The Puffer Forum

Soo...As some of you know, I got a picture of one of the newest inhabitants:


It is not the only one because there is another one like it and tons of little red ones. Annoyingly on the same new piece of rock it came on, hitchhiked a fireworm. That sucker wasn't easy to catch but I got it. I seriously hope it was the only one.

why are they considered bad?

i thought they were part of the eco system of the tank

Fireworms are bad because of the toxins in their spines. They leave a really bad burning feeling[the basic thing they do, it can be way worse if you have an allergic reaction and some people have permanently lost feeling where they were stung] plus they are also toxic to fish, shrimp, crabs, corals, whatever. Bristleworms are the ones not as bad being basically harmless scavengers, but can still sting if so inclined.

I thought that was a "feather worm" as you had mentioned before?

How would one tell the difference?

Oh. lol I thought you were asking why the fireworm was bad.

That is a feather duster and they are harmless but filter feeders, I believe...

Ok...so my tank is now bare bottom until I can get it some new sand. Why? My tank suddenly crashed. Algae grew *EVERYWHERE* almost over night[mostly cyano] and the inhabitants weren't looking good. Parameters were great so I was confused...I put everything in buckets and when I got to the sand the stench of death hit me, so it had to go. I took the tank outside and washed it out, blah blah blah...reset it back up and everything lived again. The fish became fully alert [despite being extremely scared], the snails and crabs actually came out of their shells and moved around like usual, feather dusters came back out, coral reopened, and the coralline algae no longer looks bleached. I'm glad the redo went as well as it did...and it only took like an hour...lol

Ok...so I upgraded my tank to a new 20gL...but since I spent all my money on...other things...it's incomplete in every sense of the word.

Soo...the only picture you will get is the one before I did the switch:


All animals -1 astrea are still alive and kickin' and oh, where the tank is, isn't permanent, it was just there cuz my desktop computer was...away...and I wanted to compare it to the 10gal...

come on man, teasin us aint nice

Yeah, I know it's not nice to tease, but it *IS* fun! LOL

Seriously tho, just think of how the 10 looked in that picture put into the 20gL so I'll get a pic of the 20 when it's actually worth showing...hopefully, that won't be long.

just add more live rock. bet u used less sand this time too. I made the same mistake it was rank. I now have it under an inch.

Here is the 20gL after redoing it today[aragonite sand...it's cloudy, yeah...I know. ]:


Pyro & the feather duster are still fine, BTW[as are the snails/crabs]:

Just cause it is a red bristle worm doesnt make it bad. I would have left him in there. They are good scavengers.

I didn't want that in my tank tho. If something is potentially harmful, it gets terminated. lol

Less cloudy picture of my tank. I'm going to get more LR and the rest of my CUC when I get more money[I'm broke].

very nice