Weird Little Creatures On Lr.

[sandfire]

I have several strange creatures on my LR, they vary in size from a cm too a inch and half long,but only a millimetre wide, they have dark purple heads with tiny pincher jaws and little 'legs' kind of like a centipede just behind the head running about 5 millimetres down the body, the rest of the body has black and white striped bands and appears totally smooth, they are very fast moving and seem to graze on the LR (they appear to chew it and leave little piles of powder) I have spotted about 6 of them and they come out both day and night. I tried taking photos but it's been impossible with my current camera.

Any one has any ideas what they could be?

 

[tat2life]

probally a bristle worm. they come in all diffrent colors, google image bristle worm and check em out

 

[sandfire]

Do bristle worms have to have bristles?

I have used my Artist prowess and did a little sketch in word, to give a better idea. My camera struggles to capture the rock so this tiny bug is out for photos.

Rest assure everyone, although I took Art at college I do not have a career in it at present.

I used a magnifying lense to get some details and in real life its much much smaller and never holds its body in a straight line.

No laughing!!

By sandfire at 2007-12-14

 

[SkiFletch]

Huh, not a common bristleworm as they have bristles down their entire body. Also bristleworms are usually variants of red or rust colored, I've never seen one that's black. I've also never seen one eat rock . Dunno what you've got there but too bad you can't get a pic.

 

[Lynden]

Bristleworms also do not have six legs. Try to see if you can find it in the "common reef hitchhikers" link in my "sig".

 

[sandfire]

Wow, that was an awesome link, THANK YOU! I have added it to my favourites.

I have identified I have these and the tank has only been set up a fortnight:

FEATHER DUSTERS
VERMITID SNAILS
TUNICATES
AMPHIPODS
ISOPODS
BRISTLEWORMS
CAULERPA


Plus unfortunatly a HUGE amount of this:
VALONIA AKA BUBBLE ALGAE

But still could not see the bugs…the legs on the MINI BRITTLE STAR are the closest on the list! lol

 

[Lynden]

If I didn't know better I'd call it an insect larva. With six legs and two jaws it's an arthropod for sure... but in case I missed something could it be a eunicid worm?

 

[chrissaysyes]

Eucinid worms get huge, and from what I've heard they stay hidden a lot, might want to get on that asap.

 

[sandfire]

If I didn't know better I'd call it an insect larva. With six legs and two jaws it's an arthropod for sure... but in case I missed something could it be a eunicid worm?

That would make sense, as they are different sizes some bigger than others.

To be honest they could have more than six legs but they are very tiny and super fast. I been watching them it looks like they could be going into holes already in the rock, the dust coming out is once they leave it.

I saw something called a Phyllodocid on google which has a partial resemblance, but they were all way to big and the wrong colour. I have not yet found a 'worm' with the legs confined to the upper body.

 

[SkiFletch]

Good luck with the Valonia . My preferred method for removal is time consuming and manual. Have two bins/buckets of pre-mixed saltwater of same salinity and temp as your display tank. Take rock out, remove bubbles (try not to break them) and toss them in the trash. Dip rock in bucket #1 and shake it around a bunch for say 30 seconds. Dip rock in bucket #2 and shake for 30 seconds. Return to your tank. The dipping attempts to remove spores from the rock. It will probably take a few tries to rid your tank of the stuff, but will be effective eventually.

Emerald crabs can also be used as natural predators but these often give mixed results. Some do a great job, and some are lazy.