Predatory worm

duberii · Jan 5, 2021

Hello, I was doing an examination of my refugium (as I do from time to time- it's fun watching the creatures do their thing), and I saw these worms up against the glass. They had tunnels in the sand (I have no rock down there, so it could be that they live in rocks as well), and they creep out (presumably in search of food), and then quickly retreat when the water is disturbed. I know it's predatory on tubeworms (as I watched it slurp up a micro duster). I thought it was some type of eunice worm, but when I saw it eat the micro duster, it looked like it slurped it up then retreated into its hole rather than sink its fangs in, drag it back to the hole, then eating it. Also, I couldn't make out any tentacles on its head, even though a eunice has 5. Since I saw it eat a feather duster, does that mean its diet may only be tube dwelling worms, or should I be worried about it eating other things?

I attached a few pictures of one, though I'm not sure how helpful they'll be. I'll try to get one into a clear container.

duberii · Jan 5, 2021

Might be the dreaded Oenone Fulgida worm :/ I have no idea how I'd even begin to get rid of them, since they're so small and I'm not even sure if I could get it with my tongs. If it is what I think it is, I answered my own question- these guys will eat anything they can get- snails included.

duberii · Jan 6, 2021

I've done some research and it seems like manual removal (traps or tongs), arrow crabs, or some types of cone snails (Conus regius is the one I found) are the only things that may eat them. All of them seem to be effective regardless of whether it's some type of syllid worm or a fulgida, though I think all of them would also harm the bristleworm population as well, so none of these are optimal. I'm not even sure any of them would be very effective seeing as there are so many and they are so small.

Hadla · Jul 1, 2021

I know this is six months old but if they look like tiny orange millipedes, they’re oenone fulgida. My biocube has been taken over by them and I’m trying to get two conus regius snails to finally take care of it after 4 years

if you find snail shells covered in a gob of slime, it’s from the worms, also if you scare one and it moves backwards almost faster than you can blink, it’s them