Rock from another tank

A friend of a friend is breaking down their tank, and basically giving me 80+ lbs of rock for 20. He said he has seen worms in it, but had no issues with fish or coral. This rock has amazing coralline growth. Anyway to get rid of some worms and save the coralline?

 

Worms? Im assuming brisstle worms, if thats indeed what they are, they are great for the tank and are no danger at all! Great deal, just ask him what they look like and google bristle worms!

 

+1 oceanparadise1, I agree. Google could be your best friend! LOL!

 

I agree totally with the posts above, in that there are a great number of worms that are harmless in the coral reef and in fact many are beneficial


but I believe a freshwater dip would cause the worms to evacuate the rock and any unwanted other potential pests , crabs, etc
and that the coralline should survive this process

Steve

 

bristle worms no harm at all???!!! oh they can do harm, just not to anything in the tank...unless u occasionally put your hands in there. don't touch the lil buggers

 

He said they are bristle. How long do I leave them in fw? Also can i just add them to the tank? Or would this cause an ammonia spike. They have been in his tank for 2+ years

 

imho, i do not think that you should worry about bristle worms there is more nasty stuff that can be transferred with live rocks than these scavengers. if their number get out of control you can add an arrow crab an he will eat them. i think you should worry about other parasites and diseases that can be transmitted to your tank. try google "live rock creatures" and you'll find tons of pics and info about what may live on the rock. if you are doing a FOWLR most of the worms that live in LR are good but some may bother corals if u decide to raise some. personally i hate these worms that make a web like spiders. i forgot the name but it makes a mess out of your tank.
please somebody correct me if im wrong.

 

Personally I would not even dip the rock, if it came out of a running system.

As long as the rock is not out of the water for too long during transfere you should not see an ammonia spike and if so it would be minimal, unless of course you dip the rock for too long in FW and you get some die off and dead worms within the rock.