need ideas on trapping eunice worm
 

I have what I believe to be a Eunice worm in my 75g tank (sorry no pics). I have only seen it a couple of times, but am pretty sure on the ID. I have no idea on the length, but it is as big around as my finger so I'm assuming it is fairly big. From what I have read, these worms can be predatory. I have recently had a finger leather eaten on (the back side of the coral that no fish could access had fingers missing) and a month ago had something kill my crocea. Both of these things are near where I believe the worm is making its "home". Anyone have any ideas for capturing it without taking out all of my rock and dipping? I read an idea about a weighted wiffle ball (with additional fishing line wrapped around the holes). Anyone use anything like this successfully?
Eric

I had one of these in my tank that I battled on and off for about 4 months before I finally got it. I had tried epoxy/super glue to lock it into a rock, even took the rock out and filled its hole with kalk paste to no avail. Once I isolated it to a rock I took it out, broke it up and found the worm in it, took him out and put the pieces back. I must have left a piece of the worm in the rock because about 3 weeks later it was back eating my coral again. This time I had it isolated to a small piece of the original rock and I just removed the whole thing, smashed it to really small pieces to see what the whole worm looked like, and left it all out to dry. If the worm is really fat I am not sure if it would be euniced though. Mine was really skinny but really long for the size rock it was in.

they sell traps,or you can make one like i did.fairly simple,i used an aquastick puddy container,the long tube.I cut like a star pattern in the lid of the puddy container then pushed it in just a bit just enough where the worm would have to squeeze his body in.Then i put food in the container (freezedried krill) to be exact,then wadded a piece of paper towel snugly over it,otherwise the worm can just poke his head in,& enjoy a free meal,the object is to get him to go all the way in trying to get the prize.It works,but it may take a few nites.

Take panty hose cut the foot part off take the foot part and fill with a small amount of mysis shrimp and tye it off then put it near were hes living at night and in the morning his spiny head will be stuck on the panty hose and then remove the worm hope this helps

I had one about 2 years ago in my small tank. I think finding him is what actually made me sign up to RC to ask questions. I tried EVERY trap and suggestion imaginable but nothing even remotely worked.

In the end, i had to take down most of my worckwork and take out the rock he was in(of course, his rock was the base for my rockwork:rolleyes: ). I tried reef dip, freshwater, soda water but he wouldnt come out for nothing. I was pretty positive he was dead after all that but i wanted to be sure and see for myself. I finally broke open the rock and presto, there he was, curled up right in the middle.

did you trie my sock trap it ive only heard pasitive feed back on it i got it from a post on how to catch fish with the least efert it works good with most thing that have any spines

Thanks all for the ideas. Sufunk, I'm afraid that I may end up having to take my rock work apart and, like you, I believe he is in one of the base pieces. I was just hoping to find an easier way. Had heard of the tube, but not cutting the star in the end...I may have to try this one. Thanks Blktang. Teenreefer, the sock trick sounds promising too, but do you have trouble with the worms breaking when doing this?
Eric

ive never had one brake

I actually had never heard that trick until your post. Wish i had, would have been worth a try. Anything is better than what i did. I still dont have the rockwork back the same as it was. It's close but not nearly as nice looking as it was,imo.

That sucks try this next time.:D

Great! Now you jinxed me!!!

There better not be a "next time" or i'm coming after you to trap him!lol :D

lol l

Oh E do try my trap a few nights before you give up it may take some time but i hope you get him the first try

i did lol

Mine never came all the way out of the rock, it was in a smaller tank though so the worm just moved the traps closer to his hole, I took out the rock and shot fresh water into the holes until he came out.

All forms of the bristle worm can be caught the same way. I tried several home made traps to catch mine. Baby bottles of differing sizes and a piece of PVC.

I'll try to remember to bring in the pics of the worm. I caught him last week. He was about 18" extended and about 12" retracted. My worm was a Oenone Fulgida, also known as the clam worm. In the absense of clams he's killed over 300 snails in my tank over the past year.

I used a piece of clear vinyl tubing about 18" long with an ID 1". I found some caps that would plug the ends of the tube and I drilled a 1/4" hole in each cap. I took a piece of fishing line and inserted it in one end of the tubing before capping the end. That way I could pull the tubing out of the tank quickly. On the other end of the fishing line I tued a zip tie in the shape of a ring.

In the tubing I placed a 1oz fishing weight (lead) and a piece of shrimp. I waited until bed time and I sank the tubing in the tank near the rock he was believed to be in. About 4 hrs later I woke up and used my RED covered flashlight to observe the tank. Sure enough there he was. He was extended out of the rock and in the tube for the full length to get to the shrimp. I grabbed the ring and pulled the tube to the top of the tank. The moment I moved the tube he was trying to back out but too much of him was in the tube so he ended up all in the tube.

I finally got him and didn't have to take one thing out of the tank. I'll post some pics tomorrow. I put the trap together from stuff laying around the garage. You shouldn't have to buy any kind of trap, just look around the house.

OK, I said I'd post so here they are.

The first pic was my attempt with a baby bottle. The problem with that is the worm was able to easily enter the bottle and eat the bait without ever extending that far from the rock.
<img src="http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/87822PB300257.JPG">

This is what worked:
<img src="http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/87822P2110053.JPG">
A simple piece of tube with a cap on each end. It's hard to see but there's a piece of fishing string and a small loop tied to the string for extracting the tube from the tank.

<img src="http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/87822P2110056.JPG">
This shows the holes drilled in each end. 1/4" hole. What you don't see in the tubing is the fishing weight and the piece of shrimp used for bait.

<img src="http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/87822P2110055.JPG">

You can see the fishing weight in this pic. I dumped the contents of the tube into this drink bottle which included the worm. The tube you saw in the sink is about 18" long. The worm was still in the rock and extended from one end of the tube to the other to get the bait.

So there you have it. You should be able to make something close to that and catch the worm. I put mine in a bottle of tequila. Not really, I took it to the aquarium store for show and tell. Good Luck

The long tube 1 that worked for you is almost exactly how i cought my worm.