Peanut worms, bristle worms & fireworms, and tiny snails

by **jweb** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:53 am

Okay so this live rock I just got from a guy. It was in his tank for 2 years and it looked stunning. Every single piece was covered in coraline. It was amazing. He told me there might be a few bristle worms in there, and that if I wanted them out I can buy a cheap trap to do the trick. He also gave me about 60 lbs of sand from his tank.
I put the sand and rock into my tank and tonight I noticed that there are really long worms that stretch out from the rocks and go through the sand called peanut worms. I researched them and they seem to be okay and good detritus eaters and food for carnivorous reef fish. I also saw very tiny snails like the size of a grain of rice. They were on the coraline covered rocks. Also when my actinics were on a bit earlier I seen a big bristle worm (I think it is a bristle worm it could be a fire worm, I saw about 2-3" of it, the rest was behind a rock so not sure on exact size). Later tonight after thorough inspection I began to notice tiny bristle worms all over the rocks. I saw at least 10 of them. That was only what I saw though, so I'm sure there are tons more. The coraline looks like it is diminishing, almost fading away. It is a noticeable amount every day.

The questions I have are:

1.) What is the major difference in appearance between bristle worms and fire worms?
2.)Are bristle worms bad for reef tanks? If so, how do I deal with them?
3.) Are those tiny snails bad for reef tanks? If so, how do I deal with them?
4.) Why is my coraline fading? Is it natural for it to fade a bit when introduced to a new tank?

I also added a bit of purple up to maybe help the coraline transition to my new water.

I am just freaking out about it, eventhough all of this stuff was in his tank and looked to be amazingly well kept. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

by **jweb** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:58 am

5.) Could these inhabitants be causing my coraline to diminish?

Saltwaterpimp told me that Six-line wrasses eat bristle worms as well as most of the sand sifting clean up crew that keeps your sand floor pristine. I wanted to get a Six-line wrasse, but he told me that I should wait at least 6 months for everything to develop. Oh maybe instead of a six-line, a dottyback?

worms just freak me out and give me the heeby geebies... Plus I've been pulling their spines out of my hands for the past week...

EDIT:

After an hour of searching and reading, I came up with some new conclusions. I don't need to get rid of them, just need to control them. I know that there is one larger one in the tank and have only seen him once. The larger ones are the worst is what I've summed up so far. How do I get this larger one out? A glass bottle with some dead shrimp is one method I read. Whad'ya think?

by **fihsboy** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:08 pm

i think you should leave him. :) sounds weird.......but I have heard a lot of good and a lot of bad. Personally.......I have seen one over 2 feet long in a tank. Helped open the lfs one morning.......turned on his 125 display.......and i shit you not......there was a worm exteneded almost the length of the front cleaning and eating sand. it was a cuke.......but its still a worm. I have bristleworms in my tank, one probably 6-8 inches that my six line wont touch.

by **jweb** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:08 pm

I have heard good too. Today I was moving rock and they was 5 tiny ones on one rock out in plain sight under my 10,000K 196 watt lights... I wasn't even using gloves.

Update:

Everywhere I look they are there. It takes some time for my eyes to adjust to find them, but I just found 16 with all my lights on. This could be bad, huh?

by **newbie916** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:16 pm

I have a crap load of bristle worms, snails, copepods, starfish in my tank. So far they haven't harmed any corals or fish. The worms come out when I feed the tank and I could see them grabbing mysis shrimp and krill from their little holes. The largest is at least 6 inches long. I wouldn't worry about it and they seem to be a good addition to the cleaning crew.

by **jweb** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:24 pm

okay... hmm, maybe that settles me a bit. Thanks for the info. I read that they can reach 24 inches, YUCK!

by **jweb** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:46 am

I have some kind of snails in my tank, they are tiny about half the size of my pinky nail and smaller. They have a weird shell that is like a hat almost, it looks like one of those rice hats that asians wear. They aren't any form of turbo snail. The shell just looks like they are under a cap. Like there are twists on the inside. They stick to the glass and rocks and if you try to remove them the suction so hard you nearly kill them. anyways, the guy i got them from for free said they were expensive to buy, like $10 a piece and he said they get quarter size. Can anyone help me ID them?

by **saltwaterpimp** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:56 am

Limpet

by **blueshoes2208** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:39 am

haha i think i have an astrea snail that ditched his shell and its cruisin commando around in my tank, i never could figure it out but he was on the front of the glass the other day

by **jweb** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:56 am

limpets are exactly what they are. are they good for a reef tank? from what i read they only eat algae.

Peanut worms, bristle worms & fireworms, and tiny snails

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