Bristlworm

I can only asume this is some kind of bristleworm. I was doing some tank maintance and picked up a small rock that has some mushrooms growing on it and I found this on the bottom of it. I tried to pull it out with tweezers and I couldnt get it. When touched though the sides puff out and it lookes like white hairs. Is that something I should be concerned about and what is it?

 

Here is another shot

 

Yep. Looks and sounds like it.

I'm of the opinion that there is no need to worry about them and that they are actually beneficial scavengers in our systems. Their population will rise and fall in proportion to available food.

 

So other than be getting chance of stung it will not hurt anything in the tank?

 

Nothing will even get "stung" unless the worm is threatened.

So there are no worries.

 

I hope not. I was worried about me or this thing eating my corals. I have the rock with this sucker inside it in my fuge for right now.

 

They don't eat fish or corals. They are scavengers and will eat a dead fish though. They'll eat trapped detritus in your rocks, left over fish food etc.

Don't confuse it with Eunicids. They will eat coral and some are actually predatory and will bait/capture/eat fish.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/id/eunicid-worm-pictures-82089.html

The fine hair looking things and puffing up when you grabbed it tell me it's a bristle worm though.

 

Yea it didnt look like that. This one has a line of hair running the length of either side of its body. When poked they stood up and where white, almost looked fuzzy. Nothing like whats in the pic you posted.

 

Now how would I know if its a fireworm?

 

Even if it is a fireworm there is nothing to worry about. The type we find are usually no more than bristleworms with a slightly more powerful punch in the bristles. They contain venom that is more irritating. But they still only scavange.

Unless of course it's a bearded fireworm which resembles a millipede and has 5 feelers surrounding the mouth. The bristles look more like legs than hairs. They will eat slow moving inverts (snails).