Top 3 Worst Inverts To Have In Your Tank

Kurtis

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#1
Hey guys, I've started to buy Invertebrates for my reef tank because of how cool they look and how nicely they're able to clean up nitrates and waste in your tank. However, due to impulsive purchasing I found out the hard way to my personal worst 3 invertebrates to buy.

1) Starfish
2) Sea Cucumbers
3) Flame Scallops

I personally have had the work luck with these guys and their lifespans are super short, not to mention the big ammonia spikes that they give off when unnoticed, have costed me so much money! I check weekly on my parameters and they're good, but even with good parameters my luck runs short with these 3 invertebrates.

Any thoughts?
 

five.five-six

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#3
Not even close

AFEWs
Vermired snails
and either the medusa worm or monti eating nudibranch or majanos or velvet or ich
 
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#4
Is your system old enough to have these invertebrates. Especially if you have Sand sifting starfishes they feed off bacteria‘s that live in the sand bed. granted they do eat some detritus but it’s not their main source of diet sea cucumbers are really good source of eating leftover foods. Your system might be too clean to support certain types of sea cucumbers. Years back I had a 180 with three different types of sea cucumbers and I did an upgrade to a 300 and use new sand in the 300 and all three types of cucumbers perished. Due to not having a mature Sand bed for the cucumbers to feed


My list way worse than this list. My first all-time worst invert is have to be a poly clad flatworm which eats invert like snails, crabs, clam, scallops, shrimp‘s worst all-time invert you could ever have in a reef tank by far hands down the poly clad flatworm...,.
Number two is acro eating flatworms but not all referrals are affected by these only ones that have acro.
Number three would be I guess any type of pest invert but to be honest number one and number two summit up for me
 
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#5
All three need established tanks. Starfish and Cucumbers need deep sand beds. Unless you feed the star directly.
Filter feeders next to impossible. I had a mussel in a tub for a good year but that tank was nothing more than a holding tank never maintained and had nothing more than a powerhead turning the water. Smelt like the water in any back bay. Had tons of life in it for as bad as it was. Kept outside open to the elements. Back when rock still came from the ocean.
 
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#6
in my experience, the worst are Majano, aiptasia & asterina stars because of how quickly these inverts reproduce, the harm it causes to coral & fish, the amount of work required to begin removing the pest once it’s colonized the tank & it’s an invert that can’t be put into quarantine to be treated. Parasitic inverts are much easier to remove by just quarantining the affected specimen. Those are my top 3.
 

Kurtis

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#7
Are you drip acclimating them? I think some inverts need a bit longer of an acclimation.
also, do you see any fish picking on them?
Actually I just threw these guys right in but if I ever decide to get any of those guys again, ill try to acclimate them slow and steadily XD.
 

Kurtis

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Is your system old enough to have these invertebrates. Especially if you have Sand sifting starfishes they feed off bacteria‘s that live in the sand bed. granted they do eat some detritus but it’s not their main source of diet sea cucumbers are really good source of eating leftover foods. Your system might be too clean to support certain types of sea cucumbers. Years back I had a 180 with three different types of sea cucumbers and I did an upgrade to a 300 and use new sand in the 300 and all three types of cucumbers perished. Due to not having a mature Sand bed for the cucumbers to feed


My list way worse than this list. My first all-time worst invert is have to be a poly clad flatworm which eats invert like snails, crabs, clam, scallops, shrimp‘s worst all-time invert you could ever have in a reef tank by far hands down the poly clad flatworm...,.
Number two is acro eating flatworms but not all referrals are affected by these only ones that have acro.
Number three would be I guess any type of pest invert but to be honest number one and number two summit up for me
Yeah my tank is pretty new, but I let it cycle for like a week or so before I tossed them in. Im sure when I get my parameters even better i could try experimenting with them again. Flatworms are the WORST! Yeah those guys are definitely a bad pest to have in your tank!
 

dontavo27

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#11
Flatworms you can kill with flatworm exit, a sixline wrasse and siphoning. However the AEFW are another story, I’ve read so many threads on eradicating them, and it sounds like quite a task.
My tank is fairly new as well, check out my build thread.
 
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#12
Yeah my tank is pretty new, but I let it cycle for like a week or so before I tossed them in. Im sure when I get my parameters even better i could try experimenting with them again. Flatworms are the WORST! Yeah those guys are definitely a bad pest to have in your tank!
Are you starting the tank from dry rock or live rock from the ocean that was shipped damp or live rock from fish store?

Wait! first question how long have you you been into marine hobby?

I only ask cause you kinda sound like a noob. “A week” is never enough in this hobby. I’m not trying to be a douche but take it from me, someone that got his first saltwater tank in 1998. Be patient and take your time in this hobby. You will save money and more important lives of innocent marine life.
There’s a few pointers, first take your time and be patient, second always know what you’re buying and research it before you purchase it, and third test everything constantly water parameters our key in a requirement.
Now the reason why I asked what kind of rock you started your tank with is a big difference in how much time your tank is going to take to cycle. With ocean live rock your tank should cycle with in about two months. With already cure live rock from the fish store it should only take a month. With dry live rock starting from scratch should take up to five months if not eight months. That’s why I say a week is not enough time to think your tank is cycle.
Back in October I started a 155 gallon wreath. For the first two months the water just ran no livestock all I used to cycle the tank was bacteria and a piece of raw shrimp from the grocery store. I let the tank run for two months no lights just let it get dirty and gross. Then for another two months I added 3 fish slowly and a few test corals to see what was going on.After about four months of the tank running I’ve been added five More fish. Adding that much fish at that quick of time cost my tank to go through another little psycho that was a deadly but caused an insane algae bloom. Now my tank is about six months old and it’s starting to look pretty good with some nice green Coraline algae growth and some spots of purple Coraline algae. But I still don’t believe it’s fully stocked with the beneficial bacteria‘s that a full-blown retake means. So I’m slowly adding corals as I can build up the bacteria is required.

So again I say research what you buy first and know what it’s going to take to keep that life form happy healthy to save yourself a buck from dying
 
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#13
Also another piece of advice I can offer. His do the actual reading when you do the research. Don’t just ask a local pet shop owner and believe what he’s going to tell you. There are some good head shop owners that will give you solid advice but there is a lot of them that will not. They make a buck off what you buy so do the research and the reading for yourself and don’t believe what someone tells you that you’re buying things from. I know I got into the hobbies from A pet shop that said by this 30 gallon tank. Add water, water conditioner, salt, and this bag of life Sand. Let mix overnight and come back tomorrow and buy fish. Then three days later all the fish died from being stressed out in the water not cycling properly. True story
 
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#14
Flatworms you can kill with flatworm exit, a sixline wrasse and siphoning. However the AEFW are another story, I’ve read so many threads on eradicating them, and it sounds like quite a task.
My tank is fairly new as well, check out my build thread.
Flatworm exit and six line wraps or any other raps will not work on a polyclad flatworm they are beasts. Sometimes the polyclad is bigger than the fish should self. Here’s a little video of a poly clad hunting down a crab in the tide pools


Just imagine what this thing could do in your tank on clams, snails, shrimp, crustaceans, basically it feeds off invert other than an anemone
 
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