Fast snake-like or eel-like thing

Karen00 · May 27, 2022

VanIsleReefTherapy said:
Yeah, you do you... No thanks!

I agree. There is no way I would let a wormy thing like that stay in my house. If you have already noticed fish being attacked then regardless of what it is it needs to be gone, gone, gone.

JoJosReef · May 28, 2022

That looks like a Eunice to me, too. I've tried bristleworm traps. The Eunice in my tanks don't seem to venture too far out of from the rocks and always have a tail anchored in. The only way I got one of mine out (on accident) was to shoot boiling water on a rock I took out--boiling water was aimed at an aiptasia, bit the eunice came charging out--freaky, I tell you.

If the rock is removable and not covered with valuable livestock, I'd try shooting some soda water in the hole(s) to coax it out, and if not, freshwater dip it.

VanIsleReefTherapy · May 28, 2022

Trap is in, lights are off, now we wait and hope Jacques the cleaner shrimp is smart enough to stay out of the bottle. There's not much spa e for him to get in, and I guess even if he went in, he could sit on top of the opening and be safe, but whatever this thing is, it's very fast. I'm anxiously checking every two minutes....

polyppal · May 28, 2022

FurrierTransform said:
Make it a pet in its own little tank: https://reefbuilders.com/2014/02/27/eunice-worm-pet/

Odd things make for a very interesting pet.

Welp that’s a nightmare tonight, thanks

polyppal · May 28, 2022

VanIsleReefTherapy said:
Trap is in, lights are off, now we wait

polyppal · May 28, 2022

sawdonkey said:
No! It will grow underground and steal children from their beds at night!

I’ve heard of this before

Ro Bow · May 28, 2022

VanIsleReefTherapy said:
Trap is in, lights are off, now we wait and hope Jacques the cleaner shrimp is smart enough to stay out of the bottle. There's not much spa e for him to get in, and I guess even if he went in, he could sit on top of the opening and be safe, but whatever this thing is, it's very fast. I'm anxiously checking every two minutes....

best of luck!

VanIsleReefTherapy · May 28, 2022

Stuck the rock in a 5g bucket with the trap crammed in next to it. I dunno if the little monster is even still in there, but I can't sleep with it in my tank. I'll check in the morning to see if I caught anything.

In other news, while I was waiting, I got to see a tiny baby micro brittle crawling up the glass. I'm so excited!

Also, some scurrying shrimp or lobster-like thing my kiddo said she's een before. I just saw the quick scrambling movement while I was trying to get my phone to focus on the star. It's bigger that a pod. I've been hearing tiny clicks and heard one again after it scuttled away. I might have a tiny pistol. But that's also weird.

I freshwater dipped that gsp rock and only got a small fat bristle and a micro brittle (which spawned as soon as it hit the water in my tank, then was attacked by my bigger hermit). Not much else came off of it. Obviously tons of life can survive a couple of minutes in fresh water. Don't worry, folks I have revive and coral rx now for dipping. Maybe I should dip the rock and see what happens, but I like most of my hitchhikers quite a lot and I'm reluctant to kill them.

Still, are there itty bitty pistol shrimp? Time to research their life cycle, etc.

Dburr1014 · May 28, 2022

polyppal said:
I’ve heard of this before

I remember the movie tremors. Those worms tunnel in the ground. Ewww.

polyppal · May 28, 2022

Dburr1014 said:
I remember the movie tremors. Those worms tunnel in the ground. Ewww.

the billion dollar Hollywood remake we really need

VanIsleReefTherapy · May 28, 2022

So, no luck with the trap last night, nor stirring the dish of sand that was under the rock, nor a long dip in RO, nor pouring boiling water over it. Nothing but a couple of pods and a lot of dead beneficial bacteria. Hopefully microbacter7 will help with that.

I rinsed the rock with RO, then in clean saltwater, then back in the tank, along with the trap.

I think the little beast went to hide in the other piece of rock while I went to the grocery store to get an appropriate bottle and now I'm back to square one, except i no longer know exactly where it is.

I'm obviously not going to kill off the other rock, too, but I'm pretty discouraged. I'll give the tank time to process the die off, and regroup. Maybe my trap will catch something, bristleworms at least.

Alexraptor · May 28, 2022

I wonder.... Have you ever seen it clearly, or has it always been too quick to get a good look at?

I just find the way it moves a bit reminiscent of when my mantis shrimp sometimes pops out of a hole to grab food, and you did mention clicking sounds.

G Santana · May 28, 2022

Alexraptor said:
I wonder.... Have you ever seen it clearly, or has it always been too quick to get a good look at?

I just find the way it moves a bit reminiscent of when my mantis shrimp sometimes pops out of a hole to grab food, and you did mention clicking sounds.

The first thing that came to mind was a mantis shrimp, it moved really fast!!!

VanIsleReefTherapy · May 29, 2022

So, there has been a mysterious shrimp-like thing that my kiddo saw "it looked like a dark little lobster" and I also saw it myself out of my peripheral vision last night. Very fast both times. No way I'm going to get a picture of that. I do hope it isn't a mantis or a eunice worm, but whatever it is, I'm not trying to get it out again, barring actual problems.

This experience has been humbling. I've decided (again) to relax and stop freaking out and doing stupid things to my tank, like killing one of two rocks for nothing. I've got a bit of a nitrite spike after soaking in clean saltwater and putting the rock back in. The cleaner shrimp and hermit look okay and both are behaving normally, but I will probably do a partial water change again tomorrow if nitrites aren't back to zero after a second dose of Microbacter7.

Although the water is a bit cloudy, ammonia is zero and other parameters besides the nitrite seem to be in range. I'm going back to remembering the mantra that nothing good happens fast in a reef tank, and trying to just trust the system and leave it alone.

I hate being a novice when I'm responsible for dependent beings. It makes me anxious, and no one thinks well in fight/flight/freeze. This will pass though, my creatures and i just need to survive the first year!

If I ever figure out what's in my tank, I'll post a follow up.

Thanks for the company.

JoJosReef · May 29, 2022

I'm with you! Mistakes all along the way. For future ref, I think it was boiling water that is meant to be a No-No with rocks because it can make the rock explode if the pressure builds up inside--don't quote me on that, I'll have to go back and find where I read it. When I used boiling water, it was just a few mL on the surface to kill an aiptasia which must have coincidentally been by the eunice worm's hidey hole. Good luck with your critters, and hope they play nice!