FINALLY! Working, effective Fulgida worm trap!

[JMcAz7]

So, I've been fighting Fulgida worms for the past month or so in my 24G nano. They ate my clam, pillaged my snails, and possible killed my Zoas (maybe not eaten them, but annoyed the hell out of them.)

Anyway, with the trap I designed a couple of days ago I've caught 6 big ones (I think I had 8-9 large ones total, but it's hard to tell), up from the zero I caught before. I just wanted to share what's worked for me.

Every trap idea I've heard I've tried, and it took combining a few of them to come on one that works. It involves less than $10 in parts, a hacksaw, and a drill. That's it!

Parts



Parts Are:
1.) PVC Pipe (Mine it 14"x1" Schedule 40 PVC)
2.) (2) PVC Endcaps of appropriate size.
3.) Fishing Line (Any strength will do)
4.) Panty Hose/Kneehighs ($.50 at Wal-Mart)
5.) Bait (They seem to respond extremely well to scallops)

Assembly
1.) Drill a ~1/4" hole in one of the endcaps for the worms to enter.
2.) On only one end of the pipe, saw a slit about 1/4 of the way through the pipe approximately 1" from the end. This is where the fishing line will be fed through.
3.) Tie a slipknot in the fishing line and feed the loop though the slit in the pipe. Make sure you leave enough of a tail on the fishing line so it sticks out of the tank.


Line fed through the pipe.

4.) Place the bait in the kneehigh/pantyhose (pantyhoe?), and feed through the pipe, starting at the end of the pipe with the slit.


Pantyhose in pipe.

5.) Trim the open end of the pantyhose as needed. You want the bait end to run the length of the pipe but not stick out the end. You also need some excess on the open end as well.


Excess display. Why yes, I WAS a hand model. :-)

6.) Place the endcaps on. Remember that the one with the hole goes on the open end of the pantyhose (if I don't say it, someone will probably mess it up. :-).


Viola!

Usage:
Using it is pretty easy. Once the lights go out, put the baited trap on the sandbed, and come back in an hour or 2. If you have Fulgida worms, they'll probably be sticking out of the hole while searching for the food. Simply pull the fishing line, which will tighten the pantyhose around the worm. Remove the trap and the worm will come with it.

Important Notes
1.) No one seems to know what the slime that comes off the worms really is or does, so it's probably best to avoid touching it or the worm. Gloves are suggested.

2.) The worms are EXTREMELY light sensitive and EXTREMELY fast, which is why these guys are so hard to get with tweezers. Use a red flashlight (coloring a flashlight with red Sharpie seems to work ok, but they eventually notice.) They will withdraw IMMEDIATELY with normal light.

3.) When pulling the line on the trap, don't pull any harder than you have to. My first trap didn't have the panty hose, and I preceeded to cut every worm in half.

So that's my trap. Please let me know if this helps anyone out at all. Thanks!

[mscarpena]

Excuse the weird response, but I think I love you. That is a great idea. Your right about combining a bunch of traps to get one that WILL work. I hate these worms and this will likely get rid of them eventually. Thanks for being smarter than me and posting your success. I have been trying to get rid of these for about 1.5 years and this will help. I have had success with tweezers, but I miss some of them. I also tried the pantyhose thing and was hoping their jaws would get stuck in the pantyhose, but did not work. Also If you painted the tubing black and their heads were in it the light would not be as much of an issue because they would not see the light. I am so excited about this that I will be making one tonight. Thanks again.

[tom499]

Brilliant thank you easy and 25 bucks cheaper than my aqua-medic trap. Easily slipped in between live rock.

[mscarpena]

I made one for about $3.00. I did not catch one, but I think it will work.

[JMcAz7]

It's a waiting game. So far it has not failed me once, so I'm pretty confident in the design. I finally caught all 11 large ones I had in my tank (I thought I had 9) in about a week, and I don't see any more.

I've been killing my lights around 8PM, and checking it around 10 before I go to bed if that helps. And I was serious about the scallop for the bait. The shrimp and squid I tried didn't do jack. :-)

Happy Hunting!

[Engloid]

Tagging along here also to see how your trap works....and for any others that may join, I have some good pictures in this thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...1#post17737293


The one I caught is still alive and in a bucket. Perhaps if he's alive this evening (haven't been to bed yet and it's 4am), I will make a trap like this and put it in the bucket to see what happens.

[Engloid]

So how has your trap worked?

The worm I caught, I put in a container with water and heater. I put some gel food in some pantyhose, and he hasn't seemed to go after it at all. What are you using for bait?

Any success with your trap yet?

[JMcAz7]

I'm using scallops or clam meat for bait. It's their favorite food.

I didn't see any big ones last night, so I'm pretty sure I got all the adult ones in my tank, 11 total.

[Engloid]

So the trap has caught 11?

[JMcAz7]

Originally Posted by Engloid

So the trap has caught 11?

Yes sir! :-)

[Engloid]

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this:

1) The panty hose goes through the slip knot, so that when you pull the fishing line, the hose acts as a bag and traps the worm.

2) You know you have a worm because it will be partly sticking out of the tube. Do they always leave part of their body out of the tube? When you start pulling the fishing line, doesn't it scare the worm?

