my tank...you just dont know.

I tried several methods to catch it intelligently including bottle traps (maybe but difficult) and bait with tongs (dont even bother). I ended up just having to remove rock until I found it exposed in the sand. If you research around id say thats the experience of 75%. Most people end up ripping stuff out to get to it, especially in smaller tanks.

Side note - that monipora has now become a weed. The thing was doing me a favor.