What will eat bristle worms?

[AWD]

I've heard that those bristle worms aren't bad, but I am seriously questioning that theory. I've bought two cucumbers $$ now in the last few weeks. The first, tiger-tail, I never did see. The second, unknown yellow, I saw and he/she fattened right up. Then I noticed him slimming around and those ***&^%&%$$#^&%*&^ wormsss were tearing into the poor guy. I felt bad real bad for the cuc. I thought these worms weren't supposed to do that. I thought for about a half second that maybe the worms were just eating stuff that was dead(that is the story I've heard) but this cuc definitely wasn't dead. What is going to KILL these worms? I've heard arrow crabs do. Are they hit and miss or are they legit? What else will work if I am mistaken?

Thanks,

Andy

 

[karlas]

ive heard of arrow crabs also, certain wrasses are eaters of bristle worms, and ive heard of mandarins and scooters eating the small ones. there are other ways to try and catch them try an empty bottle in the bottom of the tank with some shrimp or crab in it as bait, bristle worm traps, or take a piece of nylon stocking with food in it tie it to a string and let it set over night when the worms go after the food their bristles will get caught in the stocking and will not be able to escape. try those methods and see if any of them work if your worried about the crab

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like there was a problem with the cukes. They need to be drip acclimated over several hours like starfish, IME. I had the same problem with the first I introduced, went to drip and they do fine. When I feed it looks like the roc is fuzzy I have so many. HTH

 

[ChrisIsBored]

I'd have to agree that if the bristle worms were brave enough to leave their safe little homes to attack the cukes... then it was because the cuke was already dying and the smell of rotting flesh was just too tempting.

How did you acclimate them?

 

[Anonymous]

watch out from the arrow crabs-they will eat, in addition to worms, anything they can catch :evil:

bristleworms being good is not really a theory,it's a fairly well established truth :wink: your cuke was probly on its way out beforethey approached it(as stated above)

(dottybacks love 'em, though...)

 

[fishfarmer]

FWIW I don't think you will be able to rid your tank of bristleworms even if you tried. One of the few things that survived a heatwave and subsequent crash of my reef were in fact bristleworms.

 

[AWD]

The first cucumber I can't say anything about it, BUT the second one I had for two weeks. During those two weeks I watched it several times move around. The cucumber did fatten up substantially in those two weeks.

I haven't tried the drip before I usually use a shot glass and ever 10 minutes i dump a glassful of water in. Also my parameters are almost the exact same as the LFS. I will try the drip in the future it sounds easier. Thanks.

What will the arrow crab eat?

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
It is possible to get rid of the worm, but it is not useful because it will kill the rest of the livestock. Pour 4 cup of Clorox per gallon, for example

Seriously, it is common that when something in the tank dies, we will blame the "dark residents" of the tank. Most likely, it is something else. Majority of livestock die off happens in first two weeks, so it is possible that they just die of stress. If you can do without cuke, then maybe you should not put any more in there.

 

[Anonymous]

confuscius say:
'some people think fly kill cow because they see maggot on dead meat' :wink:

 

[O P Ing]

confuscius say:
'some people think fly kill cow because they see maggot on dead meat' :wink:

hi.
No! Confuscius says that beef will turn to flies when rottened.

 

[AbelaJohnB]

I actually lost all of my bristleworms by mistake (yes, I wanted them) when I threw in a squirrel fish. worms were gone by the end of the week. Eaten at night, of course, so it took me a bit to figure out they had gone bye-bye.

 

[danmhippo]

AWD, arrow crab eat anything they can get their claws on. Pods, shrimps, softshell crabs, worms, fan worms, flakes, sleeping fish......etc.

 

[robbinson]

Dottybacks are known to eat brisstleworms. That being said, I have a dottyback in my system - and recently found some bristtleworms when replacing my sand. So much for natural control.

 

[AWD]

Control is all I want they don't currently have any preditors. They have eaten lots of big squirts and sponges. I know they were healthy because they grew every week and started out from what I am assuming as spores or whatever. I don't think the worms are that bad but I have too many. I looked today under a small (2") rock and saw at least fifteen or twenty. I don't expect any of the worms to be eaten under the sand.

Thanks for all the input. I am investigating the death of the cucumbers now.

 

[Anonymous]

IMO leave them be. They will dieback a little when the amount of food and waste is lessened. They are necessary to keep the status quo. They dispose of much of the death and waste that is in the tank.