I've got sevral bristle worms living in my tank now for the better part of a year. I first noticed them in the LR and now I see them in the sand bed and also in my Veggie Clipsthat I use to feed my
purple tang. Most are tiny (<1"), however I've seen a couple that are about 1.5", nothing much bigger than this. I am 99% sure they are a bristleworm of some sort, but not sure why type. I would guess Eurythoe spp. They are definitely not fireworms. However, the last couple of months, they have taken a liking to my clams. I have a 10" Gigas and every couple of weeks I pick him up and look at his bottom. There are always a couple of these worms on the bottom of his shell. Now the Gigas is placed directly on the sandbed. I've read a little about these worms, particularly in the "Giant Clams..." by Fatheree and basically he concludes that 95% of the bristleworms are harmless and actually good for your tank and that identifying the bad ones is very difficult to do since there are so many varieties.
So basically, the clams have been doing well for several months with these worms, but I still always have the uneasy feeling of seeing these things wriggling around on the clams. I guess I'm just looking for peoples thoughts/experiences, if they've seen similar things around their clams. I can get some pics of these worms over the next week or so if needed, but there is a great picture in the clams book that is exactly what the worms I see look like. Let me know what ya think?
Jeff
