New worm found

[clancaster23]

I was pulling the sponges off of my zoas and on one of them, after I put it back in the tank, soon after my cleaner shrimp found this small orange worm that was in it. It wasn't very big and looked to be orange and white not even a quarter of an inch long. Mr. cleaner tore him up and he's gone before I can shoot a pic but just wondered what this kind of worm it is and if good or bad?

 

[Mandarin66]

Might be a fire worm

 

[Waddi]

Not a fire worm, so unlikely, it is a bristle worm, thats what my money is on.

*Gestures all in* :lol:

 

[little_fish]

Not likely, probably just a bristle worm which is a great member to your CUC. I wouldnt be concerned about it

 

[Mandarin66]

Well he say it was orange lol i didnt know bristle worm was orange :)

 

[clancaster23]

Well from what I've read, they are called both bristle and fire worms so.... either way, I read that as long as they aren't disturbing stuff (killing coral etc.) then they aren't necessarily a bad thing to have to it's all good. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Mandarin66]

Fire worm can crash your tank by eatting fish , snails , corals etc...

 

[little_fish]

however they are EXTREMELY rare, and people tend to freak out and confuse them with the harmless bristle worms which just look ugly.

 

[BL1]

It could have been an orange worm. Reef Addicts - Pest of the Week -

 

[Salty B]

I've only heard of 1 kind of fireworm that eats coral and is considered not reef safe( Hermodice Carunculata). And as previously stated, very rare to find in an aquarium. Fireworms are bristleworms...99.9% of the time it's a harmless bristle and beneficial member of the CUC.

 

[clancaster23]

Not sure really. Still haven't seen a pic that resembled it. It was very small, small enough for my large cleaner shimp to hold it easily and take care of it. I'm not worried about it at all cause I haven't seen anything else in the tank that would cause concern. Just was wondering what it was. If I can find a pic of it, I'd be able to identify it and know but so far, no go.

 

[Salty B]

Try looking here. Worm Hitch Hikers