Fireworm ID. Good or bad?

[alfieh0]

Noticed this guy in my 75 gallon today. I have bristle worms but this guy seems a little different.

I think it’s as fireworm (Eurythoe complanata).
I just wanted to get a second option on the type of worm this is, just to make sure.
Also if I’m a correct is this guy bad for the tank, or is it okay to stay?

 

[JGT]

Looks like a fireworm. Flush ‘em.

 

[alfieh0]

Looks like a fireworm. Flush ‘em.

Thanks for the reply, I guess my suspicions were right.
What’s so bad about them anyway?

 

[JGT]

They will eat corals. I’ve seen it first hand. Not to mention you don’t want to accidentally get stuck by him.

 

[Fishy888]

That one is just a harmless bristle worm. If it had white bristles and a red body that would be trouble.

 

[Fishy888]

Forgot to mention I probably have 10 give or take in my system. They are awesome cleaners. Not so much as a xenia polyp touched.

 

[alfieh0]

They will eat corals. I’ve seen it first hand. Not to mention you don’t want to accidentally get stuck by him.

Oh great. I’ll have to do a bit of research on how to remove them. Thanks.

 

[JGT]

Tweezers work well. Just don’t grip too hard if you cut them in half they grow into 2.

 

[alfieh0]

That one is just a harmless bristle worm. If it had white bristles and a red body that would be trouble.

Thanks for the reply. I do have another type of bristle worm in the tank, as this one is definitely different to my usual ones.

That one is just a harmless bristle worm. If it had white bristles and a red body that would be trouble.

Thanks for the reply. Hopfully is nothing serious, as it looks completely different to my normal bristle I have.

 

[JGT]

It’s a little hard to see out if the water but I feel like I see the white thick bristles. Their bodies can be red or grey or a mixture which this one has. When in doubt, toss it out.

 

[alfieh0]

Tweezers work well. Just don’t grip too hard if you cut them in half they grow in

It’s a little hard to see out if the water but I feel like I see the white thick bristles. Their bodies can be red or grey or a mixture which this one has. When in doubt, toss it out.

Yeah I definitely does have the white bristles, just harder to see in this photo.
I might try a trap tonight, to see what the population might be like and hopefully compare it will my normal bristle worms.

 

[WheatToast]

Looks like Pherecardia striata, the lined fireworm.
Chuck's Addiction says it’s a harmless scavenger, and I have not directly witnessed them harming anything in my tank, but they are reported to consume other worms, fish eggs, and sea stars like the crown of thorns (Acanthaster planci). I have a feeling they are eating my micro brittle stars. Online sources say they grow upwards of 8 inches long.

See pic-
Left is fire and right is common bristle

Edit: Looking at Google Images, variations of Pherecardia striata, and Eurythoe complanata appear near identical to each other which may be misidentifications, but I am not sure.

 

[alfieh0]

Thanks for this, very helpful. It definitely is a fireworm I think.
I will probably just remove them if I see them, and hopefully they don’t cause any problems.

 

[Bananas for the Soul]

Am I correct to think this is a fire worm, or is it simply a common bristle worm? I’ve looked at countless images and I can’t make up my mind. It’s about 8” and I didn’t even know I had it. I saw a smaller one a couple of weeks ago and reminded myself to watch out when moving rocks. I’m working from home today and had all the lights in the kitchen off, but my living room lamp was on, providing a bit of light. I walked over to turn the light on my Evo 13.5 gal on. This guy was just hanging out, doing who knows what.



Three days ago, my mandarin was super lethargic and just wasn’t her cute little self flittering around eating her little copepods. Thankfully she’s back to herself now, but I’m wondering if maybe she had an encounter with this thing. Thankfully I had the tweezers right by the aquarium, and I was able to quickly and quietly grab him before he could get away. I had just removed a big rock last night to give to my lfs, so I already had a good place to put him. I tossed him in with that and sealed it up. I was shaking like crazy!



I DON’T like scary things. My pistol shrimp has also been snapping a lot today, so now I’m wondering if it had been bothering him, as well. After seeing the size of this thing, I’m wondering how many more might be lurking in my rocks. I really want to be sure on my identification so I know how to manage the situation. I definitely don’t want ones that gigantic in there. Do I need to worry about the others I have yet to see?

 

[Bananas for the Soul]

This is the one I saw on Oct. 18th. Pardon the dirty glass. The red spots are actually on the glass, not the worm. I’ve cleaned it up since I took these photos.

 

[Dave1993]

Am I correct to think this is a fire worm, or is it simply a common bristle worm? I’ve looked at countless images and I can’t make up my mind. It’s about 8” and I didn’t even know I had it. I saw a smaller one a couple of weeks ago and reminded myself to watch out when moving rocks. I’m working from home today and had all the lights in the kitchen off, but my living room lamp was on, providing a bit of light. I walked over to turn the light on my Evo 13.5 gal on. This guy was just hanging out, doing who knows what.



