Good or bad worm

[Danny G]

I was moving some coral to a new tank that I got cycled and dipping anything I placed into it from my old tank. Found my cat chasing something on the floor and turned out to be a 2” worm. Picked it up and threw it in a cup to see what it was. Anyone know what type of bristle worm this is? Worried that it is a harmful species and having more in my old tank. I cannot believe this thing was crawling around on my floor. It must have dripped off one of my corals when I was walking over to place it into the dip.. still creeps me out. I am worried about it being a Oenone Fulgida.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was moving some coral to a new tank that I got cycled and dipping anything I placed into it from my old tank. Found my cat chasing something on the floor and turned out to be a 2” worm. Picked it up and threw it in a cup to see what it was. Anyone know what type of bristle worm this is? Worried that it is a harmful species and having more in my old tank. I cannot believe this thing was crawling around on my floor. It must have dripped off one of my corals when I was walking over to place it into the dip.. still creeps me out. I am worried about it being a Oenone Fulgida.

I believe eunicid as dorvillidae has 2 antennae. Eunicid needs to go- not a keeper

 

[sculpin01]

Eunicids have 5 antennae. This is probably something else, possibly a syllid.

 

[Danny G]

I was thinking a syllid as well. Should I be worried about them? This one has been removed but not sure if it’s something that reproduces rapidly in the tank or not.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sillidae have more than 5 but IF it is sillidae, they are capable of piercing skin of snails, worms and other inverts and feeding off the juices from their bodies - Eliminate it

 

[Danny G]

Oh yeah I eliminated the worm. Should I be worried about more in the tank? I have no issues with snails/coral dyeing off in the tank and nothing looks irritated at all. No idea how long that one was in the tank for.. am a bit worried about it mass breading or something like that and then becoming a major issue.

 

[sculpin01]

They are generalist feeders leaning towards herbivory and detrivory from what I read. So I personally would have left it in the tank.