Cool! A Broncos-orange bristle worm!.....

[JodiI]

Tonight, on "Live Rock Central":

2 days ago: Well, looks like we lost a snail. Oh well, snail death isn't super uncommon. Weird mucus sack surrounding it though. And wait! What was that? A bright orange bristle worm eating the snail? Cool! We've got a Broncos bristle worm cleaning up the tank! Super awesome!

Today: Hmmm. Another dying snail, with a big mucus sack around it. And look at that: there's that Broncos Bristle Worm again.



I find myself in possession of a Oenone Fulgida worm, which is fantastic little hitch hiker I hadn't heard of before. The odds are not in favor of my 8 remaining snails. And the internet is all in a tizzy about the best way to remove these worms (people will go to some crazy extreme measures to remove them).

Here's my question though. I'm generally a "live and let live" in my aquariums. So on a scale of 1 to 10, how badly do I need to get this guy out? It seems that it will attack and eat any snails or clams, but I don't intend to keep clams. Future stocking plans include zoas, mushrooms, other softies, and some LPS like hammers or candy cane corals or the like. The information I'm finding says only that it'll eat snails and clams. Should I really be prepared to napalm the tank just to get rid of this worm?

Also, I can't take out the rock he's living in because its the biggest piece of live rock in my month-old tank. I'm not convinced I've got the bacteria colonies in the other rock (which was mostly dry when I bought it) to make up for this large piece of rock getting cooked.

 

[JodiI]

[HR][/HR]Current inhabitants:

2 beautiful clownfish which were added today
10 hermits
10- make that 8 snails

 

[JuanGutz]

I do everything possible to kill them I just don't like them. Put a piece of shrimp in the tank and when he or they go after it pluck them out with some tweezers.

 

[SynDen]

If you want snails or clams, mollusks or anything like that, this guy is a must remove kind of pest. Id pull all the snails and put them in the sump for the time being maybe. Or remove the rock the worm is hiding in if you know which it is. Those guys super fast so would be pretty hard to catch it in the tank i think

 

[JodiI]

If you want snails or clams, mollusks or anything like that, this guy is a must remove kind of pest. Id pull all the snails and put them in the sump for the time being maybe. Or remove the rock the worm is hiding in if you know which it is. Those guys super fast so would be pretty hard to catch it in the tank i think

Its a 29g cube. Should have included that info.

So no sump. And I can't pull out the rock its in. Plus, I'm not entirely convinced there's only one. Or if I go after it with the tweezers (and actually get it), I've read about people tearing it and ending up with multiple small worms.

Is it just unheard of to have a reef tank with no snails? I know they're really helpful with the grazing. But I'm wondering if I can starve it to death, and then add snails in later. Probably not a great option, but I wonder anyway.

 

[SynDen]

Likely the worm will out live any attempt to starve, but you can try. There is many stories out there of these, and other similar worms, that can lie dormant for very long periods. Euncids for one, have even been known to live a long time even if the rock is not in water and can withstand a multitude of attacks.
And yes, I would not try and catch it with tweezers or anything, that would be a serious test in patience. To get rid of it You need to remove the rock, or trap it, and there may be more then one already, so keep that in consideration.
If you cant remove the rock, then I'd prolly just keep an eye on it, and dont add any more snails or anything similar for sometime. Then eventually add 1 snail and see what happens.

 

[SynDen]

Oenone fulgida are not too hard to remove from a system, but it takes diligence. They most often live in burrows in rock, and enter aquaria in uncured rocks, and being nocturnal, the hobbyist has to search for them in the middle of the night. Using a red flashlight is best, as they will rapidly withdraw in the beam of a normal flashlight. They will appear as long worms stretched out and over the rocks. Once an Oenone individual is presumed to be living in a tank, the hobbyist must watch it withdraw in order to see where its burrow is found. After the rock with the burrow is located, the rock must be removed and the animal flushed from its burrow using a flood of carbonated water (soda pop works well). The worm is then discarded, and the rock replaced in the aquarium.

More toward the end of this:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

 

[JodiI]

Interesting method. Fairly confident I know it's burrow. Mine is also abnormal because I've seen it hunt twice during the daytime. And I got a good long look at it both times because it didn't withdraw, even when I opened the hood.

You convinced me. I'll work on catching it.

 

[rjl45]

I have a small cube too, and I would do almost anything to protect my snails. They are the most boring of all the inhabitants (except my 2 nasaurius snails Loch & Nessie, they are freaking hilarious!) , but they probably work the hardest towards keeping my tank clean. Now that some of my hermits are starting to pick at my corals, I'm tempted to get rid of all the crabs and go 100% snail CUC.

 

[MuralReef]

You can always store the snails at school until you get it.

 

[JuanGutz]

Likely the worm will out live any attempt to starve, but you can try. There is many stories out there of these, and other similar worms, that can lie dormant for very long periods. Euncids for one, have even been known to live a long time even if the rock is not in water and can withstand a multitude of attacks. And yes, I would not try and catch it with tweezers or anything, that would be a serious test in patience. To get rid of it You need to remove the rock, or trap it, and there may be more then one already, so keep that in consideration. If you cant remove the rock, then I'd prolly just keep an eye on it, and dont add any more snails or anything similar for sometime. Then eventually add 1 snail and see what happens.

I guess I have good patience haha. I dropped a shrimp in my cube waited for them to come out and got them with tweezers. Spent the night doing it but never saw them again, worked for me but maybe not everyone.

 

[JodiI]

One of the two empty snail shells has already been claimed by a hermit crab (easy to spot the claim jumper by his giant-for-him arastrea shell). And in getting to watch three other hermits sparring over the other empty shell and trying it in for size. Fascinating.

Funny too, because we watched this clip while folding laundry about a week before Christmas: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=22J7e-Eqfw4