What the heck?

[ICEnVy]

I have these small pinkish (salmon) colored worm looking things all over in the sand in my tank. They have a little bit of black on them too. What the heck are they? Are they bad? They just suddenly appeared..... My friend works at the LFS and she says she has no idea what they are and has never heard or seen of them. How do I get rid of them? or are they good? AHH.

 

[melosu58]

Moved to ID forum. Any chance of a pic?

 

[Devilishturtles]

A bristleworm?

Check this page, and the top left picture.

http://melevsreef.com/id/crawls.html

I agree a picture would help.

 

[ICEnVy]

It looks like that, but not nearly that big at all. I will work on pics, but I am not trying to dig them out of the sand. The chick at the LFS showed me a worm once that she said stung you really bad, so I am uneasy.


OK. It looks exactly like this.....

I read this worm was a bristleworm? ISNT THAT BAD?!

What do I do?

 

[Fluff]

Looks like a common bristleworm. I wouldn't be worried, but cautious when working in the tank. The bristles will irritate your skin if you brush against it or try to pick one up. The up side though is that they are decent janitors for your sandbed and rock.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree with Fluff. They are indeed bristleworms. I've touched up against one a few time accidentally and it does hurt for a while, might leave a small welt, but it goes away. I wouldn't worry about it. I've since learned that gloves are the way to go when working in my tank, and I don't put my hands in there without them.

 

[ICEnVy]

Ok, so definetely using my gloves from now on..... So those are not the type that can get to be really big? I read that some can grow to 20".

 

[Devilishturtles]

I highly doubt it. Fireworms can get huge, but are more rare in the hobby. Actually, those pink/black ones I've never seen more than 2 inches in my tank.

 

[stevefromga2000]

if you do get fireworms, you will know. they get really big really quick, and they multiply like crazy. i had a bad infestation of them when i first set up my tank. got them under control now, but you'll know if you get them.