do bristleworms eat pods?

[php1775]

i have a screened /divider refugium in my seahorse/mandarin tank that has been very successful at providing my mandarins with a constant supply of pods along with frozen mysis ,and live and frozen brine .the mandarins will patrol the screen for pods coming through.i have had the pair for almost 2 1/2 years. im noticing a lot more bristleworms and am wondering if they actually eat pods as i would rather leave the pods in peace to multiply for the mandarin feeding.

 

[Overlook reef]

They are scavengers and opportunistic, but I do not believe they would be a big problem with your pod population.

 

[cstmpprl]

I'm not sure about the bristle worms eating pods. But when I had my seahorse tank, the bristle worm population was crazy. They eat the crap and extra food, so the more food the bigger the population gets . The seahorses will eat the pods.

 

[php1775]

i see what you mean.i never had so many worms in my reef or other salt tanks ,but the pods are still visible and plentiful.just to be on the safer side ive been feeding on top of the chaeto and catching the worms that come up to feed,there are just too many .thanks for your inputs

 

[cstmpprl]

I made a trap to catch the bristle worms, with PVC tube, end caps and drilled a bunch of different size holes in it. I put a wire tie through one of the holes so I could get it out of the tank, to empty it, and add more shrimp to catch them.

 

[higorc]

Not sure if they eat Pods, but I'll tell you what they like to bite...HANDS and FINGERS!!! ::

It seems like every time I am working too close to the rocks for a long time I get bitten by these guys. Right now one of my fingers is itchy and a little swollen from working around the rocks yesterday. Usually takes a few minutes for me to realize they got me, but I already know how it feels...

 

[php1775]

they do closely resemble" seaworms" that you get at your local bait shop for saltwater fishing and ive been bitten constantly while baiting my hook over the years and those pinchers do hurt.thats a great idea Michelle,im going to try that,they are multiplying way out of control and that cant be good for the pod population.im convinced that if a bristleworm crawled into a hole in the liverock and a pod was trapped in there i dont think the pod would survive,so they got to go