I had a twenty gallons reef tank setup two weeks ago. I have 30 pounds of uncured Marshall Island live rock in it. The tank cycled in a week (weired, also the nitrate drops quickly, it is now zero ppm).
At the end of the cycling process, I noticed there are some small white sticks on the bottom of the tank. Their sizes vary from 1/4 inch to 1 inch. They look like small white tooth picks. I thought they came with the live rocks so syphoned them out. Now I keep getting more and more of them. Even on live rocks. They must be feces from worms because there was no other live stock in the tank. One night, I went to the tank with a flash light, I saw a three inchs long worm with black and white mark on the body hanging from a rock. It quickly disappeared inside the rock when I approched the tank. I did not get a close look at the worm. Today, I noticed some two inches long white sticks on top of a live rock.
Here is my theory:
The worms started to generate feces when there was no food. The feces are white in color and decomposes very slowly. It is safe to say the feces are composed of live rock powders. Since the worms live inside the live rock, they may be able to dig tunnels in the rock. The white sticks are quite large compare the the worm I saw, there are not many large holes in the rock. The only way to explain this is that the worms actaully eat through the rock, the rock powder form sticks pass through the body. So the worms in the rock are quite like earth worm in theory with a tube body.
Has anyone else seen this type of worms? Are they harmful to the reef tank?
TIA!
At the end of the cycling process, I noticed there are some small white sticks on the bottom of the tank. Their sizes vary from 1/4 inch to 1 inch. They look like small white tooth picks. I thought they came with the live rocks so syphoned them out. Now I keep getting more and more of them. Even on live rocks. They must be feces from worms because there was no other live stock in the tank. One night, I went to the tank with a flash light, I saw a three inchs long worm with black and white mark on the body hanging from a rock. It quickly disappeared inside the rock when I approched the tank. I did not get a close look at the worm. Today, I noticed some two inches long white sticks on top of a live rock.
Here is my theory:
The worms started to generate feces when there was no food. The feces are white in color and decomposes very slowly. It is safe to say the feces are composed of live rock powders. Since the worms live inside the live rock, they may be able to dig tunnels in the rock. The white sticks are quite large compare the the worm I saw, there are not many large holes in the rock. The only way to explain this is that the worms actaully eat through the rock, the rock powder form sticks pass through the body. So the worms in the rock are quite like earth worm in theory with a tube body.
Has anyone else seen this type of worms? Are they harmful to the reef tank?
TIA!
