Nasty Worm (1 Viewer)

[KrAs]

I have some of the toughest time with xenia. I had lavender xenia that almost vanished after the hurricane but was starting to make a comeback, then all of a sudden it seemed to just fall apart. Now I have crop of xenia that is doing the same thing, during the day they are open and fine then during the evening they seem to fall apart. Last night (after the lights went out) my wife was looking at the xenia (they are her favorites) and noticed a worm, literally tearing one of them apart. While my camera was not able to take a decent picture, through an extensive search I was able to find a picture of the culprit. We tried this evening to catch him with a pair of hemostats but as soon as a hand entered the water it slid back into the rock. Does anyone here have any ideas what we could do catch this little turd. Here's a picture of what he looks like (unfortunately the site I found it on did not know exactly what it was either).

 

[BrianPlankis]

Rich,

I don't know what the worm is, but if you know where the home is for this dude, you can try what I did in this thread:

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic24280-13-1.aspx

Brian

 

[KrAs]

Well we have been unsuccessful in capturing the little bugger. We did come close the other night though, I guess that was enough of a deterrent, for now anyway, as it has not been back. However this evening my wife saw something moving around in the fuge and when she turned on the light she found what looks like the little guys older brother lurking about. She was able to catch it, it's about 8 inches when fully extended. Now is this something I want to keep in my fuge or is it the parent of the little sucker that's in my main tank. Thanks for the help.

Rich

 

[BrianPlankis]

Rich,

I'm not a worm expert, but I can point you to this article:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

It looks like a common (harmless) bristleworm to me, but does it have a tuft of hair on its head?

Brian

 

[Guest]

I agree with brian on that.

 

[Guest]

I agree it looks like a harmless polychaete - Xenia produce a lot of mucus and a lot of bristleworms like to snack on mucus.

 

[KrAs]

So then in [drawl] ya'lls [/drawl] opinion should I dump it back into the fuge? Here's a close up of the head I don't see any tuft of hair on it, and pretty sure that's the head, at least that end is what is leading it around (unless it's a single male then I'm not sure which end is leading it ) Thanks for the help guys.

 

[BrianPlankis]

You could try a little experiment by putting the worm in a small container with a healthy piece of xenia. If you see it directly consuming the xenia (and not just the mucus), then you will know it is a problem, otherwise it should be safe to return it.

Brian

 

[Guest]

My worms are always snaking on the zoas, but they aren't doing anything. I try to keep them feed with food on the substrate. Is it possible to have TOO many worms?

 

[KrAs]

You could try a little experiment by putting the worm in a small container with a healthy piece of xenia. If you see it directly consuming the xenia (and not just the mucus), then you will know it is a problem, otherwise it should be safe to return it.

Brian

Sounds interesting, I'll just have to convince the wife, the xenia is her favorite.

My worms are always snaking on the zoas, but they aren't doing anything. I try to keep them feed with food on the substrate. Is it possible to have TOO many worms?

This big one was in the fuge, the little ones (probably another species) are in the main tank. However I don't feed very often at all, maybe once every 3 days and I do have several hermits, 4 shrimp, and 2 emerald crabs. Is there a chance that the xenia is being stung as the worms move along eating the mucous? I know I'm grasping at straws here, but the one little worm has left one of the xenias as nothing more than a tall knub with only 1 pulsing stalk on top. And like I said earlier it has not been back since it's "almost" capture.

 

[Guest]

You could try a little experiment by putting the worm in a small container with a healthy piece of xenia. If you see it directly consuming the xenia (and not just the mucus), then you will know it is a problem, otherwise it should be safe to return it.

Brian

Sounds interesting, I'll just have to convince the wife, the xenia is her favorite.

My worms are always snaking on the zoas, but they aren't doing anything. I try to keep them feed with food on the substrate. Is it possible to have TOO many worms?

This big one was in the fuge, the little ones (probably another species) are in the main tank. However I don't feed very often at all, maybe once every 3 days and I do have several hermits, 4 shrimp, and 2 emerald crabs. Is there a chance that the xenia is being stung as the worms move along eating the mucous? I know I'm grasping at straws here, but the one little worm has left one of the xenias as nothing more than a tall knub with only 1 pulsing stalk on top. And like I said earlier it has not been back since it's "almost" capture.

Maybe they are hungry? I defintely feed daily to keep the worms and sea stars at bay. They are detrritus cleaners, so give them something to clean.