Bristle Worm Problem?

cameraman954

cameraman954

Member
A buddy of mine has a 29 gallon reef tank with a 15 gallon refugium. I was over his house the other day, and I noticed there were some bristle worms. They were pretty small, but from what I know they're a problem. So we checked his water levels and check everything, and all the tests came out flawless. Zero nitrate, zero nitrites, zero phosphates, pH was perfect, alkalinity was 12 calcium was 450 etc. Then I grabbed a sample of his water and I brought it home and same thing. Even took it to a local fish store and the test came out perfect there too. I asked him when the last time he bought a coral or introduced a new rock, he said he hasn't introduced anything in the past year and a half.
So my question is are bristle worms a problem or no? Everyone has mixed reviews about them, saying certain ones hazardous versus other ones are fine in a reef tank to some point. Hey even looked online with him, and got the same answers. Some are good, some are bad, the refugium can play a part in it, they are healthy because they eat junk etc. Is there something that he has that causes this, or something that he is doing that is causing this? From what I know, he has only 4 fish. Two clown fish and two gobies. Some answers were overfeeding?
Is this something he should be worried about? Or should he buy something that will eat them? If so, what is the BEST bristle worm killer. I told him I was going to go on the forums to get him an answer from other people, so that's why I'm asking here. He's worried that the bristle worms will kill all his cora,l which he has dedicate a lot of time to.
So please everyone, give me an answer as soon as possible to help my buddy.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Hi,
Unless they are Eunice (bobbit) coral eating worms they are safe as far as coral is concerned. The little half colored bristle worms are not predators, but eaters of the dead and decayed. They are part of the CUC. If a fish dies it will not pollute the tank because the eaters will clean it up long before it can cause an ammonia spike.
Here is a small portion of an article:
Bristle worms usually reproduce at a fast rate when the aquarium is being overfed and they have a lot of food to eat. If the aquarium is not overfed, they'll die off and eat each other's remains, as the worms are scavengers.

  • Add a predator to the tank that will kill and eat the bristle worms. Fish that eat predators and are tank-friendly include six line wrasses, disappearing wrasses and dottybacks. These fishes will also be an attractive addition to your reef aquarium, and are gentle enough that they don't eat other fish in the tank.
    Add an arrow crab to your tank. Unfortunately, arrow crabs may eat other fish, crabs and shrimp that you are not looking to get rid of. However, if you have a large infestation of bristle worms, an arrow crab is a good predator that can reach into bristle worms' hiding places to find them.
    HTH
 
cameraman954

cameraman954

Member
Yeah, I saw a bunch of videos on different types of worms. He has spaghetti worms that are orange and these bristle worms I saw where probably at most a half inch. Also found a bunch of mini brittle starfish
 
S

saxman

Guest
BW's are fine, IMHO...I've even seen one eating red cyano.
Their population typically waxes and wanes in relation to available food, so heavily fed, high waste systems will have many more in residence than a tank that is target fed and has little uneaten food.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
the bristle worm in the picture is a perfectly safe detritivore. its and its bretheren are helping keep his tank clean. if he gets "infested" its a sign of overfeeding but seeing a few here and there is no big deal.
 
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