what is it??

[Starion]

hi,
was just feeding my fish, and theres something that looks kinda like a caterpilla darting in and out of the holes in my rocks getting food... it looks as tho it has a heap of legs like a caterpilla and is probably a bit thicker than a pensil and about 7cm long..

Its brown and moves way too fast for me to get a good photo with the digital camera..

any ideas?

[Germanman]

it is either an amphapod, isopod, or copeopod. just google them and see if u find a match. when u do let us know and we can tell u all about it if u have any questions after that:)

[Starion]

doesnt look like any of those :(

[Starion]

this is a crappy vid, but you can just see him pop out of the rock around the 12 - 14 second mark..

its hard cos he is in all the dark spots and is so fast lol..

http://home.iprimus.com.au/debtast/PICT0001.AVI

oops, didnt realise it was 4.1mb :S

[Starion]

gonna have to wait until i feed the fish tomorrow now :(
ah well

[Germanman]

is it a bristle worm maybe?

[Starion]

that looks a lot more like it...

let me guess... they are bad :S lol

[Germanman]

no they are benificial scavengers in aquaria...but look up one more will ya? Mysis shrimp or mysids

[Starion]

looks just like this but brown...

http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/SeaLife/MarineAnimalsWithoutBackbones/3/ENZ-Resources/Standard/1/en

[Starion]

nah definitely not a Mysis shrimp, although there was one of those crawling around the other night too.. haha.. learning heaps today

[Starion]

thanks for your help... :D

but now i have to go eat dinner, so will be slow on replies if you reply again..

[Germanman]

well good if thats it u have no worries! enjoy ur food! i myself need to head off to bed because it is 2am here.

[Starion]

well i've found something else...

last night after everyone had gone to bed, fish tank lights off, etc, i went out to get a drink and had a look to see if there was any movement..

Theres something, its about 10cm long about as skinny as a piece of spaghetti and swims like a sea snake or something (only thing i could think to compare it with) oh and its white..


Any ideas???

[Germanman]

a worm...but did it have anything like ridges on its side? or was it completely smooth? also how did it swim dorsoventrally or side-to-side?

[Starion]

no idea what dorsoventrally means but it went side to side, just had its head up near the top of the water.. and im not sure about the sides of it.. it kinda looked smooth but then the sides of it looked as though it had ripples...

[Germanman]

no idea what dorsoventrally means but it went side to side, just had its head up near the top of the water.. and im not sure about the sides of it.. it kinda looked smooth but then the sides of it looked as though it had ripples...
there are 1000's of worms that u can just get hitchhiking and millions in one area in the ocean...if u can catch it then try if not u shouldnt need to worry. i have un ID'ed worms in my tank that swim around at night and they have caused no harm. and dorsoventrally means um...i cant really enplane it other ways....i guess top to bottom....but not really. sorry about the scientific term...and a bio major i tend to turn them out...if i ever confuse u in the future feel free to pm me about the term:)

[Starion]

haha fair enough.. well he hasnt caused any harm yet, and im happy to have the extra life in there, makes it more like the ocean i guess, all the little critters..

If he starts causing trouble then i will see about doing something about it.. shouldnt be hard to catch, cos he sits at the top and moves quite slow...


Thanks for your help..

[jadouin]

answering your first question about your caterpillar looking thing.
I do believe you have a bristle worm. I have a couple in my live rock and they haven't been a bother to my tank. I do believe one of the reasons they show up is from over feeding and they will multiply so try feeding less. I cut down on my feeding and don't see them anymore. But don't worry cause they won't harm your tank

[Germanman]

answering your first question about your caterpillar looking thing.
I do believe you have a bristle worm. I have a couple in my live rock and they haven't been a bother to my tank. I do believe one of the reasons they show up is from over feeding and they will multiply so try feeding less. I cut down on my feeding and don't see them anymore. But don't worry cause they won't harm your tank
usually the deposit feeding bristle worms dont swim...their larva stage will but typically they stay on the bottom when mature.