centipede in my reef tank

[yank30265]

I have a 125 set up almost a year now; im finally getting some purple growing in there ; snails; crabs r living. I got my rock from a friend who was breaking down his reep 225; being i was just setting up i cycled my tank with it and some damsels; The other night I was looking at the rock and and there r white tubes growing off of the rock and I saw a what looked like a centipede come from under the rock and eat a sinking shrimp pill. The whole think didnt come out so im not sure if it was a leg of something or just a centipede. I have a big fluval on this tank w/ bio balls I rinse frequently in old water and sometimes find little centipedes running around in the (not bio balls) they are the ceramic doughnut looking things. Any idea whats going on? Nitrates are alittle high because of unfrequent water changes but everything else looks good

 

[hunt]

sounds like bristle worms. they are actually kind of a good thing because they eat the food that your fish eat and if you have something that dies they eat it pretty fast.(still take the dead fish out of coarse) They eat the rotting stuff and that keeps amonia and nitrate levals from rising. They can still sting you though

 

[natclanwy]

They are bristle worms and generally are harmless to have in your tank. There are a few varieties that get very large (12"- several feet) and can prey on corals and fish but they aren't very common in reef tanks.

 

[hunt]

it might also be a bobbit worm(deos it have big pinchers on it)

 

[natclanwy]

A Bobbit worm is a Polychaete (Bristleworm), but is of the Euncid variety which are the preditory worms that I was refering to. They aren't commonly found in the home reef tank, but it is possible to get some variety of Euncid worm. I had one in my tank and if you search for Euncid on this site you should find my post with some pictures of the one in my tank.