black worm - dangerous?

Discussion in 'ID This!' started by Briniel, Jul 26, 2010.

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  1. Briniel

    Briniel Plankton

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    Feb 16, 2010
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    Hello everyone,

    a few weeks ago I found a worm at the top of my overflow but I didn't have a camera at hand. Now it's back, in one of the rocks at the bottom of my aquascape, sealing the holes in it with little stones and pieces of shells and eating some of my macro algae in between. I managed to get some photos this time and I hope someone can tell me what it is, whether it's dangerous (or has the potential to be) and if yes, how I can get it out without tearing my rockwork apart - it disappears very quickly if I move too much in front of the tank.

    The part I could see was 2-3 inches long but it seems like there's much more of it in the stone... ::)

    [​IMG]

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    Thanks in advance!
     
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  3. phoenixhieghts

    phoenixhieghts Panda Puffer

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  4. mikev15101

    mikev15101 Purple Spiny Lobster

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    Looking at the head and the antennas I Second a Euncid worm, get it out ASAP, we had one it was breeding and getting out of hand eating acans and stuff...I had to break apart my whole tank, the worm was about 24 inches long, nasty looking thing...
     
  5. Briniel

    Briniel Plankton

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    Thanks for the fast replies! That was my best guess, too, but I haven't found any information on black eunice worms before, so I hoped someone would recognise it as something else. But this description fits it perfectly, except for the coloration: Eunice

    Anyways, we have built a trap out of a small coke bottle (cut off the top, put it in backwards, small hole in the cap for it to go through) and it got out of the rock, went along the outside of the bottle, grabbed the bottle with its jaw and janked it towards its hiding place. Apparently, it's more than 6 inches long with a jaw that could fit my little finger in it. Yikes.

    The problem is, even if it gets inside of the bottle, part of it will probably still be in the rock - how do I catch it whole? What happens if it gets cut into two pieces, I've heard rumors that both parts will survive, although I can't quite believe that... any ideas?

    Any help is appreciated, I'm currently quite terrified of my own tank ;) This is my first encounter with anything really bad, the tank has only been up since march. Good thing is, I don't have anything rare in it that he could eat but I'm getting new coral on thursday... I hope it won't be in there anymore by then!
     
  6. texanjordan

    texanjordan Peppermint Shrimp

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    I think I have one of those too! I saw it grab one of my snails, it was pretty small still, and I saw it in one of my pieces of live rock! Maybee I will just throw out the piece of live rock. Let me know if you find out anything about how to get rid of this!.
     
  7. mcfarrow

    mcfarrow Skunk Shrimp

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    I had one last year. It tore my tank apart and ate all kinds of coral. I pulled all my rock and dumped his main home rock in a bucket of RO. It was over 3 feet long. Kill it! Kill it with fire!
     
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  9. ReefBruh

    ReefBruh Giant Squid

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    You could move the bottle again and anchor it so it doesn't move it to its hiding spot. that way you can catch all of him. or use a drinking glass which is heavier or a clear beer bottle.
     
  10. blackraven1425

    blackraven1425 Giant Squid

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    I had one of these, and didn't get an ID for a few days until LeslieH showed up. Decent amount of info in that thread.