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Today while doing a weekly water change I noticed something unusual, there seems to be a large (about 4 inches) centipede looking thing in my tank, it freaked me out. I would have a pic of him, but am deathly afraid of creepy centipede things, so Im not going to stick my hand in the tank again. He seems to run atop the crushed coral then dives under it when someone, or a fish is looking at him. Is he ok to be in there? Or is he evil? As well there seems to be a lot of pineapple sponges, and something that looks like a Condy only its black and about an inch tall from base to tentacles and about 1/8 inch wide. I know the pineapples are ok, but what of the other two

Will try to convince someone to stick hand in the tank as soon as possible for a pic.

Thanks
-ed-

Sounds like a Bristle worm. I have a couple of them now. They seem to grow pretty quick. Not really harmfull, Most people keep them since they eat detritus.
The other sounds like an Aptaisia anemonie. If it is they can quickly spread and are harmfull as they will sting tankmates. Peppermint shrimp do a good job on the Aptaisias and I beleive there is a shrimp that will take care of the bristle worms ,some fish eat them also.I will post when I find the list of things that eat them!

[span class="edited"][Edited by fishheadfred 2004-08-29 17:43][/span]

Sounds like a bristleworm to me as well.. I'd not worry about it and usually when you see one bristleworm, there's about 20 more hiding in the rocks somewhere.. If you'd really like to see how many there might be, wait until you turn the lights out on the tank and then drop a few shrimp pellets.. It'll be like you're ringing the dinner bell..

If they bother you, you can remove them but don't use your bare hands.. Those bristles will and do penetrate skin and it's not the most comfortable thing to experience..

Good Luck

oh god really?!?!?!?! ewwwwwwww they get in your skin?!? yuck, i have nightmares about that kind of thing. Anyone interested in buying a new(ish) aquarium full of bristal worms? Just kidding

out of sheer morbid curiosity i will feed them tonight and tell you how many i can find. Thanks for identifying them for me.

Oh,, and is there any other little "friends" i should be expecting soon, i already have the worms and the Aptaisias and the pineapples comming out, what else is common?

thanks again
-ed-
p.s. never ever sticking my hand in the water again....

LoL, actually I'd buy a tank full of bristleworms. I think they're awesome.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.