HELLPPPPPP EMERGENCY CRITTER ID

newsaltwaterfishtankowner · Nov 5, 2018

GUYS THERE IS A WEIRD LOOKING BIGISH WORM ON MY LIVE ROCK!!! I THINK IT IS A BRISTLE WORM!!!!! ITS HEAD WAS MOVING!! PLEASE HELP I DONT KNOW IF ITS GOOD OR BAD AND IM NEW TO THIS WHOLE SALTWATER AQUEIUM THING AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS???!! HERE ARE PICS sorry about the red algae it’s the worm looking thing

Epic Aquaculture · Nov 5, 2018

Tough to see clear from the pic, but looks like a bristle worm. Good scavengers. I'd leave it in.

HotRocks · Nov 5, 2018

That is a bristle worm from what I can see.

Its technically a pest. You can remove it. I don't worry too much about them.

GoldeneyeRet · Nov 5, 2018

Agree probably a bristleworm. Not a problem.

Katrina71 · Nov 5, 2018

They do look a little creepy.

catfishblues · Nov 5, 2018

Some don't like bristleworms, others do but almost all are not harmful and they eat all the crud that gets built up in the tank.

dbl · Nov 5, 2018

If you elect to remove it, please use some tweezers and not your bare hands/fingers.

Oscaror · Nov 5, 2018

newsaltwaterfishtankowner said:
GUYS THERE IS A WEIRD LOOKING BIGISH WORM ON MY LIVE ROCK!!! I THINK IT IS A BRISTLE WORM!!!!! ITS HEAD WAS MOVING!! PLEASE HELP I DONT KNOW IF ITS GOOD OR BAD AND IM NEW TO THIS WHOLE SALTWATER AQUEIUM THING AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS???!! HERE ARE PICS sorry about the red algae it’s the worm looking thing

LOL it's a bristol worm nothing to worry about. Detritivore.

newsaltwaterfishtankowner · Nov 6, 2018

ok guys i think i’ll leave it in because i don’t have any live coral that it might destroy...thank you guys so much i was freaking out!!

Crabs McJones · Nov 6, 2018

dbl said:
If you elect to remove it, please use some tweezers and not your bare hands/fingers.

This^^^ while they're harmless to your inhabitants, if you touch them it can be quite painful/irritating.

Oscaror · Nov 6, 2018

Crabs Mcjones said:
This^^^ while they're harmless to your inhabitants, if you touch them it can be quite painful/irritating.

Man this takes me back to one of my family trips to Cuba. I was wandering around tidepools exploring and decided to flip a rock to see if there were any crabs. Placed my whole hand right on a huge fireworm, one of the most painful things I've ever experienced. Worse than when I flipped a log and got swarmed by wasps, worse than when a man o war stung me. My parents really should have paid closer attention to what I was doing as a kid