Bristle Worms turning my water purple?!

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by Vehyla, Aug 30, 2012.

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  1. Vehyla

    Vehyla Plankton

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    About 30 minutes ago I noticed a lot of the larger bristleworms in my tank. 5+ inches. Were out in the open, which I thought was odd. Then the biggest one lifted up and spit this purple cloud EVERYWHERE. Then the other started doing it. Since the first one started, they have all been spraying everywhere, the water in my tank is cloudy. I've never seen this and can't find anything on google. Is this normal bristleworm behavior? I'm thinking of taking some tongs and just pulling them all out. The corals and fish don't seem to mind, but it's really disturbing and I'm afraid it's hurting them in the long run.

    While writing this they all appear to have stopped, I guess they ran out of purple stuff, but the water is still cloudy and a few are shooting off every once in a while. Is this some kind of bristlewar? Mating? Any ideas?

    I took some video if people think that would be helpful.
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. Renee@LionfishLair

    Renee@LionfishLair 3reef Sponsor

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    Lemme tell ya about the birds and the bees.....

    That's worm love.
     
  4. Vehyla

    Vehyla Plankton

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    Wow. Well that was about 30 minutes of non stop in your face worm love. One of them even shot my poor little coral branded shrimp in the mouth. He didn't like that much. Well good to know it wasn't some kind of chemical wormfare.
     
    1 person likes this.
  5. rc_mcwaters3

    rc_mcwaters3 Clown Trigger

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    I will be the one to say it, GROSS and I actually would not mind seeing the video
     
  6. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    :) Me too.:)
     
  7. Marshall O

    Marshall O Giant Squid

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    Best post of the week right here ;D
     
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  9. FatBastad

    FatBastad Zoanthid

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    hahahaha

    I concur, it would have been great if you captured some video of it!
     
  10. Renee@LionfishLair

    Renee@LionfishLair 3reef Sponsor

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    Bahahaha!
     
  11. Caspian

    Caspian Coral Banded Shrimp

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    *puts purple jello down and slides it away slowly*
     
  12. Vehyla

    Vehyla Plankton

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    Bristle worm, busting a nut. - YouTube

    That is one of the videos. Clearly I am no camera man. But you can see 3 or 4 of the giant red *******s. Also, if you look at the top of the video you can see all the floating dots. I now know those were sperm. My poor fish was just breathing in sperm. This was about 20 minutes into the orgy. One of the late bloomers I guess. I wish I had recorded it at full swing, but i was so confused that i missed recording my first worm orgy.

    Watch the 1080p version.