This killed one of my tuxedo sea urchin's, ID?

[xrouter]

I am gutted about this. Mostly because I saw it happen and thought the the sea urchin had accidentally picked it up (they often pick-up live snails and carry them for a bit). The urchin was moving faster than normal which should have been a warning sign to me, I just assumed it was annoyed by the hitch hiker which would leave shortly...but I found the sea urchin dead in the morning. This thing was still on him, and appeared buried in?

Its the first live stock loss I have had and I'm kicking myself for not ejecting this when I first saw it...I thought it looked like an elephant snail but its clearly not. Is my other tuxedo in danger if there are more of these in the tank?

 

[Ro Bow]

maybe some sort of sea cucumber? Baby one maybe? If not maybe some sort of nudibranch or sea hare... Idk sorry.

 

[Ro Bow]

id definitly get rid of it.

 

[Ro Bow]

if it was buried in, maybe some sort of saltwater leech?

 

[xrouter]

id definitly get rid of it.

Oh yeah the *!@£ is 100% an 'ex' whatever it was now. No way I'm letting it back in the tank to do more of the same

 

[brian414899]

I seen one of those in my tank this morning before work. It was next to my challace. What is it?

 

[xrouter]

I should note it moves fairly fast when it was on the sea urchin but slowly when I got it off. It didn't look like a nudi to me, it kinda looked like bristle worm maybe but more orange.

 

[Ro Bow]

huh. sorry idk

 

[xrouter]

I seen one of those in my tank this morning before work. It was next to my challace. What is it?

Get it out tbh, if it is the same I don't think you want it. My new rule is if I don't have an instant ID its gone..

 

[dhnguyen]

Looks like a bristle worm to me. Are you sure your urchin wasn't already dead/dying when the worm crawled on it?
Bristle worms will come out when they smell decaying matter.

 

[MabuyaQ]

May be a Eunicid.

 

[xrouter]

Looks like a bristle worm to me. Are you sure your urchin wasn't already dead/dying when the worm crawled on it?
Bristle worms will come out when they smell decaying matter.

No both of my urchins are in good condition and this one was moving faster than I have ever seen it before when this thing was on it, like racing speed...could it just have been stressed by it maybe and then over exhausted its self?

I have spotted a few bristle worms in my sump but this seems blacker than those. Im no exspert at all so wouldn't rule it out.

 

[Michael Gray]

Fire worm or bristle

 

[KrisReef]

That's a what the heck-worm right there.

I don't keep urchins but if I did I would certainly want more information about this predatory worm you our describing. Sorry about the situation.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like a baby Clam Worm Parapodia OR Phylum Annelida, very similar to the Nereis virens
Any of these WOULD go after an urchin

 

[xrouter]

Looks like a baby Clam Worm Parapodia OR Phylum Annelida, very similar to the Nereis virens
Any of these WOULD go after an urchin

After looking though some google images of 'Clam Worm Parapodia' it does seems to me this is the closest match.

I added some frags last week, one of which was on a large rock so it was not dipped so am I hoping that this was a single worm that got imported rather than me having a colony in the tank.

But as always lesson learned here. Dip eveything and if you see something you can't ID get it out of the tank. It is a shame my urchin had to die to teach me that

 

[xrouter]

So it seems I have at least one more of these in my tank. This one was smaller but it was going after my other urchin. Fortunately it was spotted early and the urchin seems ok. Because of its smaller size I was able to take some much better photos see attached. I'm still thinking clam worm but welcome second opinions, and also are these thing breading?

If so I need them gone, this thing swam back and attempted to get back on the urchin in the bowl where I was treating him. If these are in my tank it is only a matter of time before they kill of my urchins Is there anything that will hunt them?

 

[drblakjak55]

Gross little bugger

 

[Kris 2020]

are these thing breading?

I wouldn't bread them, just a nice sauté in some butter. Then light it on fire. Then burn the house down.

Seriously though, no idea what this is, never seen one before, but looking up the clam worms it does look like that. Maybe set up a worm trap? Do you have a sump you can move the urchins to?

 

[xrouter]

I wouldn't bread them, just a nice sauté in some butter. Then light it on fire. Then burn the house down.

Seriously though, no idea what this is, never seen one before, but looking up the clam worms it does look like that. Maybe set up a worm trap? Do you have a sump you can move the urchins to?

I'll google up worm traps and also good idea on the sump, yes I have one so I will move them in there for now till I can be sure I have purged whatever that thing is......excuse to get a six line wrase?