eww, found my first live creature in the tank

I found my first creature while cleaning off the live rock i bought. I dont know if it came from the live sand or the live rock, since i seen it on the floor and started to pick it up and it moved. It scared me, lol. It looks like a worm with lots of legs, its about a inch long and its a light greenish color i think (bit color blind). does anyone have any ideas of what it is and if its beneficial or bad?

I have another question about the live rocks. Some of the rocks have a algae growing on it, but i dont know if its good algae or bad, how can i tell. I have the rocks curing right now, but i need to know if i should try to get the green stuff off or leave it. that little wormy sure did scare me.

-thnx, Charles

 

Did it look like a centipede or millipede? I'm thinking bristle worm. Dont touch it as those bristles stick to your flesh and cause extreme pain. That's why they also call them fire worms, cuz it feels like BURNING! ;D If you managed to catch it, play it safe and DONT add it to your tank.

Btw, creepy avatar.

 

What Are The Odd Of Getting A Bristle Worm And Mantis Shrimp. How Do U Dipose Of The Worms?

 

You don't want to dispose of bristleworms unless you've got too many. They eat detritus and keep your sandbed stirred. If you have too many, chances are you're overfeeding your tank.

 

About the algae on your rock. I wouldn't touch it. Curing live rock can be a lengthy process, and my suggestion is to just let the rock go through its phases. If left alone in the right water conditions and lighting, the rock should go through a brown algae phase, followed by a green algae phase, and then with proper levels the green algae will fade away and the desireable purple corraline algae should start spreading until the rocks are nice and beautiful. I don't know what your rock looks like, but if you have mainly base rock, I would reccomend getting at least one good piece of rock to use as a seeding rock. Gl to you

GLTA

 

if you look close at the avatar, its a guy at work and at the top it says he is waiting for his bonus. thats what i feel like when im at work

 

"You don't want to dispose of bristleworms unless you've got too many. They eat detritus and keep your sandbed stirred. If you have too many, chances are you're overfeeding your tank."

...and if you get too many you can purchase a bristle worm trap to dispose of them

 

The bristle worms you really don't need to worry about there a good part of the clean up crew. But mantis shrimp are another problem they will wipe out a tank pretty quick. Heres a good site

everything you need to know about mantis shrimp

The Lurker's Guide to Stomatopods - Mantis Shrimp

 

Mantis shrimp do not wipe out tanks but a smasher mantis can eventually wipe out your clean up crew and shrimp. It's very rare that spearing mantis hitchike into our tanks because they prefer to build their burrows in sandy areas of the reef, not in the rock like smashing mantis do.