Little 1000 legger types in Nano Cube

[Morel]

Hi guys, been awhile.

So I'm lookin at my 5 gallon Nano tank with 1 yellow tail, and live rock. Been pretty stable for a while now..

Then just tonight I notice these little white worm lookin things.. They got legs like a 1,000 legger, and there are a TON of them! They weren't there a week ago... They sorta look like a arm from a brittle star.. But only the arm and theres 30 of them crawlling around on the glass, the sand, the liverock..


What the heck are these things and should I kill them?!

I also have something that looks like my sand is growing well.. twigs.. Little white twig things are growing in my sand..

ok, Correction I was gonna say somet weird things are growing out of my sand but now that I think of it all those little white things are the dead corpses of these little worms.. It's been like that for months now! Ahh crap.. I have no idea why I never noticed these things. And I stare into my tank alot..

Sheesh..

Any ideas? suggestions? sorry the pics so bad, it's the best I could do with my crappy camera. The sorta look like smaller, fireworms but with no color..

PS, I should add except for these suckers my tank is pretty healthy, with no problems that I can see. It's been set up for over 2 years.
I have all types of alge, little red tuffs of stuff that go in and out of there tubes on my live rock, and a few other things that are interesting looking.. Though I have no idea what the names of 1/2 of them are :) I got a few snails, and some crabs eatin the bottom clean.. And plenty of the purple stuff that's on the live rock :)
I check the salinity on a regular basis but thats pretty much it.. It's a sealed tank so I don't have much water loss, no salt creep, and I guess i'm one of those lucky ones that get to have a tank with little upkeep and everything stays healthy.. I've had the fish in there for almost a year and a 1/2..
I got 3 peices of liverock, put them on top of the lava rock that I had, and now the lava rock looks like the live rock I got.. Complete with its own worms and little critters living in and on them :)

Things living in this cube (from lookin at the "identify your hitchhikers" post..

Siderastrea radians
Phyllangia americana
sabellids
Keyhole limpets
tiny red serpulid (calcareous) worms (lots and lots and growing)
hydroids (a couple)

[fastbackgly]

Probably a flatworm of some type. They aren't bad, but they can fiill up a tank pretty fast.

[Morel]

Hrmm.. Well i've searched for the past hour looking at pics and what not.. And have yet to find anything that looks like it really.

And theres more this morning :(

[fishieness]

Probably a flatworm of some type. They aren't bad, but they can fiill up a tank pretty fast.
flat worms do not have legs, so you can rule those out.
do you have a clearer pic? i have seen a few very very tiny ones in my tank. how long are those ones?

[Morel]

from 1 to 3 inches..

They eat whatever food floats to the bottom like nuts..

[Barnett8]

spahgetti worms (pardon my spelling) harmless if they are. and they are actually good for the tank, as almost all worms are. :thm:

[Morel]

nope not them..

The look like little white fireworms actually..

[singern]

What about Bristle-worms.

[Morel]

It looks like those yes, but there smaller and all white except for a lil black dot where you see a mouth or something on the head..

[singern]

Your LPS has a special little trap, you put food in it and in the morning its full of the little *******s. Do this for a week or so, or until you don’t find any in your tank.

Also you can get arrow crab, and or coral banded shrimp, they will have a picnic.... Hope this helps.

[OrionGirl]

Keep in mind that any time detrivore numbers start spiking, it means there's one heck of a food source in there for them. Removing the critters is treating the symptom, not the problem. You'll want to either add a detrivore that you can live with, and start cleaning up some more, feeding less, etc.

[Morel]

Ya problem is I have one yellow tail in there and he's a fussy eater.. I put a small pinch in and he takes one or 2 nibbles and then slowly eats the rest over the next hour..

So I have to give more to make sure he eats enough.. :)

PS, I looked up that crab and saw it eats featherdusters :( I don't want it to eat those guys. hehe..

[OrionGirl]

Try adding some nasarrius or cerith snails. They'll do a better job of cleanup without being a thread to anything else.

As for being a fussy eater...Ha! He has you well trained. What are you feeding? You might want to try something else, but I wouldn't worry about him starving. Trust me--it's more likely that the fish is snacking on algae and pods, so just isn't that hungry in the food your offering. Reduced feedings is unlikely to cause a problem.

[Morel]

Thanks! I plan to head over to thatfishplace store and pick some up! hopefully that will at least tone down the population a tad. Since well having a tank filled with worms isn't exactly the look I'm going for :)

Oh, and without having to start a new thread, how do you think a clownfish would get along with my yellowtail damsel? I always wanted one and I know the yellow tails are semi-agressive.. :)

[singern]

Oh, and without having to start a new thread, how do you think a clownfish would get along with my yellowtail damsel? I always wanted one and I know the yellow tails are semi-agressive.. :)

Yellow tail Damsel can be aggressive and territorial, if you get two of them they will chase each other and leave all other fish alone.

[OrionGirl]

In a 5 gallon tank, 2 fish is WAY too many. A small clown like a percule will be hard pressed to compete with an esptablished damsel, and any of the larger clowns will be cramped in such a small tank. No way.

[Morel]

In a 5 gallon tank, 2 fish is WAY too many. A small clown like a percule will be hard pressed to compete with an esptablished damsel, and any of the larger clowns will be cramped in such a small tank. No way.

I figured as much, I just wanted to make sure.. ;)

Now.. Where'd I put my 55 gallon?

hehe