Final check

[Ryan Smith]

Ok, my current hypothesis is that its a bristle worm. Fit the description minus the spider webs. As long as it wont hurt my fish Im fine.

 

[DWhatley]

LR comes with all kinds of interesting inhabitants (including octopuses on occassion). The slimy webbing is certainly interesting. There are worms as large around and fast as you mention but they are not nice critters (also a small red one here) so take care with your hands while trying to catch it.

When you say it is larger around than your starfish arm are you referring to a serpent/brittle star or common star?

 

[Ryan Smith]

Larger than a serpent star arm. It was actually about as thick as a fishing worm. Probably a half inch wide or a bit smaller. I havent seen it around again, but its only been a day. Im confused because I bought the rock from a preexisting tank, so it wasnt wild collected and I havent noticed any hitch hikers for 2 months. If its a different type of predator worm, then Im going to trap it. If its a harmless sand sifting detrivore type then I wouldnt mind letting it live in the sand.

 

[DWhatley]

The relatively harmless brissels can get rather large but the bad ones can grow quite large. Even the clean-up ones can be aggressive if they get too big and I remove them when I see an over sized one.

Because your live rock came from an aquarium (unless it started as dead rock and was never exposed to wild or aquacultured rock OR corals that came from the wild or were exposed to wild grown just about anything) does not mean it won't harbor just about any kind of critter.

 

[Ryan Smith]

Whats a good way to remove large ones? Iv heard traps dont work very well, and I doubt I would be able to find it.

 

[DWhatley]

You can try a trap, once. They are not too expensive but they seem to work well (bait with a little piece of shrimp) only for a short time, then get ignored. Otherwise, catching it out and using turkey baster have been my best results. The fact that it is particularly fast worries me.

 

[Lmecher]

I feed the tank when they come out to feed I use very large tweezers I got at the science surplus store. You have to be quick you only get one shot.

 

[bluespotocto]

I had an out break in my tank and i would turn off the lights and put a little food in the sand. Then i flashed a light in there and when i saw any i would either pull them out with tweezers or if they are small just smash them. I have no more in my tank now.

 

[Ryan Smith]

Im a bit worried too. From what I have read, bristle worms arent as thick as it was, so it was either something else or a 8in+ bristle. I looked for it last night, and there was no sign of it. What worries me the most is that I cant find it, and Iv spent 2 months not knowing I had it. For all I know I could have many more.

 

[DWhatley]

You can try a dark (opaque) container with a food source (a small piece of table shrimp). Put it away from the rock so that the worm won't be in both places and monitor at night with a flashlight. Refresh the bait nightly. Something like an unused film canister with a hole in one end might work.

 

[Ryan Smith]

Well, Im pretty excited. After I took my dad into a huge pet store and he saw all of the cool reef tanks, now there has been discussion of a 180 gallon tank In which case Im in charge of coordinating the fish. Im not really worried about the worm anymore. If I need to, I can make sure its well fed so that it doesnt go after my fish. Anyway, when I have my octo in there, theres no chance the worm would be able to attack it. I guess it should be fine. Oh btw if you want to see anything you have ever wanted look up "That Pet Place" It is the largest pet store in the world. 110,000 sq feet of fishy awsome.

 

[Ryan Smith]

Well, Im back from my vacation in Maine, and my octo date is approaching. I have a slight problem that I dont think is much of a big deal, but Ill ask anyway. When I got back I noticed my tank was over run with algae. Its all along the sides and more importantly all over the sand. I have a tank side scrubber whick works well, the bigger issue is, how do I get the algae out of my sand? Im getting a few snails, but I had a large turbo snail who didnt seem to do much as it spent all of its time on the live rock instead of sand. I hoped that copepods would help take care of it, but I dont know where they all went? I had a bunch of them, but now I dont see many. Any suggestions on how to manualy clean or something that will do a good job of eating it?

edit* I forgot to mention I also have tons of these... Small clearish white, what I think might be some kind of anenom. Im not 100% sure what they are though, the largest Iv seen is about an inch long. They are somewhat thick and have a small crown on top of them. They also look kinda hairy.

 

[rryyddeerr]

algae blooms are pretty common in newer tanks. they can subside and will be pulled out by your skimmer once they die. or you can take a more proactive approach and try to tackle it in a couple different ways. you may have a bit of phosphate in your system, which would become evident upon testing. if so, a water change may be in order, and you might try putting a couple more snails or maybe even a burrowing sand star in your tank to keep the sand turned over well. if you can get your hands on some amphipods and worms, they can help you in the same way. having some of the less glamorous tank inhabitants that round out your food chain and give your tank a bit more diversity can be a valuable thing.

 

[DWhatley]

I would also suggest that you stir your sand bed frequently (I do mine weekly). Especially while you are removing water from the tank during a water change. However, as mentioned, algae blooms are part of the process and are the worst during tank cycling and aging. Pencil urchins are good rock cleaners and I keep them in most of my tanks but they will eat the coraline (purple) algae from the rocks (some people like it other don't). If they are not well fed, they are known to attack polyps and feather duster housings (ultimately killing the duster but the attack is on the tube it makes). Water circulation also helps and if you can experiment with the flow in the tank you may shorten some of the alge bloom.

The TONS of small whitish clear things (that are probably a pinkish color), however, may be an undesirable issue. Are they imbedded in the rock and/or stuck to the walls or are they loose in the sand? If they are down into the rock crevices and attached to the wall you likely have a major issue with aptasia. There are lots of solutions and lots of failures. My best suggestion is to get a peppermint shrimp or two (which may or may not become octo food, they often learn to avoid octos) and a bottle of Joe's Juice. Look for them at night with a flashlight (red is best) and squirt thiem with the Joe's Juice. Many people will suggest a DIY equivalent (Pickling lime is certainly a major component) and have had success with hot water and a needle, lemon juice (not a good idea when you have critters but OK now) and another aptasia product. Having tried them all, I find Joe's Juice (squirted heavily and left on overnight - not flushed when they appear to dissolve) and peppermint shrimp to work best in my tanks. Dealing with them now is recommended they repopulate like wildfire and never really die out.

 

[Ryan Smith]

Thanks for the advice, I wasnt sure if stiring the sand was good or bad, because I didnt know if it would cause some respritory issue. I have tried to find out what the white things are, and they are not aptasia I dont think. They have no pink tint at all, they are attached to the rock, and are not hard to remove. I can just poke them and they fall off. Iv seen pics of aptasia, and I dont believe that is what they are. But anyway, I ordered some cleaner shrimp, and am wondering will they eat whatever they are too?