What is this?!

[dankolle]

Ok, so I cleaned my tank pretty good tonight and I noticed this in the foam filter in my overflow box in the "to-sump" flow. It's freakin' me out kinda, and there are a ton of these little critters running around in there. Very lively, very active. Should I be worried? Am I going to wake up one day to 3,000 Leagues under the sea? haha

 

[Ted]

yes eventually they will eat you. We lose more reefers to that then tank crashes. Sorry about that your toast. :mrgreen:








Just kidding look like some type of nubranch (shelless snail) Have you seen any on your corals? I am thinking its just some free cuc that hitch hiked in. Lets see what Bif says.

 

[dcantucson]

Looks like we may lose another member! :mrgreen:
What a bummer...........

 

[bjohanson1234]

Those are bristle worms
They are a great :pooh: eater. I have tons of them in my tank, If you dont like them, take some nylons and put some uncooked table shrimp in it, leave it over night and take it out in the morning. You wont ever get rid of them all but can keep the population down.

Brian

 

[dankolle]

hahaha...no I haven't seen any on the corals. If I "wake" the tank up after it's been sleeping for a few hours I see them scurry around and hide...but they are mostly in my down tube filter. Don't see them bothering corals or anemones...but I am having issues with that one coral recently...

 

[dankolle]

Ok cool...I don't really care if they are in there if they aren't hurting anything. Should I be worried about any of my fish or corals?

 

[Bifferwine]

Nope, no worries. They are safe and will help clean up fish crap and uneaten food.

 

[dankolle]

sweet! Thanks

 

[Ted]

Dang could be bristles man need to clean my glasses or get more then 3 hours of sleep a day. Pick one up rub it on your skin if it hurts like hell then its defiantly bristle worms. (kidding dont do that) It is free cuc though so was half right.

 

[R Cubed]

The first pic is amphipods they are little "bugs" you may see especially at night. They are beneficial scavengers and are very common. You dont need to worry about them. They also reproduce like crazy so if you lose a few during cleaning it is no biggie.

 

[daugherty]

yep the first ones are pods which are good fish food and the ones on the sponge are bristle worms which are good for cleaning detritus

 

[Sharkie]

LOL ted xD bristles are evil! D: sharkie has had bad experiences with them... but they are good cleaners so just don't touch em...


the first ones are amphipods, good critters that eat stuff too... they reproduce like crazy and theres some critters that use em for food :)