Hitch hiker debate

[Jeremy Brito]

Hey guys so a while back I set up a small nano tank for a friend 10 gallon tank live rock live sand small filter and power head with a small t-5 light hood. Shortly after setting up the tank a member from the club who I believe lives some where in the Bayshore area dropped me of a chunk of live rock with some green star polyp and a small leather hand coral frag at the time I had no place to put it being at work and my friend who live 5 mins away came and picked it up with the intention of keeping it in his tank until I could bring it home to my tank but I never got around to it and decided to let him keep it since both of those corals are pretty easy to keep and aren't too taxing on the economy system of his nano tank I figured they'd be perfect for what he was trying to do in his tank. About 2 months go by and the GSP and the hand coral are fine but the tank has a huge algae bloom followed by and unexpected out break of what look like possibly copapods (small crustacean like creatures that kinda remind me of tiny clear roachs about the size of a small pin head at the largest). A couple of more Months go by and he calls me up saying he sees some type of worms apearing out of the rock work in the tank and the GSP appears to be receding or shrinking. A month more and now he states he sees what he believes are small anemones.. so I finally get a chance to check the tank for my self and I see these huge worms I believe to be fire worms or bristle worms .. I immediately tell him the worms gotta go but he tells me he doesn't know if he wants to get rid of them I tell him the are a threat and will kill coral fish and what ever else gets added but he still strongly believes they are fine so I told him I'd post it and get the opinions of people with much more experience them him and my self
Let me know what they are and if they are good bad or whatever thanks

 

[Mark Shelly]

I have small worms although mine look different, and I would love to have lots of copepods. Since I have a diamond goby that shifts the sand and a wrasse that looks for tiny crustaceans for food, I don't seem to have many anymore. I wanted to learn about corals and fish. Part of that is understanding that they are part of an ecosystem and things live in coral reefs. I have had plenty of things come into my tank as hitch hikers. Some like blue sympodium, sponges, starfish, coraline algae, sun coral, tube worms and snails I love. Others, such as bubble algae and aptaisia, not so much, and I can't tell where I got them from. They were one of the best things about my tank the first year, especially at night looking into the tank with a UV or Red flashlight and a magnifying glass. Many think green star polyps are a pest. I like them but mine are also receding. I am changing locations and flow in my tanks. Some corals may like that better than others. In earlier times, many people took live rock right from the ocean. This practice has been reduced due to reef damage, but some places place rocks in the ocean to get the same result. They are looking for the hitch hikers.

 

[Mark_C]

Those small creatures are pods.

Algae bloom is expected and normal.

I have a batch of GSP in a mess about tank and its receding, in tanks I care about it grows like weeds. Its a hit or miss, don't judge anything by it.

Small anems are a potential BIG problem if they're aptasia (aka glass anems). They will multiply like mad, sting, and kill everything. Some folks go as far as to remove the rocks they're on and apply fire, some use kalk, some use boiling water, some use lemon juice, I use 'Aptasia X'. An on-line search will find many creative methods for extermination.

The worms are fantastic if you lick them .

But seriously folks, worms are part of any tank, usually harmless night time scavengers. Just don't touch em. I've got a 25g zoa garden and I've got at least 3-4 good size fire/bristle worms in there that I've seen, and one monster worm which I can't ID. I'm not worried about them in the least aside from getting stung when moving rocks.

 

[Jeremy Brito]

From those photos can you tell what they are

 

[Mark_C]

They look like common fire/bristleworms. Nighttime scavengers of detritus. If you brush up against the bristles it'll feel like your hand's been dumped in acid.
Bad rep as 'coral eaters' but those types of worms are very rare in the hobby, and they usually eat gorgonians.
Overall excellent scavengers. Population usually self limiting based upon feeding. The more excess food, the more worms. The more worms, the more chance of pain when moving rocks.

 

[mikem]

About Bristle worms. Great scavengers.
bristle worm

 

[Tyler]

Definitely not bearded fireworms (the ones you want to watch out for) but don't look like my bristleworms. Mine are all black and red/pink. I don't think you should be worried about them. If there are as many as you say and pod blooms I think he might be overfeeding. I reccomend keeping bristleworms unless you seriously can't stand seeing them, or if they get more than a few inches long. I keep mine until I see one over 6" which normally takes quite a while because I try and feed lightly in order to compensate for how lazy I am with water changes lol.


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[Trio91]

Worms are hit n miss with reefers, as some hate em n some love em. Personally I don't like any hitchhikers of any kind in my tank.....good or bad but that's me.

 

[Zippy69]

Look like bristle worms. Always had em in all the tanks I kept and never had a problem. They love to come out at night and eat any left over food. No biggie.