[FoodSounds]

i just finished cleaning my filter and halfway through i noticed these little white worm things in the sponge, they move and scorm. really gross, they look like jumbo lice, or tiny shrimp. can a shrimp reproduce by itself? i am almost certain they are little shrimp because they got a faint red line down there back you cant see it in the picture though.sorry about the picture it just there so small

[teajay33]

try another picture, i cant see anything!;(

[msbdiving]

What sort of shrimp do you have and how new is it? Also, do you have any live rock that might have hitchhikers?

[FoodSounds]

Originally Posted by msbdiving

What sort of shrimp do you have and how new is it? Also, do you have any live rock that might have hitchhikers?

i have a [cleaner] skunk shrimp, ive had it for like 14 months, i see the white things in the tank running around now. and yes i have live rock, but i just now noticed the "things"

[Ernie]

Sounds like bristleworms, and they're pretty common. They not really harmful, but they live everywhere in a tank, and can be a nuisance, especially when they get into your filtration. They do feed on detritis and excess food, so if you're noticing a spike in their population in your tank, you might check to be sure you're not overfeeding. Arrow crabs can be used to effectively control their population, but arrow crabs will eat other stuff in your tank, too, like fan worms and featherdusters.

[FoodSounds]

i dont have featherdusters or fan worms, will he eat my hermit crabs or snails?and he wont bother my shrimp and fish right?

[FoodSounds]

i just looked up bristle worms, those arnt them, they look like my shrimp but reallllly small and white with a little faint red line on their back, they dont look like centipedes, more like shrimps

[ffd649]

This sounds exactly like what I just found in my tank. I have lots of these things. It's as if they multiplied overnight. The largest is only 1/2 inch in size, others are much smaller. New live rock was added to the existing rock/tank, perhaps we had a hitchicker? I wonder if this could have killed my previous fish/snails/crabs/shrimp? Should I be concerned? What are they??? Can't find anything on it, brine shrimp maybe? Not bristleworms.

***Other forum members remeber the 95 Gal acrilic tank and eveything died***

Anyways, a new tank was purchased (glass) 115 gal. Existing rock and new rock (100 1bs), 3 surving reef crabs, our coral beauty and our sand sifter star. So far so good H20 levels nice & water tests ok. Going to let it cycle until July, then try adding a few snails.

[pyromaniac398]

Yes i had some hitch on some of my LR. I didnt notice them doing any bad. they were around for a couple of days but I havent seen any after that.