fireworms/bristleworms

[gmoney243]

any1 have any experiences with these worms .. ive known ive had them for long time but recently ive been seeing very large ones at night im talking 6"-8" sticking out of the rock so im sure its much larger .. my main concern is i have a neon goby that could be easily eaten by one of these things. any1 had any fish go missing this way? or should i leave them or get them out?

 

[bluwinghawk]

i had one get that big never had any1 go missing though than he disappeared though maybe they got him lol but if you have more than 1 you might want to see about getting them out i dont know what the possiblity of them mating and infesting your tank?

 

[slugwall]

They are fine and great for eating the left overs that other miss. Just don't touch them with bare hands... I had one under a microscope and I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. If you don't like it you can pull it out with tweezers, that's what I did as it was climbing up the corner of the tank 5 inches long...

 

[Otter_rs]

I have never heard of them eating fish, but some will eat snails. They will secrete a mucus that they smother over the operculum and suffocate the snail. Then come back to eat it after it starts rotting. If you do decide to remove any of these be very careful not to leave any pieces behind because they will grow back into a whole worm. In my opinion, they do more good than bad and I usually leave them alone. That is unless they are large and bright reddish/pink with white setae, then they are out, but these are very uncommon.

 

[Devonjevon]

They look ugly don't wanna touch em even with gloves. I'm a country boy but they don't have those in Alabama.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[butts182]

i had some fireworms that were eating my corals

 

[skinz78]

I would remove them if I were you, better safe than sorry!

 

[NeveSSL]

Oh, I've definitely had a few experiences with them. They liked to hide under rocks that happened to have corals on them I wanted to frag. They won.

Sadly, you can see where my skin was peeling from the LAST one had encountered just before this one. :squigglemouth:

Here's the largest one I ever found in my 45g:

He was a little scary. But I never did see any ill effects from these guys. Most species are good scavengers, but not all.

Brandon

 

[skinz78]

Ouch, looks painful! Thankfully I haven't ever had the pleasure yet....

 

[_sludgefactory]

Oh man! I thought that was a plastic solo cup at first and then realized it was a bucket. That thing is a beast. Id make it get a job and start paying rent.

 

[EpicWin]

Oh man! I thought that was a plastic solo cup at first and then realized it was a bucket. That thing is a beast. Id make it get a job and start paying rent.

Omg! That Is hilarious! With that idea I'm now going to be rich!