brittle worm

[bcollie]

Are these worms something I need to worry about? I have one in my tank that is about 2-3 inches long, is a pale orange color on the head end (I think its the head) with a gray body. It doesn't appear to be hurting anything...just moves around the live rock or the sand bed.

 

[bang guy]

They are beneficial.

 

[mjmpinsky]

As long as they stay relatively small they are good sand sifters and detris eaters.
However, I have seen pics on this forum of people cleaning out their tanks only to find bristleworms which are almost a foot long.
If they get too big, and you want to remove it/them, be sure you remove them with rubber gloves. The bristles are as bad as fiberglass to get out of your skin. The worms love to hide in holes in your coral and rock. To remove, watch which rock they are hiding in, then take out the rock and soak in plain tapwater, the worms will come out and you can then "flush" them.

 

[bang guy]

What's wrong with the big ones?

 

[sw65galma]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
What's wrong with the big ones?
I guess as long as it's not like the one Steve Weast had lol!

 

[bang guy]

The Type of Eunicid Steve had would have been an unsafe worm at any size.

 

[madison]

Can one have too many bristle worms...ie: in the 40 gallon refg I have about 100 LBS of LR with lots of Caulerpa and about 2 inches of LS...if I turn on the light after it's 10 hour photo period (for the caulerpa) I can see at least 200 worms anywhere from babies to about 5 inches all over the LR in the plants and even some hanging off the PVC's
I regularly feed the worms pellets...minimal amount to keep food from rotting and silversides once a week...but I think the B worms ate 1/2 of my chetto's it that possible?

 

[crcoachm]

I have the same problem.
I say get them out now or they WILL take over your tank!!

 

[bigarn]

The more you feed them, the greater number you're going to have.
There's no need to feed them directly..... they're clean up crew members.

 

[madison]

Since it's the refg...with no fish...should I just stop feed all together and hope they don't turn their attention to the chetto's?

 

[bigarn]

Originally posted by Madison
Since it's the refg...with no fish...should I just stop feed all together and hope they don't turn their attention to the chetto's?
Don't feed them unless you want to increase the population.

 

[madison]

Sounds like a plan

maybe if the LFS has a CBS for cheap?

 

[sw65galma]

Originally posted by Madison
Sounds like a plan

maybe if the LFS has a CBS for cheap?

Just stop feeding them directly and thier population will stabilize.
Since you are increasing thier food supply, they can increase thier numbers...
Once their food supply stops, they will die out to the population that just your regualr feeding will support them to.
A good thing for all of us to remeber is this whole system is a Cause/Effect.
We always see the Effect and what we really need to focus on, is the cause..