worms

[Kendra]

Hey, guys. I just set up my tank a couple of weeks ago. Live rock wise, I got 7 lbs of cured figi rock from Premiumaquatics. Two of the pieces are nice and normal, covered with coraline algae, etc, but the third piece was not quite as nice. It was very sandy and had a lot of hair algae, though quite prettily shaped. Also, it seemed a little bit crumbly. I used it as one of my support pieces and thought no more of it. A few days after I set up the tank, I saw something moving on the rock. it proved to be a small worm, about an inch long, that seemed to have wiggled its way through a bump of rock such that its ends were sticking out, but its middle was through the rock. As the days progressed, I noticed more and more of these things. They seem to make themselves little tubes of mucous and sand that they can retract into, but the tubes are flexible, not calcified like those of the tube worms I am familiar with. The worms themselves are fairly non-descript. They have no bristles, and no fan shaped gills. There are lots of them on this one piece of rock, and I think they might burrow or eat the rock somehow? There always seems to be sand around the mouths of their holes. Does anyone know anything about them? Should I ditch that piece of rock? The only reason I haven't yet is that some of the things on it are neat, like a little tunicate and some strawberry pink sponges. Also, my local store only sells base rock, so the replacement would probably not be very interesting.

Any thoughts?

Kendra

[tinyreef]

imo i would at least change its current position as a support rock to a top tier display rock, just in case it is a crumbling piece of fused sandbed. if and when it finally disintegrates a shift of the rocks sitting on top of it might make a nice crack on the side of your tank. X)

 

or put it on an open piece of substrate (preferred imo). the substrate postion allows the easiest migration of fauna imo. don't worry the worms and such will eventually migrate all over your tank.

 

keep the rock tho imo. just get a dry piece (i.e. cheap) of rock like tufa, lava, or dead coral throwaways to replace it as a support rock. you don't need another LR if you think you're fine now and it'll avoid any further possible cycling of newly introduced LR. btw i would suggest pre-soaking the new rock in another container before intro. :

[Kendra]

I think the rock is secure enough- it's just the edges of one side that are a little crumbly. You don't think the worms are bad though? I had images of this demon plague spreading through and consuming my beautiful rock. It's kind of pathetic how attached I'm becoming to. . . rocks. I feel very protective of them. They keep spawning new nifty things. Today I have a tiny new molusk- maybe a periwinkle? He's about 2 mm in diameter and his shell looks like a moon shell, but the animal itself is small and snaillike and is consuming algae, to my relief. At first I was afraid he would turn out carniverous and I would have to flush him. Anyhoo, I digress- Thanks for the input Tinyreef.

 

Just to make sure- no one thinks I have a plague, right?

 

Thanks,

Kendra

[ross76053]

It's kind of pathetic how attached I'm becoming to. . . rocks. I feel very protective of them.

Ahh.....another natural born reefer! I love it.

 

It's definitely a blast watching to see what pops up on new live rock. This will continue to happen as long as you have your rock - you just never know what you'll get next.

 

And we don't think you have a plague. There are more species of worms than any other creature on earth. I've got plenty of the ones you mentioned - they're really fun to watch.

[SteveC]

I've had my rock for three months and I'm still not bored looking at it. And it still manages to surprise me!

 

Welcome to reefin'. All the expense of a drug habit but none of the health issues. When normal people want to stare at a glass box for hours on end, they just turn on the TV.