PDA

View Full Version : Help!!! Eunicid Worm Destroying my Corals.


johnd4g
04/10/2007, 04:13 PM
I have been trying to capture what I thought was a Bristle worm for a couple of months, but no luck. After further research I now believe this guy is a Eunicid worm. A large one about a foot long. I've tried capturing him using a piece of shrimp in a bottle trap several times, but he's not interested. His favorite meals are my zoanathids. I've tried to grab him several times, but he's much too fast. I think he is presently living in a hole in a large rock that is partially covered with zo's. I've read about a hypersalinity dip of the rock to send Bristle worms and crabs fleeing, but will this same technique also work on a Eunicid worm? And how will it affect my zo's?

Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated. I want this guy gone before he destroys the rest of my corals.

Thanks!

sufunk
04/10/2007, 04:50 PM
I had this exact problem a few weeks ago. Got a piece of lr that had about 25 zoos on it and saw a eunicid coming from it one night.

I took out the rock and put it in a bucket of ro water and them poured in seachem reef dip at about 5x the recommended dosage. I poured the dip almost directly on the hole the Eunicid was in which was right next to the zoos. Let it sit for 5 minutes and the eunicid was hanging dead out of the back. Then i rinsed the rock a few times with more ro water and put it back in the tank.

I was sure and everyone predicted that the zoos would die. I wasn't worried since they are kind of ugly anyways. They were completely closed for a day or 2 then opened a few at a time. After 5-6 days, all were the same as before. I dont think even one died but at most 1 or 2 maybe.

omni2226
04/10/2007, 05:16 PM
Zoas are pretty tough. If you wave the rock around in the air for a second or two all the polyps will close up tight.
Then hang the rock in some fresh water. The worms crabs...well just about everything will crawl out.
People work/frag zoas all the time,exposing them to the air for 15 20 minutes at a time.
They will be ok.

If you are worried, frag a small colony before you do it. That way you have back up if something does go wrong.

johnd4g
04/10/2007, 08:24 PM
Sounds like some good ideas sufunk and omni2226. I like the idea of fragging soime of the zoas to ensure I have a backup in case something goes wrong. If I understand you guys correctly you are saying to use FRESH ro/di water not HYPERSALINITY ro/di water. Correct???

jimmock42
04/11/2007, 08:34 AM
I have been having this problem also, what does your worm look like?

Tang Salad
04/11/2007, 08:47 AM
I caught a similar, maybe the same, worm about ten days ago. Here's the thread w/ pics and pretty close ID:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1083573

johnd4g
04/11/2007, 02:15 PM
Tang Salad I read your thread about the worm you caught. I don't think it's the same kind I'm chasing. My Eunicid worm clearly has tentacles around its head and its legs are not as feathery as the one you photographed. My Eunicid is gray in color and is somewhat iridescent. I've seen him chewing on my zoas ripping a piece off, and dashing quickly back into a hole. I haven't been able to get a good photo of him, but I borrowed a photo from the Hitchhiker FAQ at Reefkeeping.org to show you what his head looks like.

Thanks again to everyone for your interest and advice!

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/86524eunicid03.jpg

rekn
04/11/2007, 03:38 PM
dont kill it please. im looking for one to own

jimmock42
04/11/2007, 03:50 PM
Yeah that is the same thing I have, how do you get rid of them? MY Zoas are disappearing

smp
04/11/2007, 04:26 PM
Putting zoos in RO water is fine, I do that with every frag and colony I get. I imagine that any worms, pods or anything living (but the zoos) will quickly evacuate that rock once it's put into some freshwater.

GoingPostal
04/11/2007, 04:38 PM
I squirted hot tap water with a little iodine straight into mine's holes, Came running out most of the way and started back in but I managed to grab the top four or five inches and pulled out the other inch with tweezers, carefully. Felt kinda bad as I hadn't wanted to kill him if possible but his tank was going to became a reef soon and I didn't want to tank the risk, mine was tan and iridescent in areas with white tentacles and a white stripe across it's head. The rock he was in had hairy mushrooms and it didn't seem to affect them too badly. He chewed a bunch of tunnels in it though.

bph0013
04/11/2007, 05:00 PM
I have a worm very similar to that pic of the eunicid but I haven't been able to get a good pic of it. It's antennae (correct phrasing?) the modified legs at the front, I can't remember the correct terminology is very vivid black and white. The body has 1 pair of legs per segment and the work itself is vivid copper and white. This worm is very very colorful I haven't ever seen one like it. When I say copper and white I'm not talking dull colors that you might expect, I'm talking very vivid colors. I can't say for sure that it has/is eating anything, but it does come out at feeding time once in a while. I wish I could get/find a pic but that pic is the closest I've seen.

johnd4g
04/11/2007, 09:23 PM
Sounds like I'm not the only one on a quest to catch a worm.
Rekn... if I do catch him he's yours if you want him. This worm is wanted dead or alive, but I'll do my best to catch him alive for you.
I couldn't find any Seachem Reef Dip, as sufunk suggested, but I do have a bucket of ro/di waiting for him along with some hot water to squirt into his hole. I spent the last several hours watching for him, but naturally he took the night off and hasn't appeared at all. I really want this guy out of there. He's already devoured a colony of hairy mushrooms and now he's doing some noticeable damage to this colony of zoas. I can't believe how fast he is. When I approach the tank he's gone in a flash. It's amazing that many of you are having similar problems with worms that act and look a lot like this Eunicid, but yet have different coloration. I have a feeling many people mistake smaller versions of these destructive worms for harmless Bristle worms, just as i did. And we don't see the damage they can do until they are quite large. I've seen this worm stretched out in the tank only one time and he was about a foot long.

Well, back to the hunt! Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.
Thanks again!

LeslieH
04/11/2007, 11:48 PM
Eunicids are among the most abundant inhabitants of coral reefs so it's not surprising so many of them show up in tanks. They seem to be okay when they're small but some species turn into coral-eating monsters as they get larger. the different color patterns represent different species in my experience but I'd need to actually have the worms in order to identify them.