hitchhikers from LFS

[DaveInSavannah]

Hello all, I'm in the process of setting up a 75 gallon tank to transition from the 10 gallon that has been sitting on my desk for 6 months. I have an order for marco dry rock, but ended up grabbing a 2lb piece of live rock ($6.99/lb) from my LFS.

So far, I have pulled off 20 or so of these worms (bristle worms?) and 2 star fish. I know there are several other worms because they keep darting back into the holes in the rock.

Is this the norm for pricey live rock? Are these harmless bristle worms?

Note: ignore the bits of what look like blue green cyano on black sand. The worms got dumped in a piece of tupperware I was using to clean up the smaller tank.

 

[shakacuz]

with live rock you will get hitch hikers. ideally the fewer, the better, unless you desire to have them in your tank.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Bristleworms are not necessarily a pest, they simply eat food that your fish miss and prevent it from rotting in crevices. Their issue is that they can sting, so just be careful when picking up rocks blindly. Invaluable member of my tanks' CUC.
Mini starfish are 'asterina' (aquilonastra), some people say they eat coral and other people don't. I have thousands in my tank, and they don't hurt a thing, but I would keep an eye on them. Zoanthids are the most commonly eaten.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello all, I'm in the process of setting up a 75 gallon tank to transition from the 10 gallon that has been sitting on my desk for 6 months. I have an order for marco dry rock, but ended up grabbing a 2lb piece of live rock ($6.99/lb) from my LFS.

So far, I have pulled off 20 or so of these worms (bristle worms?) and 2 star fish. I know there are several other worms because they keep darting back into the holes in the rock.

Is this the norm for pricey live rock? Are these harmless bristle worms?

Note: ignore the bits of what look like blue green cyano on black sand. The worms got dumped in a piece of tupperware I was using to clean up the smaller tank.

Often live rock is mystery rock as you never know whats in the holes. Not abnormal while on my behalf Not warranted. With live rock, I often place in a container of tank water with no circulation to allow hitchhikers to com out.
Wild rock such as gulf can come with crabs, mantis shrimp and other surprises

 

[jda]

Those are bristle worms. They are harmless and do an invaluable job of keeping your reef functioning and clean. The worst thing about them is that if you grab a rock on the bottom, you might get some bristles in your skin, so be careful and wear gloves.

Even if you don't want bristle worms, it is probably impossible to keep them all out.

Most hitchhikers are very good. Pods, some algae, starfish, crabs, worms, bio film, etc. Aiptasia sucks - some others suck. The diversity out weights the bad things. What you get with no diversity is plenty of territory for dinos and nasty algae to take over.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hello all, I'm in the process of setting up a 75 gallon tank to transition from the 10 gallon that has been sitting on my desk for 6 months. I have an order for marco dry rock, but ended up grabbing a 2lb piece of live rock ($6.99/lb) from my LFS.

So far, I have pulled off 20 or so of these worms (bristle worms?) and 2 star fish. I know there are several other worms because they keep darting back into the holes in the rock.

Is this the norm for pricey live rock? Are these harmless bristle worms?

Note: ignore the bits of what look like blue green cyano on black sand. The worms got dumped in a piece of tupperware I was using to clean up the smaller tank.

Why are you buying live rock if you don't want the "live" stuff?

 

[DaveInSavannah]

Why are you buying live rock if you don't want the "live" stuff?

Why are you buying live rock if you don't want the "live" stuff?

"live" stuff is fine. The starfish went back in the tank after I did some internet searching. There's also tiny crustaceans and of course the microbial life. It doesn't mean that I want every single bit of it. Particularly in a new tank that has no balancing predators.

Mostly I was surprised at the number of critters that came off of a 10 inch rock from a pet store. My first saltwater tank was a 10 gallon setup with water, rock, and shrimp all pulled from a brackish estuary. There were bonus critters on those rocks, but the quantity paled in comparison to what came from the pet store.

 

[KrisReef]

"live" stuff is fine. The starfish went back in the tank after I did some internet searching. There's also tiny crustaceans and of course the microbial life. It doesn't mean that I want every single bit of it. Particularly in a new tank that has no balancing predators.

Mostly I was surprised at the number of critters that came off of a 10 inch rock from a pet store. My first saltwater tank was a 10 gallon setup with water, rock, and shrimp all pulled from a brackish estuary. There were bonus critters on those rocks, but the quantity paled in comparison to what came from the pet store.

Before you start getting coral you should look into how to dip them to prevent plagues that come in of frags. Those surprizes are not generally the nice kind. Thinking maybe we should change the old handle to "Rock with Life" to capture the idea better for folks to expect?

It's a nice rock, imo.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

We love the hitchhikers honestly speaking. We use KP Aquatics for our gulf wet live rock. It's crazy the life that comes pouring out. Yeah, you have to watch it for several weeks, but that is the fun of it. We now have a mantis tank due to the stuff that came off the last order. Next Thursday we have nearly 100 pounds of wet premium rock taking a ride on a SouthWest flight to put in our newest build. We plan to take the first month just to let the hitchhikers settle in so we can see what we have. Yeah, the BWs can sting, and when they get big you have to get them out. BUT they are a great asset to the CUC. We currently have numerous pistol shrimp in our tank, the big one we call "Pistol Pete". This nano (IM 20) is in our bedroom and Pistol Pete's clicking can actually wake you up. We think recently he traded in his 6 shooter for a gat. After all, we do live in Memphis.

 

[jda]

If you manage to keep all of the bad "live" things out of your tank, then you might be the first one that ever did, or you just never added anything. Even the most careful still get aiptasia and other things that slip by their corals QTs and all of that. This is not to dissimilar to humans where if you want to avoid all of the live things out there, you just need to build a bubble and stay in it... or be smart and do the best that you can.

The best approach is to limit your exposure with a coral QT and some dips and stuff. However, you still have to have things in your tank to consume those nasty items.

That of that stuff that came in on a 10 inch rock, multiplied by how ever many more rocks that you need, is what can make your tank more successful than the many others that used dry rock. You cannot even imagine the amount of pods, starfish, worms, etc. that will appear if you keep your water parameters in good order. They will form the ecosystem that will make this very easy for you.