brown worms
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Invertebrates
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about invertebrates.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2144
Printed Date: November 28 2024 at 2:01am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: brown worms
Posted By: Tresa
Subject: brown worms
Date Posted: March 21 2004 at 6:01pm
I was just moving a coral and noticed some long really skinny brown worms. There is something stuck to a rock that looks like a dead blob and it seems like that is where they are coming out of. It is kind of hard to explain and I cant take a picture - they are in a really bad spot. Just curious if anyone else has seen these.
|
Replies:
Posted By: Carl
Date Posted: March 21 2004 at 7:01pm
Sounds like bristle worms. Touch one and if your finger starts burning really, really bad and swells up a bit... that's them.  . They are scavengers that are usually nocturnal and will quickly attack dead or dying animals. That is how they got the rap of being bad for your tank because people thought that they would attack healthy fish and eat them. Simply not true.------------- In Syracuse "I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf |
Posted By: Ryan Willden
Date Posted: March 21 2004 at 7:14pm
|
Do a search for bristle worm convention on this site. That ought to
help you identify them. |
Posted By: Meeshi_ma
Date Posted: March 21 2004 at 8:00pm
|
I've got some real skinny brown worms that aren't bristles. I think that they're called spaghetti worms... Seem to be harmless. Brian ------------- Provo, Utah |
Posted By: Tresa
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 5:40am
I did a search before I wrote the first message, I found the pictures of the bristleworms but that is not what they are. Maybe they are the spaghetti type. They seem to be irritating my sea pen - I will keep watching and if I need to I will try to get them out- thanks for the help.
|
Posted By: Crazy Tarzan
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 7:36am
|
good luck trying to get a hold of any worm in your tank.... you thought earth worms were hard to get a hold of. Carl--I had an accidental encounter with a bristle worm in my tank this week--ended up with a fuzzy finger, but it didn't swell up, just was irritating till I rubbed out the last of the spines. ------------- Was that in there yesterday? Casper--WY windier than ? Down to a 20, soon to double or nothing |
Posted By: Ryan Willden
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 9:04am
If it's not the worms in the Bristleworm post, I don't know what they are... Sorry. 
|
Posted By: Tresa
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 9:41am
|
Ryan, I am not sure either - They are sooo skinny - they are the size of a string- they seem to go in at night and out during the day |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 10:06am
|
Are they light brown with yellowish bands? They're normal, nothing at all to worry about. I think they're commonly called spaghetti worms. They multiply quickly. I have a couple mounds and inch or so high in my sandbed with maybe close to a hundred worms (or tenticles) hanging out. Kinda like a worm volcano . ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: Tresa
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 10:44am
|
Jon - That sounds just like them - thanks for the help - I will leave them alone
|
!Posted By: Carl
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 12:02pm
|
Jon, I want a scoop of your sand! Crazy, people react differently to the irritant. You're probably on the lucky side! If you want to challange the theory, let's find someone with a lion fish! ------------- In Syracuse "I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 12:11pm
|
Carl, I'll try to get a picture ('cause it is kinda neat to see). Unfortunately, the mounds are located in the back of the tank and my camera doesn't zoom in well enough to really see the worms (but you can clearly see the worm mounds). I have actually thought about scooping one of the mounds out and sifting through it to see what the other end of a spaghetti worm looks like ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 4:40pm
|
Hey Carl, here's a picture. The number of worms erupting from the volcano varies, in this picture there's not that many, but you can clearly see a few. You can also see a few more volcanos in the background. There must be a fairly large biomass under that mound?
------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: chrisslc
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 5:54pm
|
I've always had a ton of these in my LR, Strangely enough I've never seen a pile of these in the sand like I see and hear of in everyone elses tanks. Just in the LR. Never have bothered anything near as I can tell. ------------- Murray, Utah just north of the park. "It's all the same to the clam" -Shel Silverstein |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 6:04pm
|
Geofish, do they look like this? Here's an extreme close-up. Those rocks are caribsea seafloor special grade, maybe 1/16 - 1/8" in size.
------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: Carl
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 6:34pm
|
Jon, I bet that there's schloades of bio in that substrate! Good for you! What a great self-sufficient ecosystem!. Sure would like a scoop of that... hint, hint! ------------- In Syracuse "I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 9:08pm
|
Jon, really great pics.
FYI, the other end of the worm reminds me of a squid, with longer tentacles of course, and can't swim but it crawls. I'll bet by the time I wrote this you have already scooped up a mound and examined a spaghetti worm.
Geofish, the "dead blob" could be sponge. What color is it and does it seem to have holes in it? Who knows which animal was there first. It's best to leave it there to do it's filtration job. The Sea Pen can move if it doesn't like that location.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: March 22 2004 at 10:16pm
|
Mark, I couldn't have described 'em better. They have a much fatter (compared to the sweeper tentacles) body with a set of thicker, shorter, nonbarred tentacles and then the really long skinny barred sweeper tentacles. I was planning a picture, but he was pretty smooshed up by the time I got him out (I need a softer hand). But since I've found a new "toy", here's a picture of very small bristleworm (about as thick as a straight pin and 1/4" long).
------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: Tresa
Date Posted: March 23 2004 at 5:28am
|
Jon - That is exactly what they look like ! Looking at them a little closer last night - they are all over the backside of my tank - they have built mounds in the sand and they are all over the live rock! Thank you for the great pics Mark - I think the blob was just more worms huddled up together - my sea pen is coming out now so the worms werent bothering it - sometimes it gets irritated when the fish swim too close. I will definately leave everything alone! After probably 5 different locations my sea pen has finally stayed in one spot for about a month now- hopefully it is done moving - it is where I tried to put it in the first place - I guess it had to be his idea |
Posted By: Crazy Tarzan
Date Posted: March 23 2004 at 7:12am
|
Carl--I've been thinking about getting a dwarf lion fish for my tank.... If I do, I'm sure I'll get stung at least once, and I'll tell you what happens ------------- Was that in there yesterday? Casper--WY windier than ? Down to a 20, soon to double or nothing |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: March 23 2004 at 7:37am
Crazy Tarzan, not knowing how much you were kidding there, I must advise everyone that a Lionfish "sting" is not just a sting, it's a puncture that can be as life threatening as a poisoness serpent. 
The good thing is that a good amount of caution is excercised by the fish! The Lionfish avoids being touched by the stupid hobbyist that forgets where the lion is when putting their hand into the tank. I'm speaking of myself here. More than once I was working in my tank and as my hand made it's way around messing with coral and algae, I suddenly asked "Oh..  ..where's my lion?"------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: March 24 2004 at 11:03am
| I wonder if the local hospital stock any type of antevenom for lion fish? Is there even such a thing? |
Posted By: Carl
Date Posted: March 24 2004 at 12:25pm
|
I think that you use a tourniquet then cut the wound with a knife, suck out the poison and spit it out. I saw it on T.V. Oh, wait, that was rattlesnakes. Never mind ------------- In Syracuse "I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: March 24 2004 at 1:13pm
|
We have a club member who spent a good two weeks in and out of the hospital acquiring antibiotics and some serious treatment, after he was stung by his lion in his tank. His arm was swollen and red for weeks and he claims (although I don't believe it) that it really hurt. Maybe we could have him get on here and write. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |