Bristle Worm COBRA

[justinl]

if you see it munching on coral, then yeah remove it. it is a true Carribean fireworm (type of bristleworm). it you dont have any coral mortalities, then why bother removing it? I would actually like having a giant centipede in my tank as part of my CUC. most bristleworms are just detritivores... just have to be careful about the rare coral lawnmower. and dont handle it barehande obviously.

i doubt yours is a carribean fireworm as i believe i read that these only occur as completely bright orange... and even some of the orange bristleworms are harmless. so innocent until proven guilty i say

[untamed]

If it is the coral eating type, you'll know because in order to eat coral they have to latch on and rasp the coral away. They remain there for hours, if not days. Once you see this behaviour, you can simply remove it with tweezers.

If you don't see this, it is probably safe to assume that you have the harmless detrivore type. In this case, I would leave it in the tank.

[Pier Pressure]

Thank you for all of this useful information. I checked out the thread and my bristle worm is the exact same colour of the small pink one in the middle picture next to the picture of the huge bristle worm. I have many corals that seem to be fine so I do not think it is a coral eater.

I think I will just leave him alone - unless I see him harming something. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck just looking at it! BTW I am a girl (Karen) and use my boyfriend's name, Roderick, on this forum.

So if "Roderick's" posts seem kind of feminine - you know why!

Thanks again!

[Midknight]

Mine was about a foot and a half when I caught him.



Took up too much room in the 10 g so off he went.

[Joe Reefer]

ewwwww.....thats a big worm!!!

[Phanman]

bajesus!!! thats a massive worm

[andresont]

Worms ar good scavengers leave it there. I am yet to see one munching on corals.