mfollen
Valuable Member
Hey everyone,
I'm freakin out now :shocked:
Last night I noticed a bizarre worm of some sort hanging at the base of a new red monti digitata frag. I got the tweezers to grab it, and the second my hand got in the water the thing shot back into the hole like lightning sensing me (crazy huh?)
I came home from a long day of work to check the tank and the thing was CHOWING DOWN on my god of war palythoas. And I'm not kidding, I could see the thing chomping away, bite by bite, decimating 3-4 polyps out of a 5 polyp frag.
Grateful I came home when I did, I washed my filthy hands and arms (was setting forms for a starbucks foundation all day) and took the whole rock out very quickly. I took all of the coral and frags off the rock (5"X6"X5").
With the flashlights and tweezers I was able to eventually get the worm, half of it that is. I then left the rock in freshwater to kill off any potential remains of this thing.
As a big zoanthid collector I am very scared this thing might of multiplied. I feel very strong that it got in my tank with a new coral shipment in from last week as I have never seen this worm before. And it has been on the prowl (is very quick) for the last two days. I dipped all coral with coralrx but that may of not worked.
Attached are some pictures of the worm. You can notice that it has tiny thin reddish strings/appendages throughout the body and around the head. It also appears to have a circular mouth. And yes you can see the GOW tissue in the stomach of the beast.
After doing some research it seems this is a Syllid worm. Can anyone confirm this?
What really scared me was this... (Quote by Dr. Ron Shimek)
"Some species (primarily in the group known as the syllids) bud a whole specialized individual (a clone) off some portion of the adult. That clone is modified in having no gut, super-sized eyes, and super sized parapodia (lateral paddles). In these animals, the interior of the worm is packed with fat and other food reserves. The definitive adult deposits its fertilized eggs on the swarmer which then breaks off and swims away. As it swims, it - of course - disperses to a new habitat carrying the babies on it. Those babies develop through the embryonic stages while attached to the swarmer/swimmer. When it finally runs out of food it settles to the bottom the juvenile worms can strike out on their own"
So seeming that it is a possibility that more could be on the way down the line. Here's the big question...
What eats Syllid worms?
I did a google search and there were no answers. My hope is that something like a yellow or seagrass wrasse would take it out. Who knows though.
If anyone with any experience similar to these worms could help I'd appreciate it. I don't want a bunch of mini versions of these guys decimating the pretty zoa/palys in my aquarium.
Sorry for the long post and THANK YOU!!!
I'm freakin out now :shocked:
Last night I noticed a bizarre worm of some sort hanging at the base of a new red monti digitata frag. I got the tweezers to grab it, and the second my hand got in the water the thing shot back into the hole like lightning sensing me (crazy huh?)
I came home from a long day of work to check the tank and the thing was CHOWING DOWN on my god of war palythoas. And I'm not kidding, I could see the thing chomping away, bite by bite, decimating 3-4 polyps out of a 5 polyp frag.
Grateful I came home when I did, I washed my filthy hands and arms (was setting forms for a starbucks foundation all day) and took the whole rock out very quickly. I took all of the coral and frags off the rock (5"X6"X5").
With the flashlights and tweezers I was able to eventually get the worm, half of it that is. I then left the rock in freshwater to kill off any potential remains of this thing.
As a big zoanthid collector I am very scared this thing might of multiplied. I feel very strong that it got in my tank with a new coral shipment in from last week as I have never seen this worm before. And it has been on the prowl (is very quick) for the last two days. I dipped all coral with coralrx but that may of not worked.
Attached are some pictures of the worm. You can notice that it has tiny thin reddish strings/appendages throughout the body and around the head. It also appears to have a circular mouth. And yes you can see the GOW tissue in the stomach of the beast.
After doing some research it seems this is a Syllid worm. Can anyone confirm this?
What really scared me was this... (Quote by Dr. Ron Shimek)
"Some species (primarily in the group known as the syllids) bud a whole specialized individual (a clone) off some portion of the adult. That clone is modified in having no gut, super-sized eyes, and super sized parapodia (lateral paddles). In these animals, the interior of the worm is packed with fat and other food reserves. The definitive adult deposits its fertilized eggs on the swarmer which then breaks off and swims away. As it swims, it - of course - disperses to a new habitat carrying the babies on it. Those babies develop through the embryonic stages while attached to the swarmer/swimmer. When it finally runs out of food it settles to the bottom the juvenile worms can strike out on their own"
So seeming that it is a possibility that more could be on the way down the line. Here's the big question...
What eats Syllid worms?
I did a google search and there were no answers. My hope is that something like a yellow or seagrass wrasse would take it out. Who knows though.
If anyone with any experience similar to these worms could help I'd appreciate it. I don't want a bunch of mini versions of these guys decimating the pretty zoa/palys in my aquarium.
Sorry for the long post and THANK YOU!!!
