Bad. Very bad.

[craby]

I have a eunice worm living in my sand bed. I have seen it at night but can't get a pic because in retracts to it's hidding spot lightning fast. I found a brief discription on the "Reefkeeping Magazine" at:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.htm

 

The description is as follows:

"Eunice individuals tend to live in mucus-lined borrows in rock or sediments and may have several entrances to their tubes. It lives in a burrow in the sediment, or more rarely, in a burrow in the rocks. When feeding, one of these worms will slowly extend from its burrow. They typically have four to six eyes and are quite capable of detecting motion outside the aquarium, and across the room. It will slowly search the surrounding area for food and if bothered by a fish, or its own shadow, will retract into its burrow with a velocity that has to be seen to be believed. Contraction back into a burrow has been clocked in excess of 20 feet per second, and if only a couple of feet of the worm are visible while it is foraging, that worm can disappear, quite literally, in the blink of an eye."

 

Here's what they look like:

 

 

I believe it is eating my fire cracker zoos & maxima clam as I find the tips of the zoos gone & the clam is shriveling up . I also find the same mucus membrane on the zoos & clam as the worm leaves around it's body when it is out scavenging. It's at least 1' long & the diameter of a pencil.

Any idea how to get rid of it short of disassembing my tank rockwork?

[flowerseller]

Tie a piece of shrimp to a small rock leaving a long sting to the top of the tank and put it on the sand bed. Turn out the lights in the tank and in the room. Get a pair of long hemostats and check the shrimp occasionally and pull worm out with them. **

 

Take freshly caught worm and drop into a bottle of tequila and mail to guy that stole one of your girlfriends years ago, with your compliments of course. **

 

** TIPs:

Do not touch the worm bare handed.

Do not include your return address on the mailing, let it be a suprise!

 

Sit back, relax, the worm is gone but is not yet done. Read the Washington Post Metro Section the weekend after your mailing for the results of your handy work.

You have then shared your aquarium experiences, even with an old aquaintience.

 

Mooohahahahahaha

 

If this does not work, I may be willing to make a trap big enough as long as you have tried ALL of the above.

[Jarosh]

I received one of these little bueaties with my 90 gal tank. I've seen it stalking snails and even attack a few. So far I haven't seen any coral damage, but it is slowly outstaying its welcome.