Resolved Nasty looking worm UPDATE 1/16/11

Your luck, he's sitting there waiting for some vodka & an olive. LOL.. I have seen a bunch of bristle worms over 4 years, but he looks very much different. From the pics, he looks more like a sea worm. The problem with sea worms is that they have a pair of very sharp teeth/fangs. The problem with sea worms is that they can do a big number on snail or anything else it sinks it's teeth into.

I got the pics from Shooting my Universe: Sea Worm

 

:/ hopefully je just comes out running

 

Magnus, if you do a google search on "How do I trap a Eunicid worm" you should run across a thread from another board that a guy tells how he managed to trap his. If no joy, PM me and I'll send you the link (provided I can find it again LOL).

 

Thanks again, guys. Even though I have olives, I rather starve him to death, although the vodka could have make him a bit more extroverted so he can come out.

After close to 14 hours, I've decided to add bleach to the club soda (no more bubbles in it anyway) and let the rock die, hopefully with the worm inside, since I've not seen anything dead in the bucket but a dozen copepods or so. Really hope he's still in there. Maybe I should have grabbed the rock when I saw him inside.

This uncertainty is killing me! But honestly, I really do not see a reason for him to leave that hole... there are quite a bit of dead dwarf ceriths in that corner as the first pic showed... so if that's his dining room, hopefully the bleach water will go all the way to the living room or bedroom inside the rock and melt him.

SushiGirl, I googled for a method to get him out as you suggested... were you talking about the 20oz soda bottle trap?

 

Magnus, I don't remember what method the guy used. I'm not entirely sure I even read his thread, I just kept seeing him talking about how he finally made a trap that worked LOL. That site is REALLLLY slow today, so I can't even read threads much less search for one! Let me try google & see if I can find it.

Edit: Think I found it, but of course the above SLOOOOOW business still applies. I'll hold on to the link for when it speeds up!

 

OK, it wasn't the thread, but they had the worm expert chime in on this one and this guy said the club soda worked. It makes me wonder if he moved to another rock. I'll keep looking.

 

If you haven't already poured bleach in there, try hyposalinity in that bucket (1.040), that's another thing I read.

 

I have a ton of those worms in my tank and they haven't bothered any of my snails but they are ugly little critters and great at cleaning the bottom of the tank! Good luck on trying to get them out though they like to move alot and hide under the LR during the day.

 

Yes, that's what I've been reading about how fast they run away from the club soda. I really hope I didn't bleach this rock for nothing. I'll be looking into the tank hours after lights out to see if he shows up anywhere else.

As a good note, the whole where he was in, was so small that the water was barely getting in there, but it was going into other holes which I liked to assume at the moment were all connected inside the rock anyway. Maybe wrong, but it won't matter now... rock is bleached and looking awfully white. Sponges are still there though... So I'll have to wait. I'll boil it tomorrow and then rinse it a few more times to make sure none of the bleach is still trapped inside.

What could the bleach cause in a reef tank in small trace amounts?

 

Well, bleach is chlorine, so anything chlorine would do. I've never bleached rocks though, so I'll leave better responses to others!