Small eunicid, Sylliad worm eating SPS? (With Videos)

[JordanM]

I started a thread over here to which everyone thought my fish were eating the SPS.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/should-i-be-worried-sps-bite-marks-on-edges.567711/#post-5810802

I was able to seclude one of these worms into a beaker to get a closer look at it today and hopefully an ID. I am pretty sure these are what are drilling into my SPS. There are many in my tank right now. I will hopefully be able to get a look at this under a microscope/ dissecting scope soon to see it in a little closer detail but this is what it looks like in the smaller, zoomed in portion of a magnifying glass. Can someone please try to identify what this worm is?:
Here is one in the tank hiding under a suction cup:
I have two yellow Corris Wrasse currently in QT. So far the SPS that i have noticed getting bit were a blue stag twice now (video in other link), ORA spongodes and ARC Patrick Star. Interestingly one is a stag, one is a montipora and one is an Acro so there is no preference.

On another topic i have noticed two hermit shells with a worm in them and a white sheath in the frag tank. They put a white tube out of this sheath and wave it around every now and then. This looks like a different kind of worm then the first ones though. Here is one in the shell:
I broke the shell open and this is what it looks like, you can see the whip type appendage:
All of these worms are about the same size and i have not saw a bigger one yet. I dip every coral that comes in in Flatworm Exit, Bayer and CoralRx, so whatever these are have made it through that. They may have possibly been eggs at the time of dipping and thats how they made it in im not sure.

 

[JordanM]

#Reefsquad I need your help on this one.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

First video looks like a dorvilleidae worm. Hard to get a good look though.

 

[JordanM]

First video looks like a dorvilleidae worm. Hard to get a good look though.

Hmm you may be correct. So this is a species of bristle worm but they just stay smaller and from what I read are reef safe? This still does not tell me what ate these SPS. At this point I am actually hoping it was the fox face as I can deal with that but a worm infestation like eunicid or sylliad that you cant treat would be the end of my tank. Lots of high end SPS homewrecker, solar flare, WD.

If i can get my hands on a microscope that would be alot easier to ID these.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Second video looks like a small ribbon worm maybe. It is really small so I could be wrong. @KJ

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Hmm you may be correct. So this is a species of bristle worm but they just stay smaller and from what I read are reef safe? This still does not tell me what ate these SPS. At this point I am actually hoping it was the fox face as I can deal with that but a worm infestation like eunicid or sylliad that you cant treat would be the end of my tank. Lots of high end SPS homewrecker, solar flare, WD.

If i can get my hands on a microscope that would be alot easier to ID these.

Yes they are safe.

 

[JordanM]

Thank you @Lovemyreef2015 I was always googling bristle worms which looked nothing like what I have. Here is a good discussion on dorvilleidae worms if anyone else stumbles across this:
https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/146105-is-this-a-bristleworm/
What through me is these are only 3mm long instead of the large bristle worms we are used to.
It looks like @Wiz has ID'd these before as well.

 

[JordanM]

Second video looks like a small ribbon worm maybe. It is really small so I could be wrong.

Any info on the yellow ribbon worm? Did a quick google search and it does not look like there is any info on them. Are they safe as well?

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Any info on the yellow ribbon worm? Did a quick google search and it does not look like there is any info on them. Are they safe as well?

Most ribbon worms are carnivorous they will feed on small invertebrates like crustaceans and annelids, but some feed on the eggs of other invertebrates. You're welcome

 

[JordanM]

@Lovemyreef2015 Hopefully I can get a positive ID on this now? I got some awesome photos and videos of both of these. I cant post the videos yet as ive reached my limit on vimeo. Here are the photos under the dissecting scope of the ribbon worm?

and dorvilleidae worm?

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

@Lovemyreef2015 Hopefully I can get a positive ID on this now? I got some awesome photos and videos of both of these. I cant post the videos yet as ive reached my limit on vimeo. Here are the photos under the dissecting scope of the ribbon worm?

and dorvilleidae worm?

Last three pictures are dorvilleidae worms. Let me do some searching for the one in the first picture.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

I'm thinking the first picture is a spionid/chaetopterid worm that is out of their tube.

 

[JordanM]

I'm thinking the first picture is a spionid/chaetopterid worm that is out of their tube.

Thank you! You are accurate on IDing both of these. I guess that makes since, since I did remove it from the hermit shell it was inhabiting.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Thank you! You are accurate on IDing both of these. I guess that makes since, since I did remove it from the hermit shell it was inhabiting.

You're welcome.

 

[Jamesmost]

Hm.mmmmm
Think I Need a dissecting microscope

 

[JordanM]

Hm.mmmmm
Think I Need a dissecting microscope

It was great to use it for this! Makes me think what else I can look at under it. I did check out some pods as well.

 

[JordanM]

@Lovemyreef2015 I need your help again. I was able to catch one of these creatures in the act of eating my war coral. You can see where the bottom edge of the coral has been ate.

This happened ate night, about an hour after the lights went off. I was able to suck this worm off and place it into a glass to view it under the microscope and this is what it looks like. I also have video that I will post later. What do you think this is eating my corals?

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

I'm going to do some searching on this one. Can you try and move it to get a better picture of the head? I'm going to tag @KJ to help too

 

[KJ]

Hard to tell from the picture. I'm do some research after work.

 

[JordanM]

@Lovemyreef2015 @KJ Thank you. After work I will post the video as well as try to get closer up shots of the head. Although im not really sure which end is the head as the end i saw moving the most was the end you can see exposed in the picture. You can also kind of make out the specs in the "worm" not sure if these are its gut and parts of the red war coral that you can see inside. I am glad i have this dissecting scope to be able to get these images and videos and hopefully maybe help some one else out in the future if they find something like this.