Oh no, the hidden creatures in my reef are showing their ugly heads lately.

Hunting down two red-eyed crabs and now a Fire-worm.

Vol. III of The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, (great book), states that they are very
venomous and they eat coral polyps.

I spotted mine when I fed my clean up crew a cube of frozen brine shrimp. Out he came.
Very beautiful. Rainbow colored.

Now I am afraid to put my hand in the tank.

What should I do? I can not see all of him, but what I do see is about 6+ inches.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Clayton

Hi Clayton...
You can either use a manufactured bristle worm trap that can be purchased from ThatFishPlace or other retailers...or at you LFS. Another way is to place something like a nylon stocking with food in it...the worm's bristles will get tangled on the nylons and you can just pull it out. Haven't tried either...never had the need to...yet [img]/ubb/wink.gif[/img]...but have heard bothe to be successful.

Good Luck!
Alex

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The NUT!
Alex's Ocean Realm
GO FOR A DIVE!!!
http://home.earthlink.net/~amariquit/thereef

Clayton, just keep an eye on 'em. There are thousands of different bristleworms(fireworms are a type of bristleworm, of course), and only a small percentage are harmfull. I have quite a few in my tank, and I now consider them part of the clean up crew. They eat food left laying around and even clean up moltings from my shrimps and crabs. I've never seen one attack a fish, crustacean, or coral. They've actually been beneficial in my tank.

Now, if you do have a problem bristle worm, I would recommend trapping it. You can either buy traps commercially, or make effective traps yourself. Sorry, can't find my links on this, but shouldn't be too hard to find, and perhaps someone would be kind enough to post some more info.

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I died once, but I got better

I agree with Raven, Most will not harm you or your corals. But, if you want to get rid of him try this:

Get a piece of PVC pipe, maybe a foot long. Get a cap for each end. Drill a small hole(1/8"-1/4") in one cap. In the end with out the hole secure some type of bait. Shrimp,fish,squid. Make sure that it stays in the end. At the other end place the cap with the hole. Make sure that both ends are tight and drop it in. The worm will climb into the tube through the hole and stay in there to eat. Check it in the morning.

I see you are in the HVAC bussiness, you probly have everything on your truck[img]/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
BTW isn't this summer heat fun!

Jamey[img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

[This message has been edited by REAL BIG FISH (edited 06-28-2000).]

Thanks for all the quick responses.

I feel sure this one is not a good one.

He matches the pic in the book to a tee.

Since my post I took a pair of hemo's and attached a piece of my homemade fish treats. He came right out and took the bait from me. I think it will be easy to snare him out.

I will watch him for a while. The tank is new (about 7 weeks) and I do have a few polyps. I think he is quite beautiful. Wouldn't mind keeping him. If I see anything bad, out he comes. He has hid for seven weeks now and I have seen plenty of him since I returned home this eve. He must have been very hungry.

Jamey,

Yep, it's that time of year. Too busy. Taking away time from my reef. It helps pay for it though. If the worm is a bad one and I can't snag him my way, I will try your suggestion.

Thanks to all again.

Clayton

Clayton,

How fast does it move?

We're still waiting for worms.. if you really don't want it, it's welcome here ;-)



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Cheers,
Rob
New York City

Rob,

While hunting for food, he moves slowly.

When I approach him with the tongs he is quick to retract to where ever he is coming from. I expect to see him again when I feed tomorrow.

He's yours if I determine he is harmful. I'll save your post. Thanks.

Clayton

Clayton,
I have tried the "nylon stocking on the end of the dowel" trick. I used a piece of shrimp as bait. I waited until the lights were out and used a red-light to approach the tank. I stood the dowel up at a corner of the tank with the nylon propped up on the rockwork and left it there. I checked every 10 minutes or so and within the hour I had it entangled in the nylon. Mine did not sound as colorful as yours, but he loved my sand polyps and yellow polyps, so out he came.

Good luck!

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Greg