Eunicid (bobbit worm) finally removed

[miggs76]

So a few months ago I saw this extremely creepy looking worm in my tank. It was bright orange and red and would just barely poke its head out of a rock hole to scavenge but as soon as it detected me moving near the tank it would quickly dart back into the hole. I tried using a bristle worm trap but it never worked. I researched online and found it to be a eunicid or bobbit worm. It was clearly not a bristle worm. I read about how they can be really bad for the tank so I debated whether or not to just remove the piece of rock but I left it in there............then over the last few weeks I noticed in the morning some of my coral frags were pressed up against the rock instead of in the sand bed where they were the night before. At first I thought it was just some snail moving them around or my mp10 was blowing them around. Then yesterday I literally saw that worm going after a zoa. Needless to say I was livid. I took the rock out and put a new one in---it was a pain because I had coral attached to the rock so I had to do a lot of work taking it off and attaching it to a new piece but I guess I had too. One thing that I noticed right away was that my fire shrimp is now out of hiding. I don't know if that is a coincide. Could it be possible he was scared of this worm? The fire shrimp would literally hid behind another piece of rock all day long unless I fed the tank. Now he is out and about all day. Strange, eh? So I guess the moral of the story for me is this.....I plan on getting a big tank up and running this summer.....I will be buying dry eco rock because I couldn't imagine having to break down a large tank to get a bad hitchhiker.

[SunWyrm]

+1 on the dry rock. Though maybe you could get one of those lasers...

 

Do you have a pic of it?

[scott711]

here was mine:

 

http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/42255-2-foot-long-bobbit-worm-evicted/page__p__356100__hl__worm__fromsearch__1entry356100

[miggs76]

here was mine:

 

http://www.wamas.org..._1entry356100

 

 

Wow--yours was definitely bigger. I don't have a pic of mine because right now the rock is just sitting in a bucket drying out....I know he is in there because i only had 3 pieces of rock total and I saw him dart his head out right before I pulled that piece out of my tank. Did you notice him eating any coral in your tank? How did you know he was there?

[scott711]

I would notice some larger fish disappear. I would see it at night coming out of it's hole in a rock.

[schenktank]

bobbit...twist it...pull it...new high score

[miggs76]

I would notice some larger fish disappear. I would see it at night coming out of it's hole in a rock.

 

 

wow---how large a fish did he take? I only have a small six line and ywg in my tank...I can't believe they were not taken. He was in there for 4 months.

[scott711]

A few fish, I think a tang, a few wrasses too. They are predators!