Critters in sump/refugium

[nyc reefer]

I just turned my fugi's light on in order to take a measurement for my skimmer and saw a 2" pink colored worm w/ little feet covering the body. It was up in my cheato and crawled back down into the LR rubble. Is this good or bad? Should I attemt to capture it and dispose of it? I'm worried now that it could get into the DT somehow.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

they are fireworm. they are good scavenger.... left over food, detritus, fish crap, etc. leave them they are good for the tank. don't touch them with bare hand though, some people may have allergic reaction to it.

 

[SevTT]

they are fireworm. they are good scavenger.... left over food, detritus, fish crap, etc. leave them they are good for the tank. don't touch them with bare hand though, some people may have allergic reaction to it.

Uh, not necessarily. "Fireworms" generally refers to a specific and bad type of worm, whereas what he has is prolly just a run-of-the-mill bristleworm. Still, don't touch, and I'll second the point of them being great scavengers.

Since it's in your 'fuge, I'd be utterly not worried about whether it's one or the other, since I'm assuming there aren't any invertebrates more important than snails to be eaten, if it is one of the bad type. If you're worried, there's plenty of ID info both here and on google.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

Uh, not necessarily. "Fireworms" generally refers to a specific and bad type of worm, whereas what he has is prolly just a run-of-the-mill bristleworm. Still, don't touch, and I'll second the point of them being great scavengers.

Since it's in your 'fuge, I'd be utterly not worried about whether it's one or the other, since I'm assuming there aren't any invertebrates more important than snails to be eaten, if it is one of the bad type. If you're worried, there's plenty of ID info both here and on google.

sevtt is correct i should have used the term bristleworm (eurythoe sp.) to differentiate it from the bad coral eating fireworm (hermodice carunculata).

most likely it's the run-of-the-mill type just like sevtt said.
coral eating fireworms are quite rare in a reef tank.(Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D., author of marine invertebrates.)

some good pictures here:

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchworms.html

 

[nyc reefer]

Thanks for the link. Makes for a good read very interesting.