Red Slime, Aiptasia, Isopod's and now bristle worms.

[sublime]

I was able to get rid of my red slime, I think I have gotten the aiptasia and I am waiting out the Isopod's. (The ones I have caught are still alive w/o any food going on 2 weeks now.)

However, I was down getting some water at the LFS and was talking to them about refugiums. He showed me one and there was a 2" bristle worm in there. He told me they were "good" for at tank and that they are only a problem when they over populate.

So, knowing that I bought some live rock from them 6 weeks ago I thought to myself "great, now I have to deal with this issue." I was wondering what the worm was that I found and killed a couple weeks ago. It was in a piece of rock from the LFS. Then yesterday I noticed another larger one in a piece of the rock from Florida.

I am frustrated to say the least. I do not want to deal with traps really right now. I was thinking of just getting a coral banded shrimp however, I do have 5 peppermints, 20 or so hermits, 10 nass snails and 5 small snails. Will the coral banded go after them?

I don't want the shrimp long term. I just want it in there for a couple months until I am fairly certain the bristle worms are gone.

Comments or suggestions anyone?


Brandon

 

[Scott]

Nothing wrong with a bristle worm or two. They're all part of the clean up crew. I wouldn't sweat it, you just want to be careful not to grab it on the bottom of a rock with your bare hand.

I think they're cool (when they're not stinging me.)

Here's mine, he's about 6" long. I rarely see him.

 

[JayM]

bristle worms should be considered good biodiversity for your cleanup crew...not a worry.

as Scott said...just be careful when moving/handling rocks.

 

[stingythingy45]

^^^

Agree,there's plenty of other things to worry about in this hobby.lol

 

[Jocko]

Yeah I don't think it's really possible to have a tank without bristle worms. You'd never get them all even if you wanted to. They are the unseen cleaners who find leftover food in the cracks and eat it to help keep the tank cleaner. If you REALLY want to trap them you could get an acclimate. That is one of it's many functions.

Also, I just did a Google image search for isopod and man there are some gross pictures!

 

[s_kelley]

Bristle worms are a good thing they help clean up and if you have only found one six incher you are lucky. Some of the ones in my tank would scare the hell out of ya! Just go with the flow. Red slime is bad and so are aptasia but you seem to have gotten that under control so sit back, relax, and enjoy.

 

[molsen187]

+1 to everyone. if you really want to get rid of them you could get an arrow crab they are known to eat them i think.

 

[sublime]

Thank you all for your comments. They are very helpful and relieving.

Just to play devil's advocate, why would a guy _not_ want them? I have read that they like to attack fish, small crustaceans and corals when they get big. I also read they can multiply quickly and release a toxin when they die.

Does anyone have any experience with coral banded shrimp?


Brandon

 

[JohnK]

There is a lot of old school info that people/authors basically just made up or assumed back in the day. Be careful who/what you listen to. There are a lot of books on the shelves that are full if misinformation....

The only real concern with birstle worms is that there are a very few, rare sp that are coral predators. It would be possible to have one come in on some LR, but I have never heard of anyone actually finding one (just lots of reports of people who saw regular bristle worms and got freaked out). Sometimes people do pull really big bristle worms out of reef tanks, but even they are generally harmless, just totally freaky to see.

If there is extra food in the tank, bristles will multiply and grow large. If there isn't excess food, you will see very few of them. I suppose that if you really overfeed for a long time, then stop feeding, you might be left with some big hungry worms that would be tempted to go after anything, but again, I haven't seen it

 

[kevinpratt823]

I have a coral banded, scarlet cleaner, blood, and numerous peppermints, along with a purple reef lobster, and various fish, all living harmoniously in a 72bow. The coral banded is cool as heck.

 

[IPWitan]

Kevin -

with all those predators / scavengers, do you have bristle worms?

 

[sublime]

Thanks for the in depth replies guys. I think I will stop worrying about the worms and just get a coral banded for fun.

On a very similar note, does anyone know what this guy is?