Eunicid worms

[whodeydan76]

Just how bad are the Eunicid worms (sp)? I have gotten 20 plus out of my tank in the last couple weeks and they seem to still be around. I will pick them out as I see them and try a baited homemade bottle trap... only meaty thing I have is frozen brine shrimp... except for like turkey slices and bologna... I dont think that is what you meant by a "meaty" bait. What is a good bait? Is there something I can purchase? What do these worms do that makes them bad??

[whodeydan76]

Please and thank you:) sorry if i did not include these before...

P.s. the damsel I spoke about in my other posting that i so ignorantly spoke about flushing...I found him a home...now to catch him...lol. I do apoligize for the comment before though. :deadhorse1:

[snorvich]

Are you sure these are not bristle worms? It is highly unlikely that you have that number of eunicid worms.

[Cloudburst2000]

I agree. I think that you are confusing eunicid worms with bristle worms. I've heard of people having two maybe three eunicid worms but never more than that. It is common to have many bristle worms and bristle worms are a good thing. They eat detritus. Look up pics of each to determine what you have or better yet post a pic of what you have been pulling from your tank.

[Cloudburst2000]

And if you do have that many eunicid worms :eek1: Scary. And eunicid worms are VERY bad. They can grow several feet long. They will eat inverts (including snails, crabs, shrimp, coral) and when big enough they can even start to chow down on your fish. I still think you probably have bristle worms though which are not bad.

[whodeydan76]

I will post a pic if the next one I catch. However in the pic under the heading "things that come in our rock...good and bad" sushi girl has a pic of a eunicid worm that she says was sold to her as a Medusa worm. The worm in that pic looks just like my inhabitants. Reddish brown with white spots. With white tentacles that protrude from their heads. I'm worried, they didn't start showing up until I added the new coral from the lfs that i got as a package deal.
The one thing that throws me, is that the worms in my tank are very docile and just hid under rock and in the substrate. I found them first when doing water changes. I will post pics once I catch one...only thing is it has to be in water for its body to be round. When they are out of water they go kind of flat.

[Cloudburst2000]

Eunicid worms are very fast and hard to catch so that also makes me think they are not those. With your description, I am now beginning to think maybe you are finding peanut worms...another good detrivore. Check pics for peanut worms to see if that is what you have.

[whodeydan76]

On google there was 1 pic under peanut worms that is a maybe on the id. I will spend some time tracking one down and posting a pic in a new post.

[whodeydan76]

They are definatly very slow, all I ever see them do is hide under rocks. They dont do anything. I have seen them in some of my button polyps but not anywhere else.

[Cloudburst2000]

If they are very slow then they are not a eunicid worm as they are extremely fast which is why they are such a good predator. I'm still betting on peanut worms.

[whodeydan76]

I have pics but it wont let me add them here... Im making a new post in new to the hobby.. Ill title it "alien worms from outer space?" Check it out there. I dont know why it wont let me attach them here