An army of hitchhikers! please help id!

[BiGPiNK]

ok, our pico reef has been cycling with nothing but a clown for about three weeks now, haven't really seen anything moving in there except for nemo....until 3 nights ago that is!

one morning as i switched the lights on, i saw what i guess everybody on here fears....scuttling things running for cover in my live rock! horror! he was the first we saw...and having followed others advice, we whipped out the rock, sat it for a few minutes and started picking them off!

now this piece of live rock is about 4 pounds, it's tiny, and yet today we have picked like ten of one kind of worm, two of another kind, a smaller brittle star (ok, i was happy about that!) and one thingy which i have no clue!

the worms i assume arebad and weve taken everything we can see, but of course theres gonna be more in there, so just incase can somebody tell me what these are and if i should be worrying myself over them....i know there are mixed opinion of some of the worms, but if there is even the slightest bit of doubt, they'recoming out!

first is the red worm....fairly sure its what would be called a 'common' bristle worm??? and i believe it needs to come out.

second is the unknown (to me at least) worm...which o be honest, i'm guessing also needs to come out.

third is the THING....i have no idea if its a shrimp or a worm...it is tiny, like maybe 3mm, and its its a green-blue colour where it isnt transparent, i apologise for the pic, but like i say, its so bloody tiny!pic4-Optimized.jpgpic3-Optimized.jpgpic5-Optimized.jpgpic1-Optimized.jpgpic2-Optimized.jpg

[BiGPiNK]

Ok, can somebody here please help me, I'm really starting to panic now! I just got up in the middle of the night to have a quick spy on the activity....BAD idea! What started out as quite exciting seeing all these little things appear out of nowhere is really starting to worry me now, added to the list of hitchhikers above, there is now at least two polyclad flatworms @2-3" each and a colony of worms identical to the red 'common' worms found earlier, only these are gray all over. I'm starting to freak out a little here as I mentioned there's only like 5lbs of rock in the entire tank and it seems to be literally infested with crap I need to get out of tank asap...the tank is well into its cycle(short cycle, water, sand and rock came from same tank, ditto the fish purchased to help the cycle along) and I was looking forward to adding a little clean up crew, but with polyclads in there there is no way I'm puttings snails in, and the general level of infestation would make me worry for anything I added. So, am I screwed? From what I've read, clearing worms is pretty hit and miss, and I don't want to go and drop 20 bucks on a bottle of something that only works half the time on half the variety of worms I seem to be hosting...as a first venture into salt ive got to say, this is a bit of a ****ter, from what I read, taking all opinions into account, my best option seems to be to throw out everything I've invested in, buy dead rock and spend four times the time trying to culture that instead! As you can probably tell, I'm a bit tired and in all honesty, getting a little frustrated withh all this, please, please somebody save me and tell me what to do!

[semper]

Yeah, bristleworms, they are not all that bad. I guess if they get big enough, could freak someone out ,they actually scavenge at night. They are somewhat beneficial IMO.

The last ones are good. Well not too clear picture on phone but looks like some pod.

[alexrex20]

You shouldn't cycle a tank with fish, especially a clownfish.

The only bad hitchhikers on your rock are the flatworms. There are products and fish that can help control/eradicate the population.

[BiGPiNK]

i cant put a wrasse in a 3g aquarium....let alone afford to spend that on a fish just for pest control. we were told by tran at fish ranch that it would be fine, even beneficial in fact, to put a fish in there to speed up the cycle, and i must say trans advice has never put us wrong before. and i get that some say they're good for your tank, but like i said, this is a 3 gallon tank and i could pull these things out by hand (i know! i don't really!) they're so numerous and starting to get bolder and bolder under the lights.
so is there ACTUALLY anything i can do? to get rid that is, i really dont want to keep a tank of worms only, and with no actual cure as such, i really am considering just ditching this whole thing.

[JasonC]

I'd leave all those critters in there as many consider them beneficial. They eat detritus and scavenge for food - all good things.

