fire worms good ,bad or very bad ?

[mad268]

i was taking my tank apart today to move to another part of the house when i looked at one of my live rocks i saw what i think is a fire worm .i pulled it out and have it in a jar . does anybody know anything about these ?

 

[fshhub]

their sting can be excruciating
they are good for the sand bed and waste
but, i think they also bother some corals(think, not 100% sure thoguh)

 

[fshhub]

welcome to swf, and I moved this to a better forum.
new hobbyists, where it will be able to better benefit many others as well.

 

[mad268]

thanx im new here didnt really know where to go !

 

[bdhough]

is he really skinny redish brown almost looks like hes translucent? if so put him back he won't hurt anything. don't touch one with your hand. each prick feels like a splinter and you will get alot of splinters if you touch one.
if on the other hand hes a nice orange and looks pretty fat and showy then you may have a bad one. i could tell if i had a picture. as fshub said some eat corals, gorgonians, but its kind of hard to tell alot of times. there are alot of garden variety kinds that are harmless. im willing to bet thats what you have.

 

[mad268]

hes kinda light green on the body about 4-6 inches long red along the edges where the splinter things are. its like the splinters and red are traced all around the whole body , even the front

 

[mad268]

well i managed to take a picture of it before my dig cam went dead hope you can see it ok

 

[bdhough]

wow... thats definitely a fire worm. looks like the big nasty kind. i've heard they can get huge. i wouldn't ditch him just yet though. see if maybe somebody might want to stick it in a little one gallon tank or something. i dunno. definitely keep him out of your tank. you don't want to touch that one day messing with your rock at all...

 

[mad268]

yeah i guess he came with some live rock from the fish store or with stuff i brought back from the beach in miami. thanx alot for your help.