Possible Bristle Worm Infestation.

[B1N4RY]

So I started out with an aquarium that was loaded with fish but I noticed a few started to die off for no apparent reason. All of my Green Chromis have disappeared. I snail gone and I am only left with 2 Purple Firefish, 1 Clownfish a two Zebra hermit Crabs, 1 Sand Sifting Cucumber and thankfully all 4 of my shrimp. Will I took a look at the tank in the evening and noticed these little guys... Bristle Worms. One that was exceeding 3 inches long. Top that with an algae bloom that made my beautiful rock look horrible I'm just left banging my head against a wall. I'm seriously thinking about boiling the rock in water for about 1 hour in order to kill everything and just start over.

 

[cmantis]

Pretty sure they are harmless and don't think they would kill off your livestock but their numbers will rise and fall with extra nutrients in the system. With the description of your algae problem I would look into what might be causing this. How are water parameters?

 

[smoq]

I don't think they can harm your tank inhabitants and there are natural ways to get rid of them if you really want to (wrasses generally eat them). Whatever you plan doing, please DON'T BOIL your rock. It's never a good idea and few aquarists have been hospitalized after breathing fumes from boiling live rock.

 

[thirty6]

you have a smaller system, i would go with a natural attack on them first while checking into parameters. they are considered good in the sense they eat detrius ect... but i hate them. since your tank is on smaller size, what else were you planning to stock with?
possum wrasses are nice selection for smaller setups, not sure if they would or could do anything for the worms. you can also use the bottle trap for them, and is probly easiest thing to try initially.

 

[edd]

i had a bunch of bristle worms, all over at night. i got a mystery wrasse and a yellow wrasse about 2 months ago, i haven't seen any since. as far as algae, ck your parameters as mentioned.

 

[basiab]

What in the world makes you think they are bad to have? The only bad thing is that it indicates you have lots of garbage in your tank to help feed a large population. Rather than trying to get rid of them figure out what you are doing that generates so much food for them. In the mean time you are better off with them since they will clean up for you.

 

[ducati335i]

Bristle worms are great! Leave them alone, have them for yrs..
I don't get why some people are paranoid about them.. They only help your tank!

 

[marrone]

Bristle worms are great! Leave them alone, have them for yrs..
I don't get why some people are paranoid about them.. They only help your tank!

I think people get paranoid about them because they see them eating things, like corals and fish, and they think that they're attacking a health coral when the real truth is that the corals is dying and they're eating the dying parts.

What I do find interesting is that what usually happen is one of the worms seems to get real big and the others stay on the small size.

 

[trinimaddness]

My yellow coris love em...and I love watching it hunt them down

 

[KurtL]

Your making a big deal out of nothing. Stop feeding so much get some snails in there and do water changes. Starting your tank over because of this is pretty stupid. Deal with dynoflaggelates then you can talk about starting over.

 

[ducati335i]

I think people get paranoid about them because they see them eating things, like corals and fish, and they think that they're attacking a health coral when the real truth is that the corals is dying and they're eating the dying parts.

What I do find interesting is that what usually happen is one of the worms seems to get real big and the others stay on the small size.

I agree and have noticed that as well.. Maybe it's a different type of bristle or the queen? Lol

 

[Weicowireman]

I had a ridiculous amount of worms and I reduced the amount I feed and now I very few. My six line wrasse and melenarious keep them in check. Your probably overfeeding the tank. They go after easy targets such as dying coral.

 

[peteyboyny]

DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER BOIL YOUR LIVE ROCK. Like said above, a few people have been hospitalized doing this. There are a few threads on MR about this. That is not what "cooking rock" is. (<<<just in case that's what you thought).
Try the natural predator thing if they bother you that much.

 

[duromega]

if you don't want them in your tank get an Arrow Crab
they will take care of that

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Fish that eat bristle worms in my tank, hippo tang, 6-line wrasse, 3 stripe damsel. Reason why I try to avoid worms? everytime I move something around and accidentally touch one of them, the bristle get stuck in my skin, causing swelling and a rash that lasts for 2 or 3 days. Took me about 2 months to figure it out, back when they were starting to have a population bloom. I thought I was developing an allergy to coral. Now I carefully shake things around before picking them up and if I do hit a worm, I immediately stick my finger under running water and wipe with a butter knife, brushing the bristles out of my skin.

 

[B1N4RY]

Thank you all! I have never had an aquarium where everything was started with live rock, live sand and natural purified live seawater. So I guess I freaked out a bit. Good thing I was more worked about not ruining my wife's Stainless Steel All Clad Pot.

 

[peteyboyny]

Homegrown, I wear latex gloves with rubber bands around the wrist when I have my hands in my tank. You can feel what you're doing, and don't have to worry about getting stung.

 

[EddieSage]

Worms are great and they also aerate your sand. Check your parameters, get a wrasse and a arrow crab to keep the population in check.