lots of worms

lots of worms and such

last week I bought 10lbs of live rock from my lfs my tank is still cycling so I'm doing it little bits at a time. so far I have sand and the rock ( 10lbs). its been a week and now I notice that my rock is crawling with worms between 1/2 and 1inch long that look like centipedes. I am wondering if I should take back th rock and sift clean the sand and start from scratch, try to remove the worms or leave them there. I plan on using this tank for a reef system, and don't want any problems in the future. any help would be good. thanx

 

HI zeddy.
Must be your first sw tank, the things that you get with the LR are amazing! I have lost count of how many times I have looked in the tank and thought " what is that! " ATM gave me a link that helped me ID some of them " things", so heres the link.
I think you have BRISTLEWORMS! and they are good to have!

 

thank you for that link it set me at ease all the info I found on them said they will kill coarl and crustations. but how many is to many. by the way ive only been running sw for 3 weeks now and don't even have it fully set up yet

 

I have been finding more and more little creatures in my rock, such as 5 little crab like things tha crawl in and out of there holes and are very shy, and 1 little starfish thing that has a small body about 1/4 in and long legs with bristle like texture crawling through the holes. I'm just wondering if any of these things are a problam to a reef tank or if they are just freebies that came with the rock?

 

They are just hitchhikers that where on the LR when they took it from the ocean.

The bristleworms,if its the good kind, will help clean up the bad stuff in your tank. I am not sure how many your to have in a tank.
I am new to Saltwater too,but I know a thing or 2 about it.

The starfish sounds like a brittle starfish. Go
and
and see if you can find your starfish and your crabs. That is what we do to ID things

I hope this helps.

 

worms are annoying but I know I have a lot and only once in a while will they steal food from my corals....but I have not seen any problems other than stealing....no damage to my coral but if you do want to get rid of them and they are all fairly small I would suggest investing in a coral banded shrimp. they like to eat the bristle worms if you get one when the population is small you'll have better luck clearing your tank of them.. for the bigger worms there should be a thread with an explanation of how to build a trap on fishlore

 

I already have a trap made, I used it so I can get a better look at them. the worms are ok and I have a coral banded shrimp in the tank already to control there population, its all the other things that pop up in there i'm curios about I just like to know everything about my tanks.

 

Id love to see some pics if you can zeddy! I think sw tanks are so mysterious!

 

all I have done is watch and see....had some many unexplained creatures...havent ever had to remove one though... have quite a few of the little bristle starfish and the small ones in the rock in my case have been small shrimp..mine were clear bodied

 

I had a nice treat today, I came home and turned on my tank light and found a starfish about the size of a dime I think it is a choclate cookie starfish but I am unsure I am going to look it up and find out for sure

 

found it its an asternea star

 

wow, your live rock has so much freebies in it!! wonder if I coud get like that one too.
BTW,if those are bristle worms, you MIGHT want to remove them, I have read in my sera saltwater guide that they nibble on anemones and corals, futhermore, you should be careful to remove them with a pair of tweezers because there bristles might break off and could cause skin inflammations that is,if they're really BRISTLE WORMS.

 

Lol that link actually helped me aswell because I have exactly the same thing and now I no they are called "Bristleworms". Thanks loads this has really helped me and ill add 2 ur rep.

From Matt

 

wow wish I had that live rock
I have feather dusters on mine and they are pretty cool

 

Kloseo what are feather dusters?

I think I have them too can you post a picture of them?

Zeddy: Your live rock is sooooo full of freebies and I would love to see some pics of your starfish and everything else

I Hope You Have More Little Critters Walking Out Of Your Live Rock

 

its a invert matt aka fan worm

 

feather duskers are segmented worms that grow out of live rock, they get their name because they have a feathery end that flaps in the water
very cool looking

 

sorry typing is terrrible yes it is a fan worm, very cool looking though

 

your live rock sounds amazing!!
is some live rock more 'alive' than others??
It would be great for some pictures