[kosys]

hi guys me again:
I have a strange one this time never seen anything like it. I was doing a water change when I noticed this orange worm like thing, at closer look I noticed it looked like a centipede lots of legs both sides at first I thought it was small then it started comming out of LR it just kept comming I swear to god this thing must of been 5" long no lie, then I noticed a baby one, then I saw a lot of them. they seemed to come out as I was vacuming substrate, oh yea they started to eject white milky stuff so much that it clouded my whole tank 100 gals worth.

Does anyone have any idea what these might be the Big one was very big and if they all grow like that then i have a big prob.

any help would be great thanx.

Ken

[Reefland]

Hey Ken,

There are many, many types of worms in reef tanks. Sounds like a bristleworm in your case, and nothing at all to worry about. In fact, they are beneficial scavengers that many people buy to populate their tanks with.

[kosys]

Ah great thanx for that info Scott set my mind at ease, I certianly don't need to buy them they seem to be doing just fine on thier own theres lots of em, not sure where they came from and how come I'm just seeing them now my tank is 8 months old.

thanx for the help

[Reefland]

I am still amazed at the amount of new things people find in older, established tanks that they never added. That is one of the great things about this hobby.

[kosys]

You know Scott, exactly why I like this hobby always learning something new. Things like that let you know your doin something right seeing all these different life forms pop up. Now to keep them all alive lol. Wanna thank you guys again your advise sure helps thanx.

Ken

[PDAJunkie]

Ken ~
Not all bristleworms are good. They reproduce very quickly and can become quite a nusance(sp). Here is a great link with more info on them.

[kosys]

Thanx Richard I will check out that link and it goes look like they are reproducing quickly there seems to be a lot of them, they hide in substrate and rocks mainly rocks from what I can see, they run from light too. I'm just surprized at how big they can get I saw one had to be 5 -6 inches long. caught me off gaurd. wanted to get a manderin goby but wandering if these worms would be a prob for it, compete for food and so on, not sure if these worms eat pods and what not that goby relies on.

Thanx for link Richard.

Regards
Ken

[CSeaSee]

Ken-
If you do have bristleworms, they are almost always beneficial- and 5-6 inches in length is quite common. Unless you notice them actively hunting your other livestock, don't worry about them. The hysteria some people associate with them is completely overblown.

Your worms will reproduce until the population reaches a sustainable level in your fish tank- once they reach this level, the population will fluctuate slightly, but will stay close to a certain average population- just like everything else in your substrate.

[kosys]

Thanx Carl:
No they do not seem to be hunting or bothering anything in tank they seem very skittish run and hide. I have 2 serpent star fish that are on rocks with them and not bothering them, corals seem ok.

Question though, do they eat pods and stuff that a manderin goby would need for food. I been waiting a while to get one, wanted my tank to mature first, didn't want to put one in tank and starve it to death. I did some reaserch on the manderin goby, seems the concenses is to make sure tank is mature and able to support them.

Thanx again
Ken

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by kosys

hi guys me again:
I have a strange one this time never seen anything like it. I was doing a water change when I noticed this orange worm like thing, at closer look I noticed it looked like a centipede lots of legs both sides at first I thought it was small then it started comming out of LR it just kept comming I swear to god this thing must of been 5" long no lie, then I noticed a baby one, then I saw a lot of them. they seemed to come out as I was vacuming substrate, oh yea they started to eject white milky stuff so much that it clouded my whole tank 100 gals worth.

If you have a fairly typical sand bed substrate, then there is no need to vacuum it. In fact, vacuuming it is harmful. If you have a shallow crushed coral substrate, then I suppose vacuuming it might be one way to fight the problem of detritus buildup that these substrates are famous for. I never vacuumed my DSB.

What is the source of your live rock? Specifically, where did it come from? If it came from the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico region, then it's possible (but not likely) that your worms could be Hermodice carunculata (the common Caribbean fireworm). This is a carnivorous species and it is not reef-aquarium safe. If this is what you have (and you probably don't), then you should remove all of them.

The most common bristleworm that shows up in reef aquaria is Eurythoe complanata, a beneficial scavenger. It feeds on carrion and detritus (Fauchald and Jumars, 1979). It is nocturnal. It hides during the day and comes out to feed at night. In my tank, they would sometimes show themselves late in the day if just the actinics were on and the room lights were off. If I really wanted to see them, I would wait until an hour or so after lights out and then view the tank with a red flashlight.

