centepie coming out of my rocks

Question
I have an eighty gallon salt water tank, my corals and fish are doing very well except the other night with a flash light I saw a strange animal coming out of my rock, is long has a lot of legs on the side, color is like a bright transparent red it look like a "centepi" and it was eating my corals. What is it? and What can I do to get red of it?

Answer
Hello Santiago. What you are seeing is most likely a coral-eating fireworm. These animals sometimes come in on live rock and are not very common. Although on a rare occasion some one will be unlucky enough to encounter them in their tank. These are the fireworms that evoke panic in most hobbyists who see the typical species of fireworms that are harmless and beneficial scavengers. They are easily distinguish by the coloration, where regular fireworms are bright reddish-orange in color these ones are reddish with a silvery-grey body color giving them an almost ghostly appearance. They readily prey on corals, soft corals, anemones and zoanthids. They can reach 12 inches in length and are nocturnal. Luckily they do not reproduce in aquariums and so far there have been no reports of this event happening. Two ways to rid your tank of this pest would be removing him with tweezers when you catch him out after the lights have gone out(never touch it, its bristles are filled with venom). The other way is to try to set a trap for him. You can do this by using a 1 inch diameter by 4 inch long piece of pvc pipe capped at both ends. Each cap should have a small hole drilled in the end of them in which the worm can squeeze into to get the bait. A small piece of clam, squid or mussel will work for this. Unable to exit the worms are trapped to be disposed of later. The trap is best positioned between  the rock you last saw him and the substrate somewhere as the lights go out. It can be emptied in the morning and reset that night. It may take a while to catch the predator and you may catch a few of the more desirable species as well.