Please help me ID this worm.

Tim Rudisill · Apr 29, 2019

Hi guys! So, I have a worm. I'm unsure if it's good or bad. I'm assuming bad. I've heard from my LFS (based on a really bad picture) that it's bad, but he was actually having to guess at what color it was. I just took a couple of quick videos today and snapped a couple of much better pictures.

Why do I think it's bad? Well, I recently had a coral die. The first time I saw this worm, he was right beside that same coral. It could have been something else but I've not identified anything else that might have done it.

Then again, my research is saying that it's a peanut worm and those are good. So I'm torn and unsure.

I've uploaded 2 photos and here's a link to a video: I feel the video is the best of them as it gives pretty good detail.

Hemmdog · Apr 29, 2019

I agree with you with the peanut worm guess, but you never know..lol

Lovemyreef2015 · Apr 29, 2019

The pictures are hard to make out. But I believe what I'm seeing is a peanut worm. They are good guys. Pictures for reference.

Tim Rudisill · Apr 29, 2019

The video is pretty good and gives a decent view.

Oh!

So, it was coming out and feeding while the lights were full blast. I heard peanut worms came out during the night? And I am nervous about the fact that I lost one coral and very soon after was the first time I saw this little guy. Nothing new's been introduced to this tank in 3 months, so he's been around for a while.

reef lover · Apr 30, 2019

+1 peanut worm

Tim Rudisill · May 2, 2019

Do Peanut Worms eat coral? So... a couple of weeks ago I lost one of my coral. Now, one of my coral that had 4 heads has 3 of them dead. And they were both in the immediate vicinity of where that worm is at.

I've already decided that worm has to go. It seems like the most likely culprit, it's just so darned fast. I've tried catching him with tweezers but he dodges it before I can fully close the tweezers. Literally he was once inside the tweezers and all I had to do was close it a tiny distance. I... failed to catch him. Dude is super fast.

Any tips for catching it? I already know he has a taste for coral but I'm not wanting to use them as bait.

Lovemyreef2015 · May 2, 2019

Tim Rudisill said:
Do Peanut Worms eat coral? So... a couple of weeks ago I lost one of my coral. Now, one of my coral that had 4 heads has 3 of them dead. And they were both in the immediate vicinity of where that worm is at.

I've already decided that worm has to go. It seems like the most likely culprit, it's just so darned fast. I've tried catching him with tweezers but he dodges it before I can fully close the tweezers. Literally he was once inside the tweezers and all I had to do was close it a tiny distance. I... failed to catch him. Dude is super fast.

Any tips for catching it? I already know he has a taste for coral but I'm not wanting to use them as bait.

No peanut worms don't eat coral. It has to be something else going on.

Tim Rudisill · May 2, 2019

Okay, one other theory. But let me just say everything I have in this reef tank atm:

Lots of snails (a few nassarius and a lot of the small ones that climb on the glass). One turbo snail.
Several red-legged crabs.
3 peppermint shrimp.
1 cleaner shrimp.

Now... I did see a peppermint shrimp picking at a coral. I assumed it was because that coral was dead so it was scavenging. Now... I'm unsure. If that worm IS a peanut worm, then the only other option I can see is a peppermint shrimp. Honestly, one of those peppermint shrimps is a jerk so I was just going to remove all 3 from the tank anyway. The trick is catching them. But... one of the shrimp loves to go up to the snails and knock them off the glass. Not to feed, mind you, just to do it. He's frequently going around and testing the snails to see if they can defend themselves. He's just a bit of a jerk.

Back in January, I lost most of my fish to Ich. (I hadn't replaced them as I wanted to wait a while to make sure the Ich was out of the tank.) Except one. One was doing VERY well. He was my little trooper. But... a couple of months back he just... never appeared again. I had no idea why. My theory is now that the jerk shrimp was messing with the fish at night and stressing them out while they were trying to sleep. Plus... I screwed up a water change and stressed them out some more, though this was long before the last fish died, so it's not a factor for him. (I've learned from that mistake.) So, you can see why I'm trying to catch the peppermint shrimp to get them out of the tank.

Could it be something else? Sure... but man, most of my coral are doing VERY well. One even molted and grew, others are just getting much bigger. My water parameters are all good (at least the ones I can test for), so I don't feel that it's an issue with the water.

So, that leads me to 2 possible culprits: that dang worm which I never saw before that first coral died and a rogue peppermint shrimp. I suppose it could be either; I just want the corals to stop being food. If it matters: the two that were eaten were similar types... I think. I don't know the names of the different coral, but I can tell you that they looked similar.