Post Tribulation Observations

Don't let the title fool you.  We're not out of the woods yet, but things are beginning to look up.

(Still nothing in the skim cup... checking that almost every couple hours it seems).  The anemone has started to show signs of ... not being on the brink of death?  At least it's moving again inside it's bowl-shaped rock.

Speaking of the anemone's rock...  When I got the anemone, it was attached to a small not-quite fist-sized rock. While the water was drained down in the tank, I was attempting to pull the anemone out.  I had planned to put it in it's own water... just in case.  Short version - I wasn't able to remove the anemone (which gave me hope it was still alive prior to doing research on it), but I was able to remove the small rock it came attached to.  Apparently it re-situated itself in the last couple of days.  It's now attached to the bowl-shaped rock it's lived in for who-knows how many years.

With the anemone's old rock out, I simply put it in one of the buckets.  I thought I would let it dry out and maybe use it as a desktop remembrance if the anemone were to perish.

Once I began cleaning up the "triage", I removed the rock from the bucket I'd placed in it and put the rock temporarily on a TV tray.  I went to stack the bucket along with the other buckets and noticed something curled up in the bottom of the bucket about where the rock had been.  There's still a little saltwater left in there, so I thought maybe this "thing" was still viable.  I fish it out with the net and let it drop into the tank...  I still don't know whether that was good idea or a bad one since I don't know what it is.

It came alive once it hit the bottom.  It looked like it was attempting to borough under the crushed coral substrate.  It looked like a red leech with spikes running along the length of it's body on both sides.  The only reason I mention a leech is because it seemed to flatten itself out when attempting to burrow.

Here are some pictures of it.  I'll be looking it up when the thought hits me.

UPDATE - It's a Fire Worm, which is a type of Bristle Worm.  A very good member of the Clean Up Crew.  I wonder how many more there are...

UPDATE Mar 31, 2011 - There was a second fire worm in that rock.  Too bad that rock had been sitting in an empty bucket for three or four days.  It was DOA.