Identify please. Found these guys in my filter

[dhero5]

I was doing a filter change and found these guys. About 1 week ago I had introduced a chocolate chip starfish into the tank and was doing well. About 4 days in is wasn't moving much and didn't look well. Needless to say the poor guy didn't make it, but as I was looking at him in the last days I noticed a small thin worm come out of his arm onto the glass. I am not sure if he had something that killed him this was transferred to the tank. I have a FOWLR.

 

[Big G]

Welcome to R2R! Looks like a Bristleworm. Bad news. Their bristles can hurt you and any fish that come in contact. They are scavengers for the most part. They can take over a tank and can grow to be quite large. You want to get rid of them.

 

[Ghxst]

Welcome! I dont know of many people that are bristle worm free. I count them as a free clean up crew that do a better job than most. Like Big said, toss the big ones you catch. They always get a bad rap cause they are found eating things we like, but those things are usually dead before they go to work. I have thousands of them in my tank and never had a coral or animal loss due to them, some fish even eat them.

If you want more insite on why the starfish died post up your tank details, age, water chemistry and everything you can do these fine R2R folks can be of more assistance. Blindly guessing the thin worms might have been a spaghetti worm, another great cleaning worm that eats dead and dying things.

 

[Ghxst]

Said spaghetti worm

 

[dhero5]

Thank you for the response. What is the typical method of getting rid of these? I've had this tank for almost two years and have never had this type of issue.

 

[Ghxst]

They probably came in your rock and have been there since.

 

[Big G]

Some wrasses and shrimps will eat them. Doubt they will completely eliminate them, but they could keep the numbers low. Some folks like to look for them when the lights are off in your tank. Use a flashlight with a piece of translucent red plastic film over the lens to spot them. Happy hunting!

 

[dhero5]

They probably came in your rock and have been there since.

I've had the same rock for almost two years it's the original live rock. Like you had previously said it's possible iAd had them in the past but only now notice them now that they have gotten larger.

 

[Ghxst]

Search for a bristle worm trap if you want more details and pics. It's essentially a plastic bottle on its side with a small hole on the top end. You unscrew the cap and put a dead thing in it like a shrimp, fill with tank water, recap it, put near rocks at the bottom and check the next day. Repeat as nessiary moving to other rock locations, the worms stay in one area.

Or you can leave em alone and let them eat extra food, clean the rocks and sand and generally do their thing.

 

[dhero5]

I decided to take a look this morning after the lights were out. I think this is them? I may try the worm trap since I had found about 7 of these little ones on the glass this morning.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I decided to take a look this morning after the lights were out. I think this is them? I may try the worm trap since I had found about 7 of these little ones on the glass this morning.

I don't think that's a bristle worm. That looks like a mollusk (snail or limpet) or a flat worm.

 

[Ghxst]

What he said. You'll be amazed what's in your tank when you look at night. All part of the bio diversity needed to keep a good tank going.

 

[Tautog]

Those worms, in the top picture, are only parts, which means you definitely have more. They do clean up better than most, but if you don't like them their easy to get rid of. I'm sure there's a thread, but simply put, take a water bottle, cap off, cut 2 straws in half, and inject the straws threw the bottle in 4 spots. Attach straws to bottle so that bottle is suspended above sand, add food, replace cap after tank water fills bottle. Theory is worms will travel up straws to get decaying food in bottle, once in bottle they won't be able to return out via the straws.

 

[tankstudy]

I actually had to trade a frag for the bristle worms. They do a great amount of cleaning and sand shifting.

 

[Reefiness]

Those are bristle worms and they are good for your tank, not bad like some may say. They are basically the janitor that comes into you work office during the night shift to keep everything clean.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Those are bristle worms and they are good for your tank, not bad like some may say. They are basically the janitor that comes into you work office during the night shift to keep everything clean.

Agreed. I have been reefing for 10 years now, have had lots of bristle worms in every tank I have set up (too many to count) and have never, ever had a problem with them. some are quite large as well, but not the monsters you occasionally see people post.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you get a real predatory species in your tank... you'll soon know if thats the case, but your pic looks like the ones I have always had.

 

[dhero5]

Thank you all for your comments. As I was inspecting the tank more I found a good number of these guys but they almost looks like a bunch of snails. They have a cone shape with antennas at the wide end. I did also see what I think is a tiny thin worm which I could being the bristle. Either way looks like I have some new members on the tank.

 

[krullshards]

Thank you all for your comments. As I was inspecting the tank more I found a good number of these guys but they almost looks like a bunch of snails. They have a cone shape with antennas at the wide end. I did also see what I think is a tiny thin worm which I could being the bristle. Either way looks like I have some new members on the tank.

Those look like stomata snails. Those are neat little fellas. They have this half shell that doesn't really cover them and they run around staying small cleaning up.

The bristleworms, while they may not be harmful to your tank (at least initially some people will tell you differently) do have a tendency to proliferate and they can get large as crap. They also wig me the hell out. I pulled one out of my little 29 gallon tank the was starting to be able to stretch all the way across the tank.

I read something where someone said something along the lines of, "if you see one or two it likely means you have many many more that you never see." They are the stealthiest jerks around. Anyway, definitely nothing to panic about but removing them from the tank isn't necessarily a mistake either IMO.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Part of the hobby and almost unavoidable. (trust me I tried)....If you want to minimize them id recommend to hit them with a diy trap every 6 months. You'll never get rid of them all but if their not being a Pest in your tank you can't classify them as a pest.

 

[Fudsey]

Have have tons of these as well and according to others, they will self control their population. They do a great job of cleaning up left over food. Usually means you are probably over feeding.