bristle worms

[tarnold]

OK Do I need to get rid of them and if so how? I have at least 10-12 worms of varying sizes from maybe an inch to 3inches. Rather ugly creatures that come out of the rock at feeding. I did buy an arrow crab to help take care of them but one of my fish reduced him to a pile of legs.
Maybe I don't need to do anything but it seems to me that they are growing.

 

[Anonymous]

Most types of bristleworms are not the "pests" some claim them to be. I wouldn't worry about them!

What fish took out your arrow crab?

 

[Joew]

Leave'em be...That's what they do. They scavenge and help keep the sand clean. I've counted upto 50 one night. Part of a healthy system.

JoeW
_________________
grape ape photos

 

[tarnold]

I don't know what fish was the culprit. I have a bicolor pseudochromis, a hexatania wrasse and two chalk bass. These are the smaller fish. I also have a maroon clown, sohol tang, and a coral beauty. I' thinking possibly the bicolor or the wrasse. All are peaceful and get along.

 

[Tackett]

arrow crabs are mean SOB's he must have tangled with a nasty fish man.

 

[Anonymous]

a hexatania wrasse

 

[Tackett]

oh, its sad that I had to hit cnt+F and type in "hexatania" to find where tarnold had mentioned his fish. God Im going blind.

 

[Anonymous]

Post Blind.

They have special glasses for that....

 

[Anonymous]

Bristleworms are the bane of my existence. When I had the seahorses in my tank, I'd routinely overfeed because of their slow eating habits, so my bristleworm population exploded. I'd periodically give them away by the dozen at reef club meetings. They called them bristlesnakes.

Problem is, I'm really sensitive to their stings. I get chills up my spine and I can feel it all over my nervous system, even if I don't touch them directly (I usually wear latex or vinyl gloves when I'm working on the tank), so I think I'm developing an allergic reation to them. That's why my next system is going to be sterile, and everything I introduce gets a freshwater dip and quarantine with a UV filter for a couple of months.

 

[Anonymous]

Bristle worms for the most part are alright. I would leave them be unless you catch one doing some harm.
Andy