help with removal of huge Eunice Worm

[Dearth]

Enucid worms are notoriously difficult to catch as most of the standard tricks generally won't work well as was stated by Myka they are smooth no bristles so the nylon trick will not work they are also extremely fast so catching them by grabbing with tongs, grab hooks and so on are generally not successful.

As these worms target live foods as their primary source using meat and chunks of invert food won't work as a general rule however putting a live feeder fish or live large shrimp in food traps have met with some success.

Most commonly people either trap the worm in a rock and remove said rock or end up ripping up their tank to trap the worm which appears to be the most common practise.

****it is important to note that Enucid worms have mandibles so do not handle with your hands when caught they have been known to inflict a very nasty and painful bite

[Aquattro]

Yup, slippery and fast. I tried for months to catch mine, finally found the rock with a build up of dead snail shells around an opening. Rock gone.

[christyf5]

I had a large one in my tank a number of years ago, at least a foot and a half long. Ate all my zoas, bastard. I managed to find its lair and took the rock out that it lived in. I did end up dismantling half my tank and was lucky that it eventually slid out of the rock it was in (or I might have broken the rock in half, I can't remember). The worm also broke in half too. It was absolutely disgusting. I was mostly across the room while a fellow reefer removed and disposed of it for me

[gobytron]

If you can remove your zoas from your tank, you could bait your trap with zoas.

Seems like a common go to for them.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by gobytron

If you can remove your zoas from your tank, you could bait your trap with zoas.

Seems like a common go to for them.

make sure you use pretty ones though, if you use brown ones, they'll just sit there forever...taunting you

the fug brown ones were the last to go in my tank....*sigh*

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by christyf5

make sure you use pretty ones though, if you use brown ones, they'll just sit there forever...taunting you

the fug brown ones were the last to go in my tank....*sigh*

Murphy's law. Remember the member who had a Moorish Idol for months and then it started eating his expensive zoa collection, going from the most expensive to the browns. This Eunice worm obviously went to the same school of eating corals and pi$$ing off tank owners.