Three days ago, my mandarin was super lethargic and just wasn’t her cute little self flittering around eating her little copepods. Thankfully she’s back to herself now, but I’m wondering if maybe she had an encounter with this thing. Thankfully I had the tweezers right by the aquarium, and I was able to quickly and quietly grab him before he could get away. I had just removed a big rock last night to give to my lfs, so I already had a good place to put him. I tossed him in with that and sealed it up. I was shaking like crazy!



I DON’T like scary things. My pistol shrimp has also been snapping a lot today, so now I’m wondering if it had been bothering him, as well. After seeing the size of this thing, I’m wondering how many more might be lurking in my rocks. I really want to be sure on my identification so I know how to manage the situation. I definitely don’t want ones that gigantic in there. Do I need to worry about the others I have yet to see?

FIRE

 

[alfieh0]

Am I correct to think this is a fire worm, or is it simply a common bristle worm? I’ve looked at countless images and I can’t make up my mind. It’s about 8” and I didn’t even know I had it. I saw a smaller one a couple of weeks ago and reminded myself to watch out when moving rocks. I’m working from home today and had all the lights in the kitchen off, but my living room lamp was on, providing a bit of light. I walked over to turn the light on my Evo 13.5 gal on. This guy was just hanging out, doing who knows what.



Three days ago, my mandarin was super lethargic and just wasn’t her cute little self flittering around eating her little copepods. Thankfully she’s back to herself now, but I’m wondering if maybe she had an encounter with this thing. Thankfully I had the tweezers right by the aquarium, and I was able to quickly and quietly grab him before he could get away. I had just removed a big rock last night to give to my lfs, so I already had a good place to put him. I tossed him in with that and sealed it up. I was shaking like crazy!



I DON’T like scary things. My pistol shrimp has also been snapping a lot today, so now I’m wondering if it had been bothering him, as well. After seeing the size of this thing, I’m wondering how many more might be lurking in my rocks. I really want to be sure on my identification so I know how to manage the situation. I definitely don’t want ones that gigantic in there. Do I need to worry about the others I have yet to see?

Am I correct to think this is a fire worm, or is it simply a common bristle worm? I’ve looked at countless images and I can’t make up my mind. It’s about 8” and I didn’t even know I had it. I saw a smaller one a couple of weeks ago and reminded myself to watch out when moving rocks. I’m working from home today and had all the lights in the kitchen off, but my living room lamp was on, providing a bit of light. I walked over to turn the light on my Evo 13.5 gal on. This guy was just hanging out, doing who knows what.



Three days ago, my mandarin was super lethargic and just wasn’t her cute little self flittering around eating her little copepods. Thankfully she’s back to herself now, but I’m wondering if maybe she had an encounter with this thing. Thankfully I had the tweezers right by the aquarium, and I was able to quickly and quietly grab him before he could get away. I had just removed a big rock last night to give to my lfs, so I already had a good place to put him. I tossed him in with that and sealed it up. I was shaking like crazy!



I DON’T like scary things. My pistol shrimp has also been snapping a lot today, so now I’m wondering if it had been bothering him, as well. After seeing the size of this thing, I’m wondering how many more might be lurking in my rocks. I really want to be sure on my identification so I know how to manage the situation. I definitely don’t want ones that gigantic in there. Do I need to worry about the others I have yet to see?

That thing is huge! Unfortunately it does seem like a fireworm to me, I don’t think common bristle works get that big anyway.

I’m still dealing with my fire worm problem, manual removal is what I’ve been doing to keep numbers I check. But for every one you see there are others still hiding.
If your able to get a predator, that’s what I would recommend to get rid of the smaller hard to get ones.

 

[Bananas for the Soul]

Thank y’all for the quick reply. Y’all have confirmed my fears. I’m still wondering how I have never seen any signs of them until this beast.

So, now for my next problem related to the monster; as I mentioned, Tangerine (my mandarin), was out of sorts a couple of days ago. She recovered, but as I was just inspecting my tank for more of those things, she swam over to me, as she always does, and I noticed that her eye was messed up. I don’t think it’s pop eye, rather trauma. The trauma thing makes sense due to the fire worm issue. Should I be concerned? I don’t like to play favorites, but she has an amazing personality and all the other fish (yellow watchman, tomato clown, Nemo clown) treat her so sweetly. Even when she gets too close to Potato (pistol shrimp), Banana (ywg) is gentle in the way he lets her know she’s getting too close. It’s almost like she’s everyone’s little sister. She’s my favorite, I admit. I don’t think I’d be willing to spend a small fortune on her otherwise. Lol! But, back to my question, should I be concerned? She’s kinda bumping into the rocks on her right side, but she’s behaving normally aside from that. I don’t have a QT to move her to, besides, even if I did, she wouldn’t eat. She’s solely a live copepod feeder. What should I do? If I need to post in a different forum, I don’t mind.

 

[Bananas for the Soul]

Also, what do I do with the fire worms once I catch them, especially this one? I don’t like them, but I don’t like any living thing to hurt, assuming worms hurt.

 

[Fishy888]

The second worm appears to be a normal, good to have bristle worm. That first one looks like nothing but trouble. Get it out asap. If you see it all the way out get plastic tongs and grab it. If not make a trap for it. Either way get the fire worm out!