Bristol or Fire worm

Majkman

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I Have Worms :face-with-open-mouth:

I noticed a couple of worms the other evening in the tank and at the time I thought they were Bristol worms.
So I laid a trap and caught a few .
Now I am looking for confirmation of the type of worms I set a trap and when I caught them I am not sure they are Bristol worms ( as they can be helpful in a tank so I read ) but they might be Fire worms . (Yikes)
(My corals and inverts do not like fire )
I have added 2 pictures of them and hope that you experts can help this saltwater newbie with proper Identification..
Once I Know what they are I can look up Ideas on what to about them.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to help

David

20240915_170732.jpg 20240915_170521.jpg
 

jabberwock

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I Have Worms :face-with-open-mouth:

I noticed a couple of worms the other evening in the tank and at the time I thought they were Bristol worms.
So I laid a trap and caught a few .
Now I am looking for confirmation of the type of worms I set a trap and when I caught them I am not sure they are Bristol worms ( as they can be helpful in a tank so I read ) but they might be Fire worms . (Yikes)
(My corals and inverts do not like fire )
I have added 2 pictures of them and hope that you experts can help this saltwater newbie with proper Identification..
Once I Know what they are I can look up Ideas on what to about them.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to help

David

20240915_170732.jpg 20240915_170521.jpg
Neat trap! I think they are regular old bristle worms.
 
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ISpeakForTheSeas

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Majkman

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Neat trap! I think they are regular old bristle worms.
thank you ,,that is a relief I will just try and lower the population as best I can

and thank you for the "like " on my trap... it worked

(All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.)
I used to know that poem..lol
 
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Majkman

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For a relatively easy way to tell if they're fireworms when you have them trapped like this - look for a caruncle (a little sensory organ on their head):
I did not see the the sensory organ on these ... but now I have learned how to tell them are part
thank you
 
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bonniefinnigan

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Hi there, will you be able to share how to did the trap? I saw bristeworms on my live rocks too (got them from a person who took down his reeftank and the tank was neglected for months. But if you can help me identify this zoomed picture of a bristleworm (or fireworm) it would really be a big help! Note: the live rocks are in a separate tank with a UV light on.
 

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Majkman

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Looks like Bristol worm to me but hard to tell until you see the head.
I went to the dollar store and bought a small plastic container. I had the plastic strawsnd after getting the bubbles out just used a small rock to hold it to the bottom I would leave them about 24 .
Using a glue gun I melted the plastic inserted the straws then glued them ... they all should touch the bottom of the tank .. I put a couple algae pellets (Since I had them ) in then some food and after getting the bubbles out just used a small rock to hold it to the bottom I would leave them about 24 - 48 hours .
I have caught about 40 of various sizes and I had only seen 1
i also built a mini one using a toothpick container. (The silver on the bottom is a piece of stainless steal I had just for a weight.)

I hope this helps you
David

PS if you go up to the link from "I speak for the seas", you should be able to identify the type for sure
 

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EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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Hi there, will you be able to share how to did the trap? I saw bristeworms on my live rocks too (got them from a person who took down his reeftank and the tank was neglected for months. But if you can help me identify this zoomed picture of a bristleworm (or fireworm) it would really be a big help! Note: the live rocks are in a separate tank with a UV light on.
Common bristleworm and no reason to remove them... they are some of the best cuc members you can have :)

Looks like Bristol worm to me
BRISTLE worm, aka polychaete.

...unless it's a worm from SW England, lol
 
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Majkman

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Common bristleworm and no reason to remove them... they are some of the best cuc members you can have :)


BRISTLE worm, aka polychaete.

...unless it's a worm from SW England, lol
Mine were from Britol Harbour I am positive :) ... sorry for spelling error...bristle worms are not bad for the tank . The reason I trapped them was to lower the number and identify them as I was not sure which type of worm they were . SInce my tank has Acans, I have read bristle worms have been to be harmful so more of a precaution
 
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