Killer Worm (looks to be a brisstle that is thirsty for blood)

nygel

nygel

Active Member
today has sucked...really bad, 3 of my fish died, 1 from shock, 2 from what i thought was my frogspawn for various reasons (go to the nano section and go to nYgel's 10 Gallon... it explains more) but just a few minutes ago i flipped the lights on in my room to look for the remote and looked over at my tank... from there i saw a rather long red centipede looking worm coming from my rock... into my snail... i saw it basically rip the snail apart, so i quickly turned the lights on, it bolted back into the rock, and moved everything off that rock and took the rock out and placed it in a bucket with some saltwater already in it (i got alot of new stuff yesterday and didnt get rid of my extra water yet)... it hasn't came out and doubt it will... the rock isn't submerged very well at all and hopefully it will die and fall out.... if not.. how do i get rid of it? for i really like the rock due to its shape (i had my frogspawn in it... took it out first)... also... what kind of worm would do this? i saw it with my own eyes rip apart a snail! did it also hit up my fish!
 
darknes

darknes

Active Member
Are you sure the snail wasn't already dead when the worm got to it?
I believe there are bristle worm traps you can buy or make.
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
Elevate the rock up out of the water, you don't want it sitting in the water. Start a drip system on top of the LR chunk and eventually the worm will crawl out along with everything else.
 
lauras

lauras

Member
What about a freshwater dip? All my tanks have some of those nasty worms but my 12 aquapod seems to be the worst so everynight when I feed I pull the biggest ones out with a pair of hemo's and drop it in a container I have sitting there with freshwater they curl up and croak pretty fast
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
so should i have it elevated away from all water? or put it in a freshwater bucket? cuz i have it laying like 1/10 in some saltwater.... and yes, i saw it crawl up the rock to the snail that was cleaning the rock and kill it
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
yea, actually...it did look alot like that, is there a way to get it out of the rock without destroying the rock so i can see it?
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
Use a bucket and elevate the rock so that it is not sitting in water, then do a slow drip using SW, everything will crawl out. If you do FW it kills everything that why I like the SW drip process using a bucket, then I can select which crittters to keep and which to toss. Jim
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
yea, so i went out today to do the drip method, and i lifted up the rock and it was hangin out of the rock so i got it pulled out and i put it in a glass jar to look at it and such, then i was told to keep it alive, so put it in the tank, but with the jar still, so it doesnt get out, just cut some small holes, the jar is clean, nothing on it should hurt anything in the tank, we don't think its a water issue to why my fishes died, becuz all my new corals and inverts look healthy (except the snail the worm killed). But yea, here he is... hanging out of the rock it was over 1 and a half feet.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
Originally Posted by promisetbg
It's a Steve Weast worm!

give it another 3 feet

that thing is scary.... you jsut pulled it out?!! good thing it didnt bite YOU~
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
it looked puffed up and like an earth worm when i pulled it out, but when it got back in the saltwater it looked like that again, when i first saw it it was much more red and had a snail in its hold... im having it brought back to the lfs i got it from (Inland Aquatics in Terre Haute, Indiana... amazing place, i should have taken pics... they have a cool website though) they are very respectful and usually give like free hermits or snails and stuff its cool, they should help me out alot, maybe even hook me up wtih some fish to replace my lost ones
 
zman2205

zman2205

New Member
sweet, i go to rose hulman in terre haute, maybe ill check out inland aquatics when i get back up. not to ignore ur evil worm from hell lol
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
ask them to let u in the back room cuz u want somethin thats not in the front display tanks, its like a warehouse of tanks full of everything, but its really hot in the back part, but it is amazing, just wonder throughout the place, if i had alot of money i would've bought alot of stuff.
 
nygel

nygel

Active Member
Well, here are a few updates of the worm itself:

these were taken last night...
and then of course i felt like checking up on the piece of rock it came from and, why not of course, their is another one curled up (surprised its alived personally) in the bucket.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member

Holy crap man! You got some crazy luck setting up a ten gallon and just happen to pick a few rocks that happen to house those monsters!
Steve Weast is another aquarist on here that has a several hundred gallon aquarium like 850 gal. and in his old aquarium before he set his new one up he had a worm like yours except it was almost six feet long and was eating his expensive corals.
At least you caught the dirty buggers! Start out slow and keep you eyes peeled. If there were two they may have laid eggs in your tank or there may be more.
Good luck!
:joy:
 
theappe

theappe

Member
OMG that guys tank is ridiculous. Now that is love!! I would love to see that thing in person. I wish I had a tank the size of his sump, lol!
 
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