Help identify?

Yep, bristleworm. Good part of the clean up crew.

 

Bristle worms are probably the most common, yet misunderstood hitchhikers in the reef tank. One reason for this is that they are scavengers of meaty foods. If something dies in the tank such as a clam or fish for whatever reason, the Bristle worms will move in and start to consume the body. The hobbyist sees the dead animal and the Bristle worms eating it and assumes they are the reason for it’s demise which wasn’t the case at all.


Bristle worms will reproduce readily in the reef tank. They can experience population explosions and become somewhat unsightly, but their numbers are controlled by the amount of left-overs in the tank. If you have a population explosion, it is a pretty sure sign that you are overfeeding the tank and in this regard, they are a pretty good barometer of your feeding regimen.


The last concern with the common Bristle worm is that they have bristles. These are very sharp and can easily pierce the skin much like a miniature porcupine quill. The bigger the worm, the bigger the bristles, the bigger the concern this is. Large ones can also have fairly large jaws which can potentially bite. The main lesson here is to not touch them with your bare hands. If you do get bristles stuck in your skin, you can try using the sticky side of tape to pull them out.


Bottom line for the common Bristle worms typically seen in a tank are that they are excellent scavengers and are good to have in a tank as part of the left-over food clean-up-crew. They are typically less destructive than many of the hermit crabs that are sold in the hobby.


Having said all that, there are larger predatory versions of Bristle worms that can be destructive. These tend to be fairly uncommon in reef tanks, so it is usually safe to assume you have the more harmless variety unless the worms start to grow very large or you catch them in the act of attacking other live animals in the tank.


.There are a couple of techniques that can be used. Removal can be difficult as they tend to be secretive and nocturnal, hiding within the rock work during the day. When they are out and about, they usually have their posterior anchored in a hole into which they can quickly retreat if they perceive any danger.

 

That was a big one /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/hehe.gif You can put them in the fuge if you have one. I keep the smaller ones and when I see the bigger ones, I remove them to the fuge or...feed them to my blue hippo /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/wow.gif "Dori" always stays close when I'm in the tank just waiting for bristle worms! When they get large, they can crawl on/over corals to steal food...also irritating the corals. I grab 'em with a tweezer/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

I must see a video of your blue hippo eating a bristle worm! They definitely don't look appetizing to me!

 

Can anybody make suggestions as to what will gobble this stuff up? Sorry I'm a relative newbie to algae, what type of algae more specifically am I looking at here? Some of it brushes off easy and some I have to pull off. I've ordered a black blenny as was suggested to me, but what else might eat it?
https://vimeo.com/104163407

 

Looks like hair algae but it's hard to tell from the pic. Mexican Turbo snails will eat HA

 

does it look like this Justin?

http://www.janetsreef.com/hairalgae.JPG

 

My curiosity holds my attention at this hour.. My amateur observation with the lights off right now without getting my hands wet is that it is very fuzzy as opposed to the developed fronds of bryopsis. Bryopsis is my fear.. It's only in my DT and all the rest of my tanks in the same system do not have this algae. I believe it's the light causing of course, still if want to watch something eat it.

 

Looks like hair algae to me as well. About the only thing I've seen that will eat that is a seahare and you have to have a home lined up for them when it is gone or they will starve. Obviously have to fix the nutrient issue too or it will just come back. Good luck!