eunicid worm

CRW Reef

CRW Reef

Blue Whale
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#1
#1
Anyone ever personally seen a eunicid worm?

Reason I ask is I sorta, kinda, maybe think I might have one lol. While staring at my tank last night observed a zoa colony I had looking terrible and decided to dip it to make sure there wasnt any pests on it that might be bugging it. Well I found a few 1/4" diameter sand tubes on it that seemed a bit odd as I have never seen them before. Now these are not tube worms or vermetid snails which I have seen plenty of times, as these literally were a few inches long and 1/4" diameter tubes of sand going up the rock to the zoas. Anyway decoded to dip the whole rock and then eventually tossed zoas and the fist sized rock the tubes were on, in hopes of eradicating what ever the heck it was that created these things.

So...ill be watching for anything else weird in next few weeks but wanted to see if anyone had ever seen a eunicid worm in their tank before.

*not my pic but this what the worm looks like lol

 
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MuralReef

MuralReef

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#3
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eunicid worm

I had one 15 years ago in my first reef tank and you can see them. During the day they hang out near the sand bed and you can see their five or so tentacles that come off of their face. At night they come out but are very skittish. They don't look brown like the photo the one I had red and off white legs in alternate pairs and the segmented body was iridescent. They are scary and beautiful at the same time. Best way to find out if you have one is by looking at the tank at night after the light have been off for a while. They are super fast though. I never caught mine until a power outage/surge nuked the tank. I moved out here and left the tank in my parents care and they didn't know what to do so it sat for a while. This thing lived for 3-4 weeks while the tank sat. I'd say it was about 6 feet and still very active when I removed it from the tank.
 
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MuralReef

MuralReef

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#4
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They do form sand tubes and you probably have them all over your sand bed. They will just make more if you destroy them though. Use them to track it down but I never figured out how to get it out.
 
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SilverSurfer

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#5
#5
That is one ugly dang worm!
 
SynDen

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#6
#6
[video=youtube;tn6Kv5KtEMc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn6Kv5KtEMc[/video]
 
J

Jeremiah

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#7
#7
Chad, I think i might have a small one also...I've seen only the head of something very similar periodically. It is very skittish so i've not gotten a good look.

Having similar issues with zoa like you described. Getting ready to finish a tank move....I'll let you know if I find it.


CRW Reef;328937 said:
Anyone ever personally seen a eunicid worm?

Reason I ask is I sorta, kinda, maybe think I might have one lol. While staring at my tank last night observed a zoa colony I had looking terrible and decided to dip it to make sure there wasnt any pests on it that might be bugging it. Well I found a few 1/4" diameter sand tubes on it that seemed a bit odd as I have never seen them before. Now these are not tube worms or vermetid snails which I have seen plenty of times, as these literally were a few inches long and 1/4" diameter tubes of sand going up the rock to the zoas. Anyway decoded to dip the whole rock and then eventually tossed zoas and the fist sized rock the tubes were on, in hopes of eradicating what ever the heck it was that created these things.

So...ill be watching for anything else weird in nect few weeks but wanted to see if anyone had ever seen a eunicid worm in their tank before.

*not my pic but this what the worm looks like lol

Click to expand...
 
S

SilverSurfer

Butterfly Fish
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#9
#9
Nice vids those things are wicked! Think I may go with dry rock on my next build!
 
CRW Reef

CRW Reef

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#11
#11
I'm telling you the more I read, see pictures of and watch videos of these things I really think I have one at least!!! I have noticed not only the sand tubes/tunnels, but empty frag plugs drug back into my rock work (semi pile), piles of hermit crab shells (not normal for them to pile themselves right?) and then sudden decline/loss of several zoa colonies near the suspected home of this assumed to be creature lol.
 
SynDen

SynDen

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#12
#12
Ya sounds like you might have one, unfortunately that means a break down of the tank and try and coax it out of the rock it is hiding in
 
S

SilverSurfer

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#13
#13
Yeah I would definitely think you have one dragging his prey back to the lair!
 
CRW Reef

CRW Reef

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#14
#14
SynDen;328993 said:
Ya sounds like you might have one, unfortunately that means a break down of the tank and try and coax it out of the rock it is hiding in
Click to expand...
Not quite yet....I'm going to get some red leds and hunt this sucker down lol! I am also going to try a few traps first and see what happens first. Im not even sure this is what it is since I've actually never seen it or anything alive out of the ordinary. I really could be my typical crazy on this one, dont know yet :lostit:
 
SynDen

SynDen

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#15
#15
Well ya, I have heard of people having them in for many years and not ever seeing it before until they break down the tank and find a 6 foot worm in the rocks. Good luck with traps though, those things are crazy fast and extremely shy. Keep us posted
 
CRW Reef

CRW Reef

Blue Whale
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#17
#17
jahmic;328998 said:
Sounds like you may need your laser returned soon :p
Click to expand...
Ya were going to need all the ammo we can get for this bad boy lol! Too bad its blue not red dang it! But at least maybe we can fry its tentacles off 1 by 1 :p
 
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J

Jeremiah

Tang
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#18
#18
Where does one pick up red LED's????

I've been wanting to get some for night viewing.



CRW Reef;328996 said:
Not quite yet....I'm going to get some red leds and hunt this sucker down lol! I am also going to try a few traps first and see what happens first. Im not even sure this is what it is since I've actually never seen it or anything alive out of the ordinary. I really could be my typical crazy on this one, dont know yet :lostit:
Click to expand...
 
charleshardy5

charleshardy5

Anthias
#20
#20
Just be careful man, wear gloves... And thick ones, I dunno how serious the stickers are on those suckers but from what I've read its not something you wanna mess with. GLWH and pics when you snag his ***, I wanna see
 
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