Wow just randomly found this beast! What is it?

[Mombo]

Haha I love saltwater tanks. No idea how he got in my tank since I started with Dry Rock and Dip everything (I thought) but I have never seen it before or any other type of worm in my tank before and he so huge already!

Quite amazing. Prob as thick as my pinky I would guess.

He lives in the same cave as my Zebra Barred Goby's so I guess atleast he isnt killing stuff.

I couldnt get a full pic of course but this is his body and coloring. I figure someone knows what it is.

I am hoping its a big Bristle Worm but maybe its a Fire Worm? He is gonna be really hard to get out if its something bad.

 

[rkpetersen]

Looks like an ordinary bristleworm. Maybe a fireworm. Very common and secretive, and generally considered harmless, maybe even helpful. I don't like them though so I get rid of them when I see them. It's easy enough to catch part of it with a tweezers or forceps, but getting the whole worm out without breaking it is difficult. I just had a whole nest of them appear in the chaeto mass in my sump. At least they were easy to remove there.

 

[Oscaror]

Haha I love saltwater tanks. No idea how he got in my tank since I started with Dry Rock and Dip everything (I thought) but I have never seen it before or any other type of worm in my tank before and he so huge already!

Quite amazing. Prob as thick as my pinky I would guess.

He lives in the same cave as my Zebra Barred Goby's so I guess atleast he isnt killing stuff.

I couldnt get a full pic of course but this is his body and coloring. I figure someone knows what it is.

I am hoping its a big Bristle Worm but maybe its a Fire Worm? He is gonna be really hard to get out if its something bad.

Looks like a fireworm, no worse than a regular bristle worm for your tank but the sting is awful. I was stung by one once, the pain lasted for hours and you can feel the venom running through your veins emitting a burning pain from deep within your hand (or wherever you get stung). It stung my fingers and I could feel the pain past my wrist. DO NOT GET STUNG BY IT!!!

 

[Mombo]

Ya I am looking through tons of pics and I feel like I am leaning towards Fireworm. Unless it gets out of the rocks I doubt I will be able to get it. Too much coral. He hasn't killed anything so that is nice. Not to worried about getting stung by him as I dont often put my hands in my tank let alone at the bottom in the rocks.

Hopefully he will stick to Detritus.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Looks like it has alot more red, I was leaning towards fireworm. Seems like bristleworms are usually darker in the center also.

 

[Mombo]

Ya comparing more pics it looks like a normal fireworm not a bearded fireworm so I think all is well. I love finding new things in the tank. Last month I randomly found an urchin out of no where. No idea how this stuff is getting in there.

 

[DSC reef]

I'm leaning towards fire worm. Remove it if you can but dont touch it.

 

[KrisReef]

Ya comparing more pics it looks like a normal fireworm not a bearded fireworm so I think all is well. I love finding new things in the tank. Last month I randomly found an urchin out of no where. No idea how this stuff is getting in there.

Sounds like the spontaneous generation is going on in your system!
What kind of dip are you doing?