bristle worm invasion

[goldfinger]

I have a 120g FOWLR that is infested with 100's of bristle worms.
With so many worms trapping them would be out of the question.
I know there are some fish that would eat the worms.
Would like recommendations of all worm eating fish so that I could choose the best fish for my tank mates.

 

[alix2.0]

sixline wrasse, arrow crabs

 

[arod268]

a cbs will to

 

[earlybird]

How old is the tank? There could be a nutrient explosion causing an increase in numbers. How often do you feed and how much?

 

[goldfinger]

thanks for the info.
the sixline wrasse will probably eat the 2 types of shrimp in the tank.
and I will do more reading on the arrow crabs.

 

[goldfinger]

the yellow tang is a herbivore ???? will it eat meat like worms????
what is a "CBS"
thanks for the reply.

 

[goldfinger]

the 3 tanks (all overflow to 1 common sump) have been set up and running since feb. 2006.
I feed a small pinch of flake food in the a.m.
another small pinch at noon
and a variety of frozen brine shrimp at 4:00 p.m.

 

[alix2.0]

Originally Posted by goldfinger
the yellow tang is a herbivore ???? will it eat meat like worms????
what is a "CBS"
thanks for the reply.
CBS = coral banded shrimp, but i have never seen mine eating bristles.

 

[sepulatian]

Are the bristle worms a true problem? They are very beneficial. They burrow through the sand and aerate it.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by goldfinger
the 3 tanks (all overflow to 1 common sump) have been set up and running since feb. 2006.
I feed a small pinch of flake food in the a.m.
another small pinch at noon
and a variety of frozen brine shrimp at 4:00 p.m.
Not that this has anything to do with the worms, but that is a poor diet. Feed frozen formula foods. Most LFS's have them.

 

[keri]

Do bristle worms eat corals?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Keri
Do bristle worms eat corals?
They do. This is a FOWLR tank though.

 

[goldfinger]

My guess is that the shear number of worms = 100's + 100's add greatly to the bio load of the tank system. That many worms erases any advantage they may have in cleaning and aerating the gravel.
Also just found Pseudochromis fridmani - the Orchid Dottyback. This fish looks like a good tankmate to go in the 120g tank and may decrease the worms.

 

[sk8shorty01]

I dont think that the worms have anything to do with the bioload on the tank. I would change your diet to frozen formula foods and dont feed so often. That could be the root of the problem, to many nutrients cause them to multiply that much faster.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by goldfinger
My guess is that the shear number of worms = 100's + 100's add greatly to the bio load of the tank system. That many worms erases any advantage they may have in cleaning and aerating the gravel.
Also just found Pseudochromis fridmani - the Orchid Dottyback. This fish looks like a good tankmate to go in the 120g tank and may decrease the worms.
Bristles aid in the reduction of the bioload. 100+ of them is a bit much though, I agree. Do you have gravel? What is your substrate? An Orchid will do well in your tank. They can get nasty though. They max at a few inches, but don't take their size for granted. They can be nasty little fish when they want to be. It is quite funny to watch though!

 

[goldfinger]

In my earlier post I did say that I feed the fish "a variety of frozen shrimp". There are 5 different formulas of frozen shrimp that I use.
The flake food is my own mixture of carnivore and hirbivore flakes that feeds all of the fish.
In nature in the ocean the critters are living in a sea of nutrients that are available to them 24/7. Everything I read tells me to feed the fish SMALL amounts of a variety of foods many times per day. I make an effort to feed them at a minimum of 3 times per day and many times as I go past the sump I drop some flakes in the pump intake. The pump intake in the sump supplies return water to my 3 tanks. All 3 tanks share and overflow to 1 common sump. So food put into the pump intake distributes the food to all 3 tanks.

 

[goldfinger]

Thanks for the info. on the dotty back. I did try 1 some time ago in 1 of the tanks with a bicolor blenny in in the tank. The bicolor beat the brown stuff out of the dotty back and I could never catch it because of the LR so eventually it went to dotty back great aquarium in the sky. The 120g is 1 of 3 tanks that all overflow to a common sump and the 120g is set up for a future reef with 4 inches of coral sand. The 120 is the only tank with many (100+) worms. The 92g has very few because somebody in there is keeping them under crontrol (I think) and I have not been able to see which of the fish are eating the worms. A 70g tank in the system is set up as my refugium and as of now I do not see any worms. I know the pump in the sump is sending critters around to all 3 of the tanks because the 70g has mysis shirmp and ampepods and snails in it that I did not stock in the tank. It was bare to start with, no caulpera, no LR just sand and miricle mud. Had a hard time finding C. proliferia to put in the 70g until last week. In CAlif. almost all Caulpera species are prohibited except C. proliferia.