After awhile they became acustomed to their "safe" environment in my tank and started to come out even with the lights on whenever food hit the sand bed. They would take it away from the Nassarius vibex snails. I was always amazed that the Nassarius snails could crawl across the back of these bristleworms without any apparent problems. Their daytime excursions ceased after I added Comus, my Orchid Dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani). Dottybacks from the Red Sea are known to eat bristleworms. I still had a lot of bristleworms in the tank but not as many large ones (>6") and the ones that I did have stayed hidden during the day. It was easy to see them at night after Comus had gone to bed.

There is another worm that shows up every now and then in reef aquaria that is not welcome. That would be Oenone fulgida. It's orange in color but the bristles along the side are so small that it's hard to see them. They prey on snails and clams. I don't think you have these.

Even though the vast majority of worms that show up in our tanks are good guys, there are exceptions. This 6-ft long Eunicid that Steve Weast removed from his reef aquarium if by far my favorite. I love to post this link to scare newbies!

...the Big one was very big and if they all grow like that then i have a big prob.

No, you don't, unless they happen to be one of the rare species that are not beneficial scavengers.

...they are reproducing quickly there seems to be a lot of them,...

The species that are typically found in reef aquaria are capable of asexual reproduction. Both Eurythoe and Hermodice are capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction.

...they hide in substrate and rocks mainly rocks from what I can see, they run from light too.

Yes.

I'm just surprized at how big they can get I saw one had to be 5 -6 inches long. caught me off gaurd.

I had several Eurythoe complanata that were in the 6"-8" long range before I got Comus but after Comus arrived, I had a hard time finding any of them longer than 3". That's OK. I wasn't too unhappy because I was able to spot lots of them at night if I waited a good two hours or so after Comus had gone to sleep. After I got Comus I was worried that maybe I had made a mistake but it turned out that Comus couldn't possibly wipe out all the bristleworms in my 120-gal tank.

...wanted to get a manderin goby but wandering if these worms would be a prob for it, compete for food and so on, not sure if these worms eat pods and what not that goby relies on.

No, the bristleworms do not compete for food with Mandarin Dragonets (they're NOT gobies). Mandarin Dragonets feed almost exclusively on copepods in the wild but they will sometimes eat other things, including commercial foods, in captivity. In order for them to thrive in captivity, it is best to provide them with at least 75-lbs of very good live rock that is inhabitated by lots of copepods.


I will attach a picture of one of my 7" long Eurythoe complanata bristleworms and also a picture of Hermodice carunculata that I took off the web. The worm on the sand bed is E. complanata.

[kosys]

wow your worms are good lookin ninong. I have 100 gal tank with 110 lbs of Fijii live rock, rock was uncured when I started my tank. the worms are orange and not sure if I see bristles or legs they look like white legs. starting to think they might be ok, but my fire shrimp have been missing for a while now, not sure if related. everything else seem ok.

Thanx Ninong for taking time to respond and provide me with this insight, and your right that 6 footer scared the crap outta me, and thanx for info on Dragonets won't call them gobys anymore.

PS: I have 21/2 - 31/2 inches of crushed coral /sand substrate. I was wandering yesterday while doing water change if I should be vacuming substrate or if i was doing more harm than good by sucking the life out of it.
do you think I should avoid vacuming if possible.

Thanx again Ninong, you been great help.

best regards
Ken

[Ninong]

I don't like crushed coral for a substrate so I hesitate to advise you on what to do if you have crushed coral.

[kosys]

thats ok thanx anyways ninong, when I started my tank I was brand new in hobby not familar with different substrates. I went to LFS and bought everything I needed in one shot. The LFS came out and set system up for me when they delivered the equipment, that was the subtrate they brought, guess I got to live with it, I would rather have all sand. I don't feel like dismantling whole tank to change.

thanx for your help
Ken

[Nano Nano1975]

I have seen bristle worms in my 15gal reef eating my yellow button polyps. They also ate my Xenina .I have also heard of them stinging people. Not really sure on that.
Good luck

[CSeaSee]

Originally Posted by kosys

I have 21/2 - 31/2 inches of crushed coral /sand substrate. I was wandering yesterday while doing water change if I should be vacuming substrate or if i was doing more harm than good by sucking the life out of it.Ken

I've got crushed coral in part of my tank- I also didn't know what I was doing when I set up the tank. Anyways, I vacuum mine all the way down to the glass every time I do a WC. Only the exposed parts- I don't re-arrange the whole tank. I didn't do this for the first couple of years, and once I started doing it I noticed a big difference in my tank's overall health.
HTH

Next tank, only sand.

[kosys]

thanx Carl : I was just curious because when i vacumed last time thats when I discovered the worms, they ejected a milky substance into water. It didn't seem to bother anything just made the water cloudy, it cleared up after couple of mins.

My worms (not sure what they are) don't seem to bother any of my coral or fish.

thanx for your opinions and experiences I really apprieciate the input.