Eunicid worm

[Gaters]

I've been noticing a bit of damage on my zoas and i think my sexy shrimp have disappeared:mad:, so decided to do a bit of red light watching after lights out. Low and behold sticking his big ugly head out of a hole in the zoa rock there's a eunicid worm. The head was about the size of my little finger end and had the tell tale feelers. Obviously i don't know how long it is.

Now i need to get it out but what's the best way?

Should i give the rock a freshwater bath- will this do the trick?

or should i try to squirt fresh ro down the holes while holding the rock over/in a bucket of salt water? To be honest i don't fancy this thing coming out the wrong way and crawling on my hand!:eek:!:eek:!:eek:

Any help would be great cheers
Gaters

[moorish]

i would be tempted to take out the rock and put it in a bucket of salted water with some food in it and try to tempt it out,if that does not work block the hole up with some miliput that should do it.i have had a couple of problems with large bristle worms one i managed to tempt out with food then grabbed it with tongs the other i ended up breaking the rock in two to get it out but these were very large worms over 8in long,yours will only be quite small.derek

[angel1]

i would be tempted to take out the rock and put it in a bucket of salted water with some food in it and try to tempt it out,if that does not work block the hole up with some miliput that should do it.i have had a couple of problems with large bristle worms one i managed to tempt out with food then grabbed it with tongs the other i ended up breaking the rock in two to get it out but these were very large worms over 8in long,yours will only be quite small.derek

Why do u need to remove bristle worms? arnt they harmless??:confused:

LILYANN:p

[Gaters]

You don't need to remove bristle worms they are an important part of the clean up crew. This is NOT a bristle worm but a eunice worm. These are predatory worms that can grow to 10 feet long and more (depending on exact species). I had a destructive 4 footer in my previous tank-if you do a search on other forums you'll be able to see pics of some massive worms. The main difference between these and bristles is eunice have feelers sticking out of their head. If you start to lose shrimps, small fish coral getting munched without any other explanation then it could be a eunice worm.

[angel1]

You don't need to remove bristle worms they are an important part of the clean up crew. This is NOT a bristle worm but a eunice worm. These are predatory worms that can grow to 10 feet long and more (depending on exact species). I had a destructive 4 footer in my previous tank-if you do a search on other forums you'll be able to see pics of some massive worms. The main difference between these and bristles is eunice have feelers sticking out of their head. If you start to lose shrimps, small fish coral getting munched without any other explanation then it could be a eunice worm.

Oh, keeps u on your toes this hobby doesnt it!:eek::D:D

LILYANN:p

[Gaters]

Check this out:

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm

Hope this link is ok mods-it's nothing for sale just a bit of info.

Don't have nightmares sleep tight!!!:eek::eek::eek::jawdrop:

[Aquandy]

Errrrrrrh, makes your skin crawl just seeing one.

[angel1]

Thats horrible!!!:eek::eek:

LILYANN:p

[Katie]

We had one in our tank, we just blocked the holes of the rock up with milliput and that did it. Luckily the rock it lived in was only small so it was quite easy to do.

[moorish]

most bristle worms are ok its only the very large ones which can damage corals thats why i remove any large ones i find.derek