Found a weird worm and wasn't sure if it was safe.

[EEshem]

Caught this in my tank and there are quite a few of them and wasn't sure if they would hurt my coral.

 

[Gtinnel]

It's a bristleworm. It's hard to tell from the image but I don't think it is a fireworm. Many people remove bristle worms but in my opinion they're part of the CUC and not an issue.

 

[EEshem]

That is what I was hopping they hide most of the time but if I feed they might pop there head out and pull some food into the rocks they hide in. I never really seen them fully out had to fight to get that one out even at night they seem to still hide and I have seen them close and touching my coral but they don't seem to be hurting them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

+1 on bristle worm
Not welcome in any of my tanks but nor is it harmful

 

[Gtinnel]

When I feed reef roids to my corals bristleworms seem to come out of every little hole in my rocks, but otherwise I don't normally see them. It's amazing to me how much life can be hiding in our tanks.

 

[EEshem]

When I feed reef roids to my corals bristleworms seem to come out of every little hole in my rocks, but otherwise I don't normally see them. It's amazing to me how much life can be hiding in our tanks.

Yeah that is when I see them the most I also spot feed reef roid

 

[EEshem]

Here is a better picture

 

[Gtinnel]

Those pictures are better and they don't look like my bristleworms. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will verify but I think the browner one is a fireworm. As far a as I know you can tell because a fireworm will have the white bristles and then near the bristles they will have another set of what looks like different colored bristles near them. The other set is actually gills, which I think is the brownish/red fuzzy line down each side of it.
The lighter colored one I'm not sure about.

 

[king aiptasia]

Those pictures are better and they don't look like my bristleworms. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will verify but I think the browner one is a fireworm. As far a as I know you can tell because a fireworm will have the white bristles and then near the bristles they will have another set of what looks like different colored bristles near them. The other set is actually gills, which I think is the brownish/red fuzzy line down each side of it.
The lighter colored one I'm not sure about.

i'm quite good at identifying Hermodice carunculata and i can say its very rarely encountered hitchhiking, there is no examples of the animal in this thread. all animals in the thread are the harmless and beneficial Eurythoe

 

[Gtinnel]

i'm quite good at identifying Hermodice carunculata and i can say its very rarely encountered hitchhiking, there is no examples of the animal in this thread. all animals in the thread are the harmless and beneficial Eurythoe

So from googling it, Eurythoe is a type of firworm, just not the bad type? Also if you can't go by the gill structures to determine if it is a bearded fireworm, then what about it can you use to determine the type that it is?

 

[John08007]

Bristle worm, don't handle it with bare hands. You can get little bristles in your skin. They eat detritus, some people consider them a pest but they are a great part of your cleanup crew.

 

[king aiptasia]

So from googling it, Eurythoe is a type of firworm, just not the bad type? Also if you can't go by the gill structures to determine if it is a bearded fireworm, then what about it can you use to determine the type that it is?

fireworm is not a proper name for anything, it's a catch all term for spiny polychaetes. and a common nickname for Hermodice carunculata when in reef forums. hermodice tends to have blue backs and wery bold colors on the flanks, Another identification key i dont talk about much is the mouth size, hermodice has a gaping mouth under a close inspection.

you do need to get fairly close shots of the animals head to see the appendage otherwise theres no solid identification.

I did not see this post when i first commented op, mind getting a closer shot of the animals head

Here is a better picture