Polychate and other worms

Polychate worms, (Polychate is latin meaning many bristles) aka bristle worms are quite common in the reef aquaria. From here we can break thesse down into 2 further sub-catagories, Errantiate Polychaetes and Sedentariate Polychaetes.

Errantiate Polychaetes are the creepy, crawly harmless little worms that simply plow through substrates as detritivores. A few eat corals and more than a few savour bivalves (Tridacnid clam keepers beware) Most pose little threat, in fact are of great benefit. All have some fashion of bristles (setae), conspicuous segments to the body and a distinct head with a pharynx (jaws or teeth). However Ron Shimek says they have no bite mechanism, but literally lick something to death. Here's a diagram of the worm's anotomy



The eversible probiscus or pharynx, means it has the ablity to turn it out and retract it, like in the movie Aliens.

I personally have witnessed a worm attack my Goniopora, it literally got up high on it and plunged down, just after the coral was feed. It's obviously after the food, but I believe stung the coral by touching it. The dense clusters of bristles on the flanks are hollow tubes filled with venoum, which sting predators or anything it touches. The worm I'm talking about I have found under names, but the most common is Eurythoe complanata.



Now these guys when small are beneficial, but to think lightly of them may be a mistake. They grow big, anywhere up to 12 inches or 300mm. After speaking with a few reefers, my advice would be to keep a close eye on big ones, and if it looks like causing trouble, its time for eviction. As for breeding and feeding, no need to, if they are in your system, then they will grow and breed naturally, but if your system becomes nutrient rich, then expect an explosion in the population until the nutrients are reduced.



A close up



This is the one that shocked me at first. Remember some reefers consider these fella's reef safe, but these are from the base of a healthy clam, a clam that is now missing it byssal port, from predators. Usually due to poor handling and being cleaved of a rock, this clam spawned before this incident, the clam didn't open for a few days, the clam was inspected and this is what was found,



Now here's an argument, 1 author says they don't have teeth, but a rasp like tongue, for lack of a better description, which may be the case with the bearded fireworm Hermodice carunculata, which is a true predator, but this is what I found doing more research, but different sites different information, that can easily be mixed up, a point to not really worry about.



Pretty cool huh, in the wild they are able to capture a fish up to 100mm or 4 inches in length and drag it into the substrate to eat it. Big worm though

Sedenariate worms include the most desirable worms in the hobby. Sabellid (soft-tube) and Serpulid (hard tube) fan worms. Spirorbids are the common white-tubed spirals that are found on aquarium glass, pumps, sumps etc, are hardy and don't need target feeding

Here's a pic of some, I always thought they were sponges untill doing some research



And here's some Sabellid worms aka featherdusters, which form non-calcareous tubes of silt, sand, sediments and mud. The tubes break real easy, so be carefull.

These ones are growing inside my skimmer, so these are the best pictures I could get. Unfortunately, you can't see the expansion of the heads

This little guy is known as a Linopherus. It's one of the smaller species that thrive in reef aquaria. These little fellas are only small, which will only get to about 3 inches. These worms are found in the nooks and crannies of live rock and sometimes in the substrate. These are the good ones to have.



Hermodice Carunculata, aka bearded fireworm.

This picture shows the top of the head showing the carnule or fringe of tentacles. Note no beneficial fireworm has these.



This is a picture of the fireworm consuming a Gorgonian, which is a slow process that will literally take hours. The worm has ingested the end of the gorgonians branch and is literally licking off the tissue. These worms are commonly found in the Caribbean, but there are other species in the same genus that are found throughout the world. This worm should be reomoved from your system, as they rarely scavange, prefering stony corals and Gorgonians.




Info sources,

Hermodice Carunculata [/SIZE]http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/short.htm

For Id pictures http://articles.uwphoto.no/oversikter/Marine_biology_Bristleworms.htm

Ron Shimek Phd paper for reefkeeping magazine,
Http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

And the site that contains information, that's different to the above, but explains what happened in the case of my Goniopora

MESA http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/seahorse/e_complanata.html

Anothy Calfo and Robbert Fenners book on Reef Invertebrates,
The book that got me started on my research on this subject, and which I owe alot to for learning more about this great hobby.

And of course my own observations, panic attacks, frustration from lack of knowledge

Cheers

Nice thread

Great thread Black Jack, I edited the pic's cause some of them weren't showing up.

I also stickied it

Thanks for that Chris, I just didn't have time last night to fix that problem. I don't know why the original pictures didn't work, but....

No problem.

Excellent thread. If acceptable I'd like to donate picture and a short video:

Wow, that's a decent size fella. Does it cause any problems in your tank? or is it a model citizen

I would be scared to see anything that big in my tank...I would rather have that then all my spagetti worms though.

LOL you don't like the spaghetti worms? The Bubble Shells that Spinycheek has been talking of getting eat them. Maybe he will find out somethings about them and pass it along to us.

I dont mind a couple, but just about every one of my zoanthid frags has thier little grubby tentacles irritating them.

Originally Posted by blacjack

Wow, that's a decent size fella. Does it cause any problems in your tank? or is it a model citizen

I had never seen it before and have never seen it since. I don't know that it hasn't caused some problems but I do not if anything dies in my tank it's only around for about 10 more minutes.

The worst part of this is that my wife saw it that night, it was right before we went to bed. She didn't sleep for 2 days. Kept having nightmares that it was climbing out of the tank to get her.

it's funny how people react to the life in our systems.

Yes, bristleworms are a great clean up crew, and do alot of good. But there are time's when they become a problem. I've removed a few for trying to steal food directly from a coral. I've also seen a coral catch 1 as well I prefer to have lot's of small one's, rather than a few big ones.

the big ones make me nervous...at least your fella isn't 4 feet long! Staff at an aquarium in England solved the mystery behind attacks on their coral reef and prize fish. The culprit was a giant sea worm lined with bristles!

I did see that on another forum, I'm glad I don't have any that big lol

I wonder what that tastes like?

Who cares lol, I wouldn't like to eat anything that contains venom

LOL awe cmon

I had one of the little red ones in my rocks when i first got him, he scared the crap out of me and i killed him.. i wish i woulda known he wasn't bad then..

And I try to avoid eating anything that comes from the bottom of the food chain..

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/x...k/100_0551.jpg

Here is a ?????? feather worm?????? that is what I have allways called them any way.