Any ideas?

leanne · Apr 29, 2004

Bout some live rock with blue mushrooms on it. It also had a crawly in it. Don't know what it is! It is about 1" long (2.5cm) and has lots of legs like a centipede. It's white with a black bit at its "tail". Anyone any ideas? Is it good or bad?

EddieW · Apr 29, 2004

Hi Leanne,

Sounds like a bristleworm to me. Useful to have as they are normally scavengers which help to clear up detrius. There are a few exceptions but these are rare to find in tanks.

A good guide to the various hitchhikers you might get can be found here.

HTH, Eddie

leanne · Apr 29, 2004

That does sound right as it does seem to have brisltles orund its mouth - bit like a clown loach does... That link is really helpful thankyou.

ade · Apr 29, 2004

Approx half way down this page:

http

/www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_page...es/faq_sand.htm

leanne · Apr 29, 2004

Oh yeah that looks like it!! Mine is more white but looks similar. I also appear to have two of those long thin star fish...

There some other stuff similar in size and length to the star fish. They are several "tentacles" protruding from holes in the rock. They seem to be grey and white striped... ANy ideas on these? Couldn't find them on that link.

EddieW · Apr 29, 2004

Leanne,

The tentacles sound like brittle stars. Another good thing to have!

Eddie

leanne · Apr 29, 2004

Is it good or bad to have brisle worms. I keep reading conflicting advice. SOme say they're good to clean up, others say they eat polys and coral... My LFS guy says to get it out if I can. WHo do I believe?

EddieW · Apr 29, 2004

In my opinion they are a good thing - they are scavengers and eat up the rubbish. They also stir the sand up preventing it from getting too compacted.

There is a small chance that you may get a bad one but apparently they are very rare. You may want to get rid of them (likely to be more than one even though youy won't see them) when they get too big. I saw a pic of a 2 foot long one that was pulled out of a 3 foot tanK!!!

Cheers, Eddie

leanne · Apr 29, 2004

Its an ugly B*gger. Reminds me of a maggot...

RamJet · Apr 29, 2004

They are very common and if not kept in check can grow quite large and even take down fish! Some types are rare, and some are better to have than others. You dont want large ones in your tank and if you start seeing them during the day, you have too many in your tank. An arrow crab is a nice way to keep the bristle worms in check. Six line wrasse will also hunt them. The one you have is rare in my area, we have the common browns and I am always at battle with them. My arrows grow very fast in my tank, and I have to return them every 2 months to get a smaller one, but they work very well. Hope that helps, Ram

leanne · Apr 29, 2004

Is there any better way than an arrow crab. My tank is only 20g so they may get too big quite quickly... I am going to try and net it as it swims around (or did yesterday) in a perculiar rippling way.

RamJet · Apr 29, 2004

Swims around? Are you sure you have a bristle worm, they crawl on the rock and substrate. If it is swimming, its not a bristle worm. You can also get a bristle worm trap, you can make one or buy one at the LFS, they run around $12.00 or so.

wonder371 · Apr 29, 2004

yea... my friend had to use the trap. It works pretty well but usually doesn't get them ALL out. I have never heard of someone useing an arrow crab but it sounds like it makes sense. I would get the trap and the crab if i were you.