10-inch eunice hitch hiker

[Charlie the Reefer]

Hey guys...

So.. I'm 29, and used to be in this hobby when I was in middle/ high school for a few years. I had a reef tank for maybe 4 years back then... Had a decent amount of coral / livestock. Then things just started dying. Coral would look like it had chunks eaten out of it. Fish would show up in the morning ripped in half. Eventually we found out there was a 15 inch fat bobbit worm terrorizing everything in the tank. We had to take down the whole tank, taking each rock out and then crushing the last rock it hid in to get it out.

Holy sh** if there is anything this experience taught me its the importance of knowing what goes into your tank and taking good precautions...

So... Now a decade later getting back into the hobby I'm taking all the precautions. And I was just looking into my only 6 month old 30 gallon tank and I noticed of course... A near 10 inch eunice and I near crap my pants. Here's what I've added to this tank so far:

Chaeto/Copepods from Algaebarn
small CUC from Reefcleaners
Couple clownfish from the LFS
Caribsea live sand

So.... My question is... what the heck did it hitch hike in? I feel like there's no way it was the Chaeto. First it comes from Algaebarn which is a pretty reputable place. Also I scrutinized the chaeto, not much place it could have hid in there.

Second could have came from inverts on an egg or something. But IDK how it could have grown that fast from an egg.

Third possibility is it came in the sand from caribsea. I'm thinking this is the likely culprit - but I've looked around and all I've found are "there's no way a worm could survive in there without oxygen etc"....

What do you guys think!??! It's important for me to know the answer, to take precautions in setting up new systems and adding livestock.....

 

[EricGRIT09]

I agree that it would be highly unlikely (impossible?) for a worm to come in on the packaged sand. From there, I'd say more likely that it came in the ReefCleaners package (as much as I love this vendor, good stuff) especially because you looked over the chaeto really well. I'm not sure what ReefCleaners capture/farming/breeding method is but I'd imagine there's a significant portion that comes from the wild at regular intervals. Plus many of these creatures live/hide/sleep in the sand so there's a good chance a worm gets scooped up. EDIT: To be clear I'm with you, not really sure about any of this. This is just my best very uneducated guess

Also, you've got some crazy luck - I've had three tanks and never had a Eunice Worm (as far as I know, I guess). Ew.

 

[Bucs20fan]

I was reading your build thread, And you said you added two rocks from your old system to seed the bio filter. Did you start with dry rock in your 30g? Do you have any corals in the 30g?

 

[Wasabiroot]

Maybe it's the first ones descendant....

Reef Terror 2: Return of the Worm

It had to be the sand. I agree - you'd see it anywhere else. Perhaps the burrow was scooped up when the sand was packaged. If so that is just some garbage luck.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

I was reading your build thread, And you said you added two rocks from your old system to seed the bio filter. Did you start with dry rock in your 30g? Do you have any corals in the 30g?

Correct - I started with dry rock in my 30g. I also started with dry rock in my new 125g.

The small rocks I seeded with I placed in a tub for 7 days to observe if any pests or anything were in them. I didn't see anything so I assumed I was in the clear.