[BiGPiNK]

I can understand that they can be deemed beneficial but numerous sources are saying the brown flat worm needs to be removed because they are aggressive and will destroy the life of my tank. Our tank can house no other form of life other than worms. We cant get crustaceans because the polyclad worms will eat them. We cannot put coral in because the bristle worms will eat them. There are so MANY worms in this tank I don't think anything else can or will survive. We just are trying to figure out how to safely rid our tanks from these pests without killing the rock, fish, sand, or any other life form in the tank. As this was my wife's birthday gift I'd like her to have the tank filled with what she wants and she doesn't want the worms in the tank. I've searched around and they say that these worms being absent from the tank aren't such a bad idea because they do multiply at an advanced rate. So I am basically looking for a natural solution to ridding these worms from my wife's tank.
we've pulled out like 20-30 of these things in three days...from a 3g tank...how can there be space for anything else??? like when i say we're infested, i mean literally overrun with these things, they cover the one small rock we have and there seems to be a new and potentially dangerous species everyday! can a six line really fit in a 3g and would it actually make a serious dent on the worm population? what about arrow crabs? once again, will they fit and will they make a serious impact?
what do we do, i know some consider them beneficial, but there is no one definitive answer (tran says get them out asap, everybody here says keep them....) but at the end of the day, the wife has decided she doesn't want them...so, what do we do? is there anyway of defeating this without just starting all over again?
sorry if i'm coming across a little short, this whole thing is really winding me up as i can't see which way to go, and the light at the end of my reef-pest tunnel seems to be rapidly receding.

[alexrex20]

Start over from scratch. Get new live rock or kill yours. Don't cycle your tank with a clownfish. I'm surprised it's still alive, to be honest. A fish may survive a cycle (usually only damsels) but that doesnt mean it's not cruel.

A 6-line is too big for a 3gal and not a guarantee to control the worms.

[BiGPiNK]

well like i said, this is our first saltwater tank, we did all of our research before hand, but when a pro like tran tells you you should do it a certain way....i kinda believed him. now im left with a tank and nothing of any use...
really gutted by all this, i hate that there is nothing we can do...the tanks too small for hunters, but the preyhave overrun the tank...

[Sea-agg09]

1. Start dead. You don't get worms in dry rock. It takes longer to cycle your tank, but it's worth it.

2. the 3rd thing you listed was an amphipod, which is good

3. Don't cycle a tank with any fish. Put dead rock in your tank and fill it with salt water. let the filter run without carbon or any sort of chemical media for at least 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, you put cleanup crew in the tank. In a pico, that would be probably 1-2 nasarrius snails, 1-2 blue leg hermit, and that's it.

These are fish that you could probably keep permanently. Other people will put larger fish in a pico, but there isn't much long term success.
My fish suggestions;
Neon Goby
Clown Gobies
Clingfish
High-fin Goby and other burrowers
A pistol shrimp to live with the goby
Pygmy wrasse

Others:
Sexy Shrimp
Pom Pom Crab
Porcelain Crab
Small Feather Dusters
Bumblebee shrimp
Anemone Shrimp
Fire Shrimp
Peppermint shrimp
A TINY tuxedo urchin

[AHP]

Try taking a look at this maybe you can find out if your hitchhikers are a theat.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=132956

[BiGPiNK]

whoop! i got the biggest polyclad this morning! i know its only one, but even so, it feels like a victory, the stupid little bugger was hanging out all cool and nonchalant at the front of my tank so i nabbed him fast! ok, so, the last few days i got myself all worked up, probably got a bit irate when i didnt need to be, its just theres so many conflicting opinions on worms its really hard to decide what to do, but after all the reading ive done, and with your good help and a little calming session from tran (thanks again tran!) i guess im learning to live with these little monstrosities! the polyclads are still coming out whenever i see them, i hate them and i really dont want to lose my CUC to them, but the bristles have been granted a temporary reprieve...i'll pull them if i see them out and easy to grab...but if they keep themselves hidden i guess i'll leave them be for now! thank you all for your helps, i know we disagreed on the whole fish cycle thing, but like i said, i hope nobody thought i was arguing for the sake of it, i just took trans advice when he said it would help!
anyway, thank you all again!

[dhutch]

You may try just pulling the LR in the tank out and replacing it with new LR from a different source. Not the cheapest or fastest fix, but at least it'll rid all the little guys hiding inside your current rock.