Hi , I have just received a new indo milli import last week and it started to strip on one side i dipped the coral on receipt as always so i removed the coral and mansged to break all the stripping parts of to the base rock and found this critter at the bottom its not a bristle and it swims like an eel motion . Any id what it is .thanks
worm on new indo milli id please
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Backreefing
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There is hundreds of bristle worm species. Yours is different, but a bristle worm .
MixedFruitBasket
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Double post, mistyped.
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MixedFruitBasket
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Reminds of the Oenone fulgida I found in my tank. Mine was bright yellow but they do apparently come in a variety of orange and red shades looking at pictures from other people. Very, very fast and they swim like a snake, and strike and hunt like a snake. If it is, they will lay waste to your snail population.
They also don't live in the substrate. They will live in a tunnel in the rock. The hint that you have them is a "spiderweb" type cocoon that makes tracks on the underside of the rock. Substrate will cling to it and make it look like an ordinary spaghetti worm tunnel. You pull it apart and it will have a papery/webby inside. They also produce an extraordinary amount of mucus. Sometimes this will seep from the hole they are hiding in. It's clear and rather thick.
They come out at night but are nearly impossible to spot. And they will move so fast you'll think you imagined it in the first place. And they are scary smart for a worm. You set a trap and if fails they will NEVER go back in. And they stretch, some seem like they're two feet long because they can extend their bodies a crazy length.
They also don't live in the substrate. They will live in a tunnel in the rock. The hint that you have them is a "spiderweb" type cocoon that makes tracks on the underside of the rock. Substrate will cling to it and make it look like an ordinary spaghetti worm tunnel. You pull it apart and it will have a papery/webby inside. They also produce an extraordinary amount of mucus. Sometimes this will seep from the hole they are hiding in. It's clear and rather thick.
They come out at night but are nearly impossible to spot. And they will move so fast you'll think you imagined it in the first place. And they are scary smart for a worm. You set a trap and if fails they will NEVER go back in. And they stretch, some seem like they're two feet long because they can extend their bodies a crazy length.
MixedFruitBasket
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Oh, and btw, if it is one of those worms it's in the Eunice worm family, the same family as the Bobbit worm. They do not get that large or eat your fish though. Biggest one I've caught was 15-18 inches when stretched, 9-10 when contracted, and not much thicker than a piece of spaghetti. They are pretty amazing to watch them hunt snails.
I think I had one sting and kill a blood red shrimp once, I'm not 100% sure. But the shrimp was fine one minute, then when I looked 2-3 later it was dead and one of those worms was tunneling through it.
Pretty sure they come from Indo and or Fiji. According to this, the Indo-pacific. https://www.sealifebase.ca/summary/Oenone-fulgida.html
I think I had one sting and kill a blood red shrimp once, I'm not 100% sure. But the shrimp was fine one minute, then when I looked 2-3 later it was dead and one of those worms was tunneling through it.
Pretty sure they come from Indo and or Fiji. According to this, the Indo-pacific. https://www.sealifebase.ca/summary/Oenone-fulgida.html
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maxwell
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Hi , that seems more like it as it swims very fast as per the pic in the container its out now do you think there will be any more in the coral rock it came on and should i remove the coral and bin the rock .
MixedFruitBasket
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There is honestly no way to know if it’s still in that rock or left or even if it came from that rock and no somewhere else in your tank if you’ve ever gotten colonies in the past it could have come from anywhere and this is just the first time you’ve seen it. I had one in my tank for years before I saw it. As for dipping? When I located a rock where one was hiding it took 5 hours submerged in coral rx at 20x the recommended dosing to flush it out. Doubt anything with coral on it would survive being dipped that long. This one was rather small. About 12 inches expanded 9 or so not expanded. And coral did doesn’t kill eggs. So even dry rock can wind up with them living in it if the eggs hitchhike in on something. Also, if I remember correctly, the larva or newly hatched whatever are motile.
