Wormies...

[Lively]

Hi - In search of trying to figure out what in the underworld I have in my nano tank, I stumbled upon this site. After downsizing from a 70 gal to a 20 gal tank we had a cascade disaster that I *thought* killed everything. To my surprise I found that several things have survived and are proliferating - some to my dismay. The lone known survivor is a hardy clam...he's sill doing fine in the face of an infestation of bristleworms. They are so bad they are highly visable during all hours, day or night. I didn't mind them too much while I was getting the water back to good levels, but I want to start adding coral and since starting this hobby we've lost thousands between newbie mistakes and disasters so I'm taking no chances. Now the tank boasts half a dozen hermit crabs, three snails, the clam and today I added a six lined wrasse (think I'm going to call him Spot) to munch on the bristles. While I was watching the wrasse I saw something new - it looks like cross between a worm and a feather duster. It's maybe 3 inches long and blackish with indistinct rings that are a whitish grey. It looks like a feather duster when it's grazing on the algee on my rock. It's kinda cool, I hope it isn't a bad worm....Thanks for any help! Lively
Edited to add I managed to snap a few pics of the creature... will post 'em later tonight if I can.Lively

[steamboatwv]

Originally Posted by Lively

- it looks like cross between a worm and a feather duster. It's maybe 3 inches long and blackish with indistinct rings that are a whitish grey. It looks like a feather duster when it's grazing on the algee on my rock. It's kinda cool, I hope it isn't a bad worm....Thanks for any help! Lively
Edited to add I managed to snap a few pics of the creature... will post 'em later tonight if I can.Lively

This sounds like a peanut worm to me without pics to see. if so completely harmless and good to have. I have 6 of them that i know of.

[themissinglynk]

Originally Posted by Lively

...something new - it looks like cross between a worm and a feather duster. It's maybe 3 inches long and blackish with indistinct rings that are a whitish grey. It looks like a feather duster when it's grazing on the algee on my rock.

(all of this based on reading I've done)

Okay, tell-tale signs - is it moving around, or is it stuck in a hole? Peanuts are pretty consistently hole-bound. I've seen ones in my tank with or without the black bands around it. Also, does it pull back into the hole when the lights are on? When it is out, does the end of it sort of "tap" around the hole, looking for food?

Good resource: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-04/rs/index.php (LONG freaking article on them, but very good resource!)

[Lively]

I believe ya'll are right on the nose about it being a peanut! Although my worms seem to not care about light since I found the sucker around 3 o'clock in the afternoon - I played critter detective last night and it was easy to see the hole it came out of and watch it retract when the flash light played over its little crevice. It curled up on itself like one of those water sausage toys.

I googled peanut worm last night after steambooatwv posted last night and found that article - very interesting and it does look a whole lot like that, although I think mine is a better looking worm! Three kids, one infant and summer break - makes playing and posting pics a hard task...I think I got a good pic of it but dunno when I'll get the time to get it off the camera!

*Musing aloud* Sadly, "Spot" didn't make it through the night. He was fine when I was playing worm hunter, I found the cave in my LR he'd decided to sleep in. I've not lost many fish upon intro, wondering it that fish disaster 2 months ago was just one dead fish decay poisoning the water... brother-in-law babysitting tank at the time so I'm not sure. But then, I'm not too sure of this fish guy, I've never bought a fish from him before, and very little coral. My water tests perfectly, but I lost my "chemistry set" when we moved (little glass bottles of toxic chemical tend to leak after the seal is broken and are jostled about) and I've been relying on the dipstrip. Guess I'll take in a sample of water to the shop I trust the most. Could a bad infestation of worms kill a fish?

Thanks for the help! This is a great place to get info.
Lively

[tdwyatt]

pix, please...

[Lively]

I don't have pics of the bristleworm, but I'm certain of that identification and I'm pretty sure they did kill the fish. They range between 1/4 inch to 3 inches in length, the ones I've seen so far, orange and black with white bristles. Most of the pics I found call the kind I have "Hawaiian Fireworm" During the day they will pop out some of their body to feed in the darker areas of the tank. At night, when the moonlight is on, they will come out completely. The Wrasse had chosen a tight cave structure with sand under him to sleep, I think it was a fatal choice.

Shortly after I made the last post I decided I should remove him from the tank, there were two very large bristles on him, really fat ones - I opted to leave the dead fish alone since I'm not particularly concerned about water quality at this point. I watched, on and off, as the worms consumed the fish.

So, any suggestions how to remove them from the tank? There are so many of them, manual extraction would take weeks. But it seems to be only method other sites have. The rock is bonded to form bridges and caves, so a fresh water dip, if it's an option, means 90% of my LR would have to be done at the same time. I hate the idea of having to start all over again with the rock...I'd finally stabilized the water, got the flow just right and was ready to start adding coral again.

Lively