Worm eating Aussie Goniastrea

thats great this worm is common in reef tanks i have 5 or more they do not bore he's just comming up in the pores of the rock, feeds on detrius that coral emit they have never ate my coral but seem to keep them clean

 

Thanks James, I see them all the time on the substrate, but usually they retract into a peanut when I shine a light on them. Still not sure what's doing the boring though. I know some peanut worms do bore, but not all. I'm still not sure if the hole is consistent with this type of worm, as good info seems to be tough to find.

Heck perhaps it is gall crabs as initially assumed and the worm was just in the vicinity. At 2am the mind can play tricks on you...

The good thing is I'm not finding evidence that eunicid bore into rock, more just burrow from what I can tell. Perhaps the second worm I saw was just a grey bristle worm, it's tough to say, although it looked more like a eunicid at the time. At this point I may flush the rock with soda water just for my sanity though LOL.

 

i gota worm so big in my 220 that it scares me to put my hands in there, i call him big sam look like a snake with ruffles so i know what ya talken bout

 

And most likely it bites, stings or both! I heal though, and can be foolish, so really I'm more afraid of corals or fish disappearing lol.


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so far it hasn't took a bite outa me or my corals,thanks be to you know who

 

How does it go back into the hole? if it contracts it's self it might be a harmless peanut worm

LOL just saw the above post

 

Well, squirted some seltzer water down the holes with an aptaisia-x syringe, but nothing. Thought I heard some clicking at first, but could have just been the bubbling. I did poke around with a toothpick and the holes seem to be very well defined tunnels, very round and consistent. And they seem to go all the way through the rock, not just holes in the coral. Actually some places, I squirted some seltzer in one hole and it came out another. Not really something I would expect a crab to make, but idk. Some type of rock-boring worm still seems likely. The coral was very close to a number of others though, for months and this is the only one that had damage though.