red threadlike worms in my gravel... yuck!

[Lady Elizabeth]

this morning i saw some red worms reaching out from the gravel like they are trying to find food... they were hiding under my live rocks, are they bad news? what should i do with them? please help :? i think they scared away my blenny cause the rock used to be his cave... now he's homeless

 

[Fluff]

Sounds like spaghetti worms. Have a look at this like. There is a small section toward the bottom on spaghetti/sand mason worms. They are a very good thing to have.

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_pages/faq_rock3.htm

 

[Lady Elizabeth]

thanks for the great info, i feel much better knowing that they are good for my tank... i freaked out cause i have worm phobia or whatever it's called... they give me the creeps, i never thought i'd like them someday.. i think they are constructing some kind of tunnel using small grains of sand and gravel. cool!

 

[seaham358]

I would say they are bristle worms... also a good critter

 

[cmor1701d]

Do they look like this....

Good worms, sign of a healthy tank

 

[Lady Elizabeth]

yes that's them, some worms have some sort of tiny hairs, some looks like long threads and they are both red in color, and you know what new hitchhiker i found inside my tank this morning? a tiny crab.. it's only a 1cm, it's color light yellow with orange spots

 

[cmor1701d]

Most hitchhikers are nice extras. I decided to make my tank claw-less. All crabs are in another tank along with two cbs that did in my peppermint shrimp.