anyone know what a fireworm really looks like?

[Zoa_Fanatic]

That’s 100% a fireworm. There are tons of species of fireworm but regular bristle worms don’t have the red lining around the bristles like that and won’t be as flat as those worms. I would dump those things straight into the toilet.

 

[PicassoClown04]

That’s 100% a fireworm. There are tons of species of fireworm but regular bristle worms don’t have the red lining around the bristles like that and won’t be as flat as those worms. I would dump those things straight into the toilet.

Totally agree. Those are definitely fireworms and they would be fed to my shrimp if I got ahold of them like that

 

[DeniseAndy]

Just do not touch them. OUCH!

I got hit by one in my tank and boy, there is a huge difference to bristleworms. Bristleworms are irritating and a bit itchy, run under some water and good to go. Fireworms, dang, my finger swelled up for a week plus, then the skin sloughed away. Nasty.

 

[king aiptasia]

That’s 100% a fireworm. There are tons of species of fireworm but regular bristle worms don’t have the red lining around the bristles like that and won’t be as flat as those worms. I would dump those things straight into the toilet.

even beneficial bristleworms can give you burning stings which is why fireworm is not a proper term for distinguishing these animals in the hobby, I can't say for certain if or if no other Amphinomidae have red tissue on the flanks with black to blue backs but I can say my hairs are turning grey one by one as I try to learn it, but the implication I'm being lead to is that it may not be entirely unique to H. carunculata. The comb is very unique though and in this shape is not shared by the rest

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

even beneficial bristleworms can give you burning stings which is why fireworm is not a proper term for distinguishing these animals in the hobby, I can't say for certain if or if no other Amphinomidae have red tissue on the flanks with black to blue backs but I can say my hairs are turning grey one by one as I try to learn it, but the implication I'm being lead to is that it may not be entirely unique to H. carunculata. The comb is very unique though and in this shape is not shared by the rest

I’ve always aired on the side of caution. It may just be a bristle worm but until you can prove to me 100% it doesn’t eat any of my prized coral I say set phasers to “kill it with fire!”

 

[king aiptasia]

I really am led to believe even from the beginning that OP probably has the bearded fireworm, but I'm also in desperate need of first hand data, because I'm not entirely convinced that everything accused of being the bearded beast is the bearded beast. And in light of data I've received this last week, im not quite as sure the bearded fireworm is quite the devil we all are led to believe he is. Yes he can be a killer of slow moving creatures, yes he eats a couple species of corals, but recently ive been reading several once accepted species of Hermodice in technical literature have been consolidated, but I am suspicious that they are not necessarily all coral eaters, some populations in the wild don't seem to destroy corals all that much while being ferocious consumers of grazing echinoderms.

I’ve always aired on the side of caution. It may just be a bristle worm but until you can prove to me 100% it doesn’t eat any of my prized coral I say set phasers to “kill it with fire!”

I'm trying to get more reefers to refer to them less as bristle worms and more as polychaetes. Some more technical literacy will help us not sentence boatloads of innocent animals to cruel wasteful deaths due to arbitrary and ill defined names

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I really am led to believe even from the beginning that OP probably has the bearded fireworm, but I'm also in desperate need of first hand data, because I'm not entirely convinced that everything accused of being the bearded beast is the bearded beast. And in light of data I've received this last week, im not quite as sure the bearded fireworm is quite the devil we all are led to believe he is. Yes he can be a killer of slow moving creatures, yes he eats a couple species of corals, but recently ive been reading several once accepted species of Hermodice in technical literature have been consolidated, but I am suspicious that they are not necessarily all coral eaters, some populations in the wild don't seem to destroy corals all that much while being ferocious consumers of grazing echinoderms.

I'm trying to get more reefers to refer to them less as bristle worms and more as polychaetes. Some more technical literacy will help us not sentence boatloads of innocent animals to cruel wasteful deaths due to arbitrary and ill defined names

I get not wanting to senselessly kill animals. For me that does not apply to bristle worms and other “hitchhikers” that are not necessarily wanted in a reef aquarium. If there’s someone near me that wants them I’ll gladly give them up freely but I won’t keep anything that may be harmful just for it’s own sake.

 

[king aiptasia]

I get not wanting to senselessly kill animals. For me that does not apply to bristle worms and other “hitchhikers” that are not necessarily wanted in a reef aquarium. If there’s someone near me that wants them I’ll gladly give them up freely but I won’t keep anything that may be harmful just for it’s own sake.

do ya live near jersey? I always got room for homeless worms