[flyyyguy]

got any pics of these worms you are catching??

[JMcAz7]

Originally Posted by Engloid

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this:

1) The panty hose goes through the slip knot, so that when you pull the fishing line, the hose acts as a bag and traps the worm.

2) You know you have a worm because it will be partly sticking out of the tube. Do they always leave part of their body out of the tube? When you start pulling the fishing line, doesn't it scare the worm?

1) Yep, that's the idea.

2) All the ones I've caught have been extremely long, and kept their butts in the rocks while feeding. We're talking about a 24g Nano, so it's a matter of scale. Plus it depends on the length of the trap. Mine is 14", so they're pretty long worms. A longer trap might get them entirely in the trap, I just didn't have the room for it.

As for the line, my slip knot was extremely loose, and by leaving a length outside of the tank I could pull it very quickly. I didn't really care if I hurt the worms in the process (I hold a special degree of malice in my heart for them :-). By the time they try and retact the noose is tight around them and they can't get out.

Moral of the story: pull fast and hard. :-)

[JMcAz7]

Originally Posted by flyyyguy

got any pics of these worms you are catching??

I haven't taken any pictures recently, but the first one I caught with it is here.

[Omar_PR]

[D.J.'s reef]

THATS A WORM THERE..........wow....and i thought my 12in long pair of brissles was big.....

[D.J.'s reef]

forgot to ask......whats the fishing line for? does the pantyhose go thru it so when you remove it it closes off the pantyhose? or is it to just remove the pipe from the tank?

[mscarpena]

A longer trap will not get the entire worm. They always leave part of them anchored into the rock to retract fast. Thats why you need the fishing line to snare them.

[Engloid]

Originally Posted by mscarpena

A longer trap will not get the entire worm. They always leave part of them anchored into the rock to retract fast. Thats why you need the fishing line to snare them.

Always is a really strong word.

The worm I caught in my tank was pretty easy to catch because he was all the way out of a rock. Perhaps he had no food within reach and had to get out and about, leaving his rock behind. When I went after him, he tried to go up under a rock, but the tweezers were able to get him before he could find a suitable hole to go into. That leads me to believe that he had ventured pretty far from his preferred hole. I guess I got lucky on it.

[JHall651]

were do you get the scallops from and what kind?

[JHall651]

IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do not know what to say I am so happy. I found this thread like a week ago once I figured out what kind of worm I had and I instantly went to home depot to get the materials. When I saw your trap I immediately thought that it made perfect sense and I had total faith in it. So the first night I stuck it in I used a little bit of fish food and not a single hit. The second and third night I used mysis shrimp and still no hit. I did not let it faze me though. I just though that I needed to get some scallops and that I would do it this weekend. Then tonight I was looking in my aquarium and I noticed the infamous jelly substance people talk about seeing left behind from this worms killings. I took a closer look with a red flash light and sure enough that little turd was eating one of my snails. I was T.O.'d. I grabbed some tweezers and took a few shots at him but it was like me trying to hit a professional boxer. He is the quickest thing I have ever seen. So just before I gave up I decided to make one last ditch effort. I grabbed your trap that I made and placed the half eaten snail inside and I sucked up the jelly and squirted it inside the hole on the trap. Now I don't know if the jelly helped or he just smelled the snail but he immediately went inside. I was shocked. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The problem was I had failed every attempt to catch him before that I was afraid to pull the fishing line. I just kept saying to myself "if he crawls in a little bit more, ok now a little bit more" then out of no where this stupid hermit crab comes bounding over and it was like slow motion. I was like "NOoooooooo!" and then he stepped right on him and he shot out of the tube and back under the rock faster than light. I thought to myself, "that was it, I blew my one shot". But I knew if he did it once he would do it again and after about 5 minutes he made his way back in. This time no crab and he quickly crawled about half way in and I yanked. SUCCESS!!! He pulled right out from the rock and out of my tank forever. I cannot thank you enough. This truly is an effective worm catcher. Pictures to follow.

[JHall651]

You will notice on my picture with the trap there is a pvc pipe that is perpendicular to the trap pipe. That is just one I used as a handle so that when I jerked up on the fishing line I could grab it to keep tension on the line as i pulled it out and to help not hit any of my corals when I jerked it up. It worked really well and I suggest it. Also in the first picture you can see some of the "jelly" released by the worm. Video can be found here at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcsVzJvgRzI

[mscarpena]

Originally Posted by Engloid

Always is a really strong word.

The worm I caught in my tank was pretty easy to catch because he was all the way out of a rock. Perhaps he had no food within reach and had to get out and about, leaving his rock behind. When I went after him, he tried to go up under a rock, but the tweezers were able to get him before he could find a suitable hole to go into. That leads me to believe that he had ventured pretty far from his preferred hole. I guess I got lucky on it.

It does happen from time to time, but dont count on you being able to catch them out of there hole very often. In 18 months I have seen 1 all the way out of its hole.

[itsmateo]

its late now, but im going to make this trap tomorrow! great idea, thank you for posting it

[Sk8r]

Brilliant job!