findingnemo
Experienced Reefer
- Location
- puerto rico
Photo by Marc Levenson
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]NOT BADMelev's ID page[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bristleworms are blamed for everything negative that occurs in reef tanks, but they are actually very good clean up detrivores. Count on them to find excess food missed by your fish, and expect to see many of them at night with a flashlight. They are often found on decaying matter, and thus are blamed rather than praised for keeping the tank clean. Reef-safe! [/FONT]
The name "bristleworm" is a label loosely applied to describe all Polychaete class marine worms, but it is members of the Fireworms Amphinomidae family that have earned the name of being what most aquarists consider to be "true" bristleworms.
Primarily it is the Pherecardia (Pacific), Hermodice (Caribbean), and other related species that one needs to be concerned about. These Fireworms are errant (roving) carnivores that can cause much damage in a reef tank. They bare toxic bristles on their bodies that can inflict a sting of a very painful degree, posses strong jaws for feeding, and can reproduce quite rapidly.
They are not selective about what they eat, but usually prey on all types of other motile (moving) and sessile (attached or stationary) invertebrates, such as corals, crustaceans, mollusks, sedentary type as well as other errant type bristleworms. zSB(3,3)<H1>Bad Type Bristleworms Control</H1>
<H2>Ways to Prevent and Remove Infestations</H2>Preventative Measures
<B>Fireworms are typically introduced into an aquarium by hitchhiking in on live rock, so taking the time to inspect all new pieces of live rock for these animals before placing it into your aquarium is the first step in preventing an infestation. By laying the rock out on newspaper, a sheet of plastic or linen, if any of these worms are present you will see them sticking out of or crawling around on the rock. Take tweezers and carefully grab the worm as close to the base of the body as you can see sticking out, then gently wiggle and pull it out.
</B>- Tip: It is advised to always wear a pair of gloves of some kind when dealing with Fireworms to avoid coming into contact with their stinging bristles.
- Remove them by hand using tweezers or a net when you see them.
- Buy a bristleworm trap, or make your own.
- Use a baited nylon stocking.
- Introduce a natural predator of these worms into the aquarium, such as a Dottyback, Wrasse of the Halichoeres family, Bird Wrasse (Gomphosus varius), Maori Wrasse (Cheilinus oxycephalus), Sunset Wrasse (Thalassoma lutescens), Coral Banded Shrimp (Stenopus hispidus) or Arrow Crab (Stenorhynchus setrcornis). Tip: Although the last option is very popular, caution is advised.
- Severe Infestation Solution
- Only remove small portions of the aquarium substrate at a time and either:
- Spread it out on a plastic sheet, then sieve through the media by hand and pick the worms out using tweezers.
- Place the substrate in a plastic container partially filled with saltwater, and stir it around. The worms should come up from the media each time this is done and be in the water portion of the container where they can be scooped out. A fine meshed fish net works well for this.
- Remove the rocks one at a time and follow the rock cleaning procedure outlined under the "Preventative Measures" section above.
- Tip: Whenever working with live substrate media and rocks in the open air, it is best to keep it moist, which can be done by using a spray bottle filled with saltwater to dampen it.
- This is the one I have.
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