(PART-1) THIS ARTICLE APPEARED TO BE OF INTEREST SO HERE IS ONE ON WORMS.
Polychaete (aka "bristleworm") FAQ For Reefkeepers
Version 1.00 (August, 1998)
Rob Toonen
Section of Evolution and Ecology
University of California
Davis, CA
INTRODUCTION:
This document is part of the Reefkeepers initiative to get an updated set of FAQs out on the net. The idea being that you can be directed here to find some answers to common questions rather than having answers to the same questions posted repeatedly on the mailing lists. If you have a worm in your tank, and are not sure what it is, or what to do, please take the time to read through this little guide before you post a question listed at the end of this guide to the newsgroup (and since Ron Shimek and I have both been writing about these things for the past couple of years, I'm going to refer you to many of our more detailed and accurate articles throughout this FAQ - they will likely help far more than this guide).
Anyhow, the reason that you're probably here is that you've just recently set up a reef tank. You've added all the live rock, and possibly some live sand, you've bought a variety of invertebrates and possibly several fish to stock in your tank, and you've sat back to admire you accomplishment and relax in front of your aquarium. You drop in some food, grab a drink and sit down to admire your beautiful tank, only to notice this ugly centipede-like worm crawling out of the sand, gravel, or from under a rock to head for that brine shrimp that just settled onto the bottom of the tank.
You find yourself in a panic about what to do. What is that thing? Is it dangerous? Will it kill your corals or your giant clam? What does it eat? Should you kill it? How would you do that?
Well this is probably only your first in a long line of surprises when getting into this hobby, so relax, read through this little guide and find out what that worm is, and why it's probably a good thing to have a lot of them in your tank.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I give a much more detailed list of my background and expertise in the Home Breeders FAQ, and so will just summarize my history here. I am a Canadian, born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. If I had to pigeon-hole myself into a specific field, I would say that I am an Invertebrate Larval Biologist, but my interests are fairly diverse, and my current research is more along the lines of marine invertebrate population genetics and evolutionary biology than larval biology.
I did my Masters degree in Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina, where I worked on the reproductive biology and larval settlement of tube-dwelling polychaete worms (Hydroides dianthus). At the time of writing this, I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Population Biology program at the University of California in Davis working under the supervision of Rick Grosberg, Gary Vermeij, Dennis Hedgecock, Brad Shaffer, Maureen Stanton and John Gillespie. Although I'm a marine biologist, I'd have to say that aquaria are my hobby rather than my work. My dad owned a pet shop when I was a child, and got me into fish keeping as soon as I was old enough to say "fish." I've had freshwater tanks as long as I can remember, and my dad got me into breeding guppies on my own about the age of 5. I've been keeping fish and trying to breed everything I can get my hands on ever since. Aside from maintaining over 30 tanks in my home, I had a variety of aquarium-related jobs before starting my dissertation (from dolphin-trainer to managing the fish department of a local pet shop, to a variety of independent aquarium consultant positions). At the time I wrote this, I have been keeping tanks for over 25 years, have had a little over 12 years of experience with marine/reef aquaria, and about 8 years of experience breeding and raising marine invertebrates for both my research and at home.
I have been writing aquarium articles for Aquarium.Net over the past couple of years now, and have a more-or-less complete listing of my aquarium and profession publications on my CV (http://biogeek.ucdavis.edu/rob_cv.html) if you're interested.
Other than that, if you want to contact me about any comments, questions, suggestions,complaints, death threats, etc., etc., please send me Email at:
[email protected] or [email protected].
LEGAL STUFF:
This text is copyright © Robert Toonen, but may be freely reproduced for non-profit purposes as long as it is not altered in any way and the authors name is not removed (that's what every FAQ seems to say, isn't it?). Any commercial use of this text (i.e., in publications) is only permitted with the express written consent of the author. I must make a disclaimer that this text is as accurate as I could make it, to the best of my knowledge, for the size of this document. Despite the many omissions and possible inaccuracies herein, I covered what I deemed important for the FAQ, and provided some pointers to additional sources where I deemed it appropriate. I did the best I could (or at least was willing to do) at the time, so if you notice blatant errors, please contact me (Email at "[email protected]" - preferably with the text that you think should be included to "fix" that error) and I will update the document. To quote Mike Noreen's bristleworm FAQ, "I am not responsible for any actions or losses or altered mental states resulting from the reading of this text or following advice given in it." I'll do my best to give you my honest opinion on this stuff and tell you some information about bristleworms in the aquarium, but from there, you're on your own...
