What the !?@$ is this!?!?

[Mini Coop]

I

i have never ever had unidentifiable critters except stomatella snails. What in heavens name is this!? Is it bad? And how do I get rid of it if I need to!??? It looks mostly white and was coming out of a rock.

 

[Peter Blue Reef]

Bristle worm. They are harmless to your system and eat detritus often. They will sting your skin if you touch them with your bare hands. I hate them because they look like the X files. I have zero in my system in my system and dip with Bayer Complete.

 

[scriptmonkey]

Did you put some new rock in your tank lately?

 

[MRodrigues1991]

Bristle worm, mixed bag from people as to whether or not they are an issue. Many have just left them in their tanks without issue. But just be careful the bristles on its body can be an irritant.

 

[Mini Coop]

Did you put some new rock in your tank lately?

No! That's the weird thing! I've had it set up since July and never seen one!

 

[Peter Blue Reef]

You can get rid of it by doing a "total tank tear down". Move fish and corals (after removing corals dip with Bayer) to a new or different system and kill all of your rocks and sand. At this point you are starting over. Or get a dragon wrasse to flip your rocks and something that eats the spawn of Satan.

 

[scriptmonkey]

Well I will give you this, it does look creepy looking. Are you going to keep it? Give it a name like Brissilly McWormface?

 

[Peter Blue Reef]

Hey Mini. You have more than one. Just FYI. you just haven't found them. They will multiply if conditions are right. In your case they are.

 

[Dsnakes]

I have a few of the type. They are nasty looking fellas, but don't bother me as long as they do their job on the detritus! I do keep my hands clear though.

 

[Core]

Loved looking at my tank in the middle of the night. Creepy some of the things that can come out. Get yourself a headlamp with red light on it. Probably more than one of those in there.

 

[RyanCSGO]

They are generally beneficial when in small numbers and in smaller sizes. They are essentially part of your clean up crew. If you added and new corals that were attached to a small piece of rubble even a drag plug it could have come in that way. I've always had a few in each tank I've had

 

[Dancingmad]

I like them - wriggling and om noming through all the rockwork (doing worm things! Imagine a garden without some worms. That is a sad garden ). They can get those hard to reach places! Plus they're totally gnarly!

 

[BrunoSnow]

Imo bristle worm is beneficial for the reef but if you really want tho get reed of them an arrow crab (stenorhynchus seticornis) is the way but I think that the crab is far worst in your tank

 

[Tori]

You can get rid of it by doing a "total tank tear down". Move fish and corals (after removing corals dip with Bayer) to a new or different system and kill all of your rocks and sand. At this point you are starting over. Or get a dragon wrasse to flip your rocks and something that eats the spawn of Satan.

Sounds awful . You'd probably just get them again eventually if you're still adding stuff.

 

[Peter Blue Reef]

Sounds awful . You'd probably just get them again eventually if you're still adding stuff.

If you kill the rocks and sand you will eliminate them. I only use dead/dry rock and dip all of my frags. Bayer kills everyone when I dip.

 

[Turkey head]

At one point they just showed up in my tank too. Haven't bothered anything. I'd just let them go. It doesn't look like a bad type.

 

[laineyg6]

Just a little old bristle worm. They can get big and scary looking, but they're harmless. Some bristle worms are seriously harmful, but these guys are fine. Just don't touch it with bare hands. It's called a bristle worm for a reason.