ID Coral Eating Rock Worm

[tak]

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to ID this worm. It's pale gray in color and about 1mm in diameter.

It lives in holes in the live rock. They come out at night or when they smell food. It never fully leaves it's hole, but it can stretch out at least 2". Sometimes they grab pieces of sand to extend their holes. I have never seen one actually living in the sand; they seem to only live in holes in the rock. They are very fast to retract when you try to catch them.

I watched one eating my torch coral. It was living in near the base of the skeleton and extending up to bite the edge of the torch coral tissue. I also suspect they have attacked some of my zoa colonies, but I haven't caught them in the act yet.

I've searched a variety of critter and worm ID guides, but I cannot find this thing. I'd like to eradicate them if possible.

Picture 1: This is the head that you usually see sticking out about 1/4" from it's rock hole
Picture 2: This is the worm sticking out about 1" from the rock. It smells the pellet I put out there to bait it. Note the tweezers above it.
Picture 3: I caught this one with tweezers and pulled it out. It's about 3" in total length.

Thanks,
Tak

 

[Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef]

following

 

[KJ]

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to ID this worm. It's pale gray in color and about 1mm in diameter.

It lives in holes in the live rock. They come out at night or when they smell food. It never fully leaves it's hole, but it can stretch out at least 2". Sometimes they grab pieces of sand to extend their holes. I have never seen one actually living in the sand; they seem to only live in holes in the rock. They are very fast to retract when you try to catch them.

I watched one eating my torch coral. It was living in near the base of the skeleton and extending up to bite the edge of the torch coral tissue. I also suspect they have attacked some of my zoa colonies, but I haven't caught them in the act yet.

I've searched a variety of critter and worm ID guides, but I cannot find this thing. I'd like to eradicate them if possible.

Picture 1: This is the head that you usually see sticking out about 1/4" from it's rock hole
Picture 2: This is the worm sticking out about 1" from the rock. It smells the pellet I put out there to bait it. Note the tweezers above it.
Picture 3: I caught this one with tweezers and pulled it out. It's about 3" in total length.

Thanks,
Tak

Welcome to R2R!!!

Syllidae - Google Search

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[tak]

Thanks.

Any recommendation for a dip? Hunting them one by one would be tough.

 

[tak]

I've previously dipped with Coral RX, but it had no effect on these worms.