Red Centepedes?

[jed267]

Hello all, I have these red crawly centepede things that come out of holes in my live rocks mostly at night. Does anyone know what they are and if they are harmfull to my fish, corals, clams and anemonies?

 

Many thanks for your help...

jed267

[Sorbo]

My guess is that they are bristleworms, do a quick search on google and you'll find more than enough information on them as well as some pictures to confirm the identification.

Bristleworms are usually reef safe, and will come out at night and eat anything that is rotting in your tank. If they get too large they can become a big nuisance. Some people really dont like them and remove them from their tank, but I leave them in my tank. They're a pretty common hitch hiker on live rock.

Never touch one of them with your hands, they've bot 'bristles' all down the side of them that will give you a pretty good sting, and could cause your fingers, hand to swell up pretty good.

 

Hope this helps!

[db_trigerfish]

Hello all, I have these red crawly centepede things that come out of holes in my live rocks mostly at night. Does anyone know what they are and if they are harmfull to my fish, corals, clams and anemonies?

 

Many thanks for your help...

jed267

This link is for Google Image:

 

http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q=bristleworms

 

It has many pictures.

 

I have been using Coralife Trap-Em for the last two nights. I got a very small bristle worm the first night. Last night nothing.

[Six]

Bristleworms are not harmful to a tank. They eat detritus and leftover food. They have a bad reputation because they eat *dead* fish. What happens is the aquarist turns on the light over their tank, sees the worm eating the dead fish and thinks they killed it.

 

Bristleworms are like earthworms of the sea. Can you imagine them catching a dog and eating it?

 

If you don't like them, send them to me. I'll give you $.05 a worm.

 

If you have so many they are crawling over your corals 24/7, add more circulation to blow the detritus into the filter, clean the tank more often, or feed less. They are an excellent gauge in an aquarium.