(CONT. PAGE-2)
Polychaete (aka "bristleworm") FAQ For Reefkeepers
Version 1.00 (August, 1998)
Rob Toonen
Section of Evolution and Ecology
University of California
Davis, CA
INTRODUCTION:
This document is part of the Reefkeepers initiative to get an updated set of FAQs out on the net. The idea being that you can be directed here to find some answers to common questions rather than having answers to the same questions posted repeatedly on the mailing lists. If you have a worm in your tank, and are not sure what it is, or what to do, please take the time to read through this little guide before you post a question listed at the end of this guide to the newsgroup (and since Ron Shimek and I have both been writing about these things for the past couple of years, I'm going to refer you to many of our more detailed and accurate articles throughout this FAQ - they will likely help far more than this guide).
Anyhow, the reason that you're probably here is that you've just recently set up a reef tank. You've added all the live rock, and possibly some live sand, you've bought a variety of invertebrates and possibly several fish to stock in your tank, and you've sat back to admire you accomplishment and relax in front of your aquarium. You drop in some food, grab a drink and sit down to admire your beautiful tank, only to notice this ugly centipede-like worm crawling out of the sand, gravel, or from under a rock to head for that brine shrimp that just settled onto the bottom of the tank.
You find yourself in a panic about what to do. What is that thing? Is it dangerous? Will it kill your corals or your giant clam? What does it eat? Should you kill it? How would you do that?
Well this is probably only your first in a long line of surprises when getting into this hobby, so relax, read through this little guide and find out what that worm is, and why it's probably a good thing to have a lot of them in your tank.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I give a much more detailed list of my background and expertise in the Home Breeders FAQ, and so will just summarize my history here. I am a Canadian, born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. If I had to pigeon-hole myself into a specific field, I would say that I am an Invertebrate Larval Biologist, but my interests are fairly diverse, and my current research is more along the lines of marine invertebrate population genetics and evolutionary biology than larval biology.
I did my Masters degree in Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina, where I worked on the reproductive biology and larval settlement of tube-dwelling polychaete worms (Hydroides dianthus). At the time of writing this, I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Population Biology program at the University of California in Davis working under the supervision of Rick Grosberg, Gary Vermeij, Dennis Hedgecock, Brad Shaffer, Maureen Stanton and John Gillespie. Although I'm a marine biologist, I'd have to say that aquaria are my hobby rather than my work. My dad owned a pet shop when I was a child, and got me into fish keeping as soon as I was old enough to say "fish." I've had freshwater tanks as long as I can remember, and my dad got me into breeding guppies on my own about the age of 5. I've been keeping fish and trying to breed everything I can get my hands on ever since. Aside from maintaining over 30 tanks in my home, I had a variety of aquarium-related jobs before starting my dissertation (from dolphin-trainer to managing the fish department of a local pet shop, to a variety of independent aquarium consultant positions). At the time I wrote this, I have been keeping tanks for over 25 years, have had a little over 12 years of experience with marine/reef aquaria, and about 8 years of experience breeding and raising marine invertebrates for both my research and at home.
I have been writing aquarium articles for Aquarium.Net over the past couple of years now, and have a more-or-less complete listing of my aquarium and profession publications on my CV (http://biogeek.ucdavis.edu/rob_cv.html) if you're interested.
Other than that, if you want to contact me about any comments, questions, suggestions,complaints, death threats, etc., etc., please send me Email at:
[email protected] or [email protected].
LEGAL STUFF:
This text is copyright © Robert Toonen, but may be freely reproduced for non-profit purposes as long as it is not altered in any way and the authors name is not removed (that's what every FAQ seems to say, isn't it?). Any commercial use of this text (i.e., in publications) is only permitted with the express written consent of the author. I must make a disclaimer that this text is as accurate as I could make it, to the best of my knowledge, for the size of this document. Despite the many omissions and possible inaccuracies herein, I covered what I deemed important for the FAQ, and provided some pointers to additional sources where I deemed it appropriate. I did the best I could (or at least was willing to do) at the time, so if you notice blatant errors, please contact me (Email at "[email protected]" - preferably with the text that you think should be included to "fix" that error) and I will update the document. To quote Mike Noreen's bristleworm FAQ, "I am not responsible for any actions or losses or altered mental states resulting from the reading of this text or following advice given in it." I'll do my best to give you my honest opinion on this stuff and tell you some information about bristleworms in the aquarium, but from there, you're on your own...
(CONT. PAGE-2)