fireworm OUCH!!!

turbo21 · Jan 21, 2012

I have been trying to get this guy out for a while and was unsure what we was. when i snatched him up it felt like 30 bees stung my finger and also had to spend a while pulling out all the bristles. what do you think
fireworm?
frag disk for size reference
bob

reefpaddy · Jan 21, 2012

Ouch indeed! Good sump addition if you have one.

boehm742 · Jan 21, 2012

It is! I hate them! .....I enjoy putting my hands in my tank without having to worry about those boogers now that all of mine are gone.

reefpeeper · Jan 21, 2012

dude. i was in cancun snorkling and lifted up a rock with one under it. this thing was like 4 times bigger than that. my buddy decided to pick it up and it never stung him. pretty amazing that nothing happened. he knew nothing about what could have happened. just thought i would tell the story. lol

turbo21 · Jan 23, 2012

I saw another one I have to get out is There any other worries about having them in a reef. Besides getting stung?

H2O · Jan 23, 2012

Yes messing around with live rock with no gloves on is a scarry thing for me last year I got a tinny cut on my finger that was itching like creazy I thought it was the salt water next day woke up with a hand as big as my head .. ran all the red lights all the way to the emergency room thought I was gonna loose my arm ..

Connie · Jan 23, 2012

boehm742 said:
It is! I hate them! .....I enjoy putting my hands in my tank without having to worry about those boogers now that all of mine are gone.

How did you get rid of them?

cdness · Jan 23, 2012

Looks like a bristle to me, but could be a fireworm... They are nasty for sure. I had one about 6 inches long fall out of a rock I cut in half when fragging and I almost freaked. I was picking stingers out of my hand for a few days. I hate them, but they are great detrivores and help keep the tank clean so I'll just deal with them.

wrasseluver · Jan 23, 2012

It's a bristle worm. A fire would eat any coral in the tank. They both sting but the fire is worst out of the two.

turbo21 · Jan 23, 2012

I dont mind the bristle worms as i have tons of them everywhere. But seeing this guy eye up some lps frags on the sandbed made me dig him out. I have gotten the nailed by bristleworms befor and it was just irratating to pull the spikes out, but this guy stung horribly just as described like getting attacked by hornets

the folks on RC believe it to be a fire worm he was a s thick as my pinkie

Fireworm....OUCH - Reef Central Online Community

bob

wrasseluver · Jan 23, 2012

This may help.

Worm Hitch Hikers

shred5 · Jan 23, 2012

That’s not a fire worm but looks like a bristle worm. The bristle hurt but are not poisonous. To get them out use some tape on them. That one is most likely beneficial and looks allot like one that was with me for many years, he actually ate algae.

turbo21 · Jan 23, 2012

shred5 said:
That’s not a fire worm but looks like a bristle worm. The bristle hurt but are not poisonous. To get them out use some tape on them. That one is most likely beneficial and looks allot like one that was with me for many years, he actually ate algae.

i dont know, looking at the link above, i still say fireworm. i have never felt the pain like that from bristleworm spikes

bob

shred5 · Jan 23, 2012

Most id sites list bristle worms as fire worms .. But its the opposite, fire worms are bristle worms and are really both common names and mean nothing . Fire worms are usually fuzzy or fury looking. Could it be possibly? maybe but I doubt it. There are actually more than one fire worm too.

ReeferBean · Jan 23, 2012

turbo21 said:
I dont mind the bristle worms as i have tons of them everywhere. But seeing this guy eye up some lps frags on the sandbed made me dig him out. I have gotten the nailed by bristleworms befor and it was just irratating to pull the spikes out, but this guy stung horribly just as described like getting attacked by hornets

the folks on RC believe it to be a fire worm he was a s thick as my pinkie

Fireworm....OUCH - Reef Central Online Community

bob

I've gotten nabbed a few times as well. They are good cuc members but the large ones get pulled out if I see them for this reason. It hurts! I pulled one out that was at least a foot long and as thick as a pinky. It was definitely two toned like most bristle worms we get in our live rock just ginormous.

aznnutty · Jan 24, 2012

I have tons of those. Bristle worms. Here's a trick I learned while dealing with splitters. Apply a coat of glue on affected, let dry completely then slowly peel off the glue. It will pull off a layer of dead skin along with all the bristles.

Paul_N · Jan 24, 2012

I had tons of those in my tank. Size has no bearing on if it is a bristle or fireworm. A fireworm is red in the middle with white around the edges. I always removed the big bristle worms also. If they do not have enough to eat they will boldly try to take food out of the mouth of lps. They will eat anything dead or dying. Majority of the time someone says a bristleworm ate a snail or something else it was was more than likely dying already.