Fireworm?

[DijonMustard]

Saw what I thought was a bristleworm on my coral last night, it went into hiding before I could grab it. So I waited, and snagged up the first worm I could see this morning.

Regardless of what this one is, I flushed it. But I know there are more worms, and need to determine if I’ve got to make a trap or pull up some sediment.


If it is a fireworm, what is the best way to get rid of them? I’ve been slowly removing sediment, since I’m wanting to convert to a bare bottom, so siphoning sediments out is no problem if it’ll help.

 

[Michael Hughes]

I'd wait for someone with more experience to confirm, but that first photo does look like a fireworm to me.

 

[DijonMustard]

Update: caught another one actively eating my clove polyp. Going to start making a trap, and keep plucking any I see

 

[exnisstech]

You sure it was eating the clove and not searching for food? I have them in all of my tanks and they don't bother anything alive and healthy. I have some that come out and grab food when I'm feeding the tank. It looks like a bristle worm to me but I could be wrong. I find them a valuable cuc member and I doubt you'll ever be able to erraticate them all once they make their way in.

PS I have them living under rocks in all my bare bottom tanks. I see some any time I move something.

 

[DijonMustard]

You sure it was eating the clove and not searching for food? I have them in all of my tanks and they don't bother anything alive and healthy. I have some that come out and grab food when I'm feeding the tank. It looks like a bristle worm to me but I could be wrong. I find them a valuable cuc member and I doubt you'll ever be able to erraticate them all once they make their way in.

PS I have them living under rocks in all my bare bottom tanks. I see some any time I move something.

I thought it was a bristleworm, but my coral has been not doing too great this week despite parameters being stable. So when I caught two crawling up on the clove, I got worried that they’re causing these issues. It’s just weird that the clove polyps have been thriving for so long and crawling up my rockwork only to close up now.

But it makes much more sense to be bristleworms. I haven’t added anything new since this coral, close to two months ago, and it’s been thriving in this tank, I’m up to almost 50 heads when I started at 12, and they’ve been so bright and open since I bought it, so if a fireworm hitched a ride, it would have caused issues long before now.

Not sure why the bristles would be an issue now, though. There should be plenty enough food for them on the sand. It’s been plenty enough to support them and a collection of nassarius snails in the past

 

[EnterName]

You sure it was eating the clove and not searching for food? I have them in all of my tanks and they don't bother anything alive and healthy. I have some that come out and grab food when I'm feeding the tank. It looks like a bristle worm to me but I could be wrong. I find them a valuable cuc member and I doubt you'll ever be able to erraticate them all once they make their way in.

PS I have them living under rocks in all my bare bottom tanks. I see some any time I move something.

I would also assume it's just a bristle worm. They crawl frequently between coral polyps or under frags which can make them look dangerous but they don't harm anything.

Obviously, if OP actually sees them eat polyps then it's time to get rid of them.