Bristle worm question

[carolinethedog]

Last night my boyfriend found a 3 inch bristle worm in our 3 month old reef tank. We did our research and came to the conclusion that they are not good for the tank (If that's wrong, someone correct me). Tonight we had another encounter with the worm or should I say worms... The momma worm came out and my bf tried to grab her with tweezers. That wasn't happening, she got away and crawled into the rock. We flipped over our live rock and tried to see where the worms burrowed into... then... babies!! There were 3-4 half inch babies, really fast swimmers. Does anyone know a good way to get rid of these guys? We were thinking an arrowhead crab, but we don't want him to disturb our corals or other invertebrates. Please let us know! Thank you!

 

[peterpaul]

a coral banded shrimp will remove them

 

[saltwatercraz]

Bristle worms are a good part of a clean up crew. I only pull the real big ones, or if I see any that keep bothering a coral.

 

[rldavisou]

Bristle worms have gotten a bad rap. They are harmless and are actually really good detritavores. I would leave it in until it gets to be about 6" long. Fireworms tend to be more aggressive and they pack a nasty punch, but Bristles are fine.

 

[saltymac]

Hello all,
Until tonight, I would have agreed that they are harmless and good clean up crew members. I received a 10 lb piece of "dead" rock for fathers day and finally added it tonite. Within 5 minutes of adding the rock I noticed a cloud of white "smoke". Within 3 minutes there were about 25-30 "clouds" shot off in the tank. Each done by a bristle worm. Im guessing they are mature and something (the new rock?) set them off to send their DNA into the tank. Im not trying to hijack this thread, but IMO there is a limit on the number/ size of the worm before you can say they are harmless. My tank went from crystal clear to "milky" in a few minutes. I did a 15 gal water change and some regular maintence to make sure everything is gonna be ok. Ill have to start my own thread, but if anyone has had this happen to them, please let me know. Good luck, and thanks in advance.

 

[michael1972]

Bristle worms are good but if you want to catch them to put them in to your fuge or sump. get some pantyhose and a pice of shrimp, put the shrimp in to the pantyhose an put it next to the rock they are in.
there legs will get stuck to the panty hose and all you have to do is pick up the panty hose and pick them off with your tweezers.
JMO

 

[mr_x]

if you witnessed the worms actually shooting these clouds into your tank, why did you change your mind about them being harmless? did they hurt anything by doing this?
meanwhile, i have, at the very least, hundreds of them in my display, and even more in my refugium.
i agree with them being a free cleanup crew.
i've never witnessed a bristleworm eating anything other than left over food/dead stuff.
if you want to limit the amount of bristleworms in your tank, you need to limit their food supply. if you have too many worms, then you are feeding too much or your nutrient export has to be reconfigured to be more effective.
-btw- the same goes for flatworms. limit their food, you limit their population