please help how to get rid of bristle worms?

[sharmaine langford]

I have realized that these bristle worms has taken over my tank. I was told by a person that does saltwater tanking that's the best way to get rid of bristle wormswould be to air out the rocks. I have done that and it seems like the worms dried up inside the rocks. now my question is how to get the dead worms out of my rocks? can somebody please please please help me with this situation I'm pretty new to the salt water tank hobby. thanks in advance Sharmaine

 

[flower]

I have realized that these bristle worms has taken over my tank. I was told by a person that does saltwater tanking that's the best way to get rid of bristle wormswould be to air out the rocks. I have done that and it seems like the worms dried up inside the rocks. now my question is how to get the dead worms out of my rocks? can somebody please please please help me with this situation I'm pretty new to the salt water tank hobby. thanks in advance Sharmaine

Hi,

Sigh...bristle worms are not bad guys, they are part of the cleaning crew. If you have too many, it's because you overfeed your fish, when too much food is being wasted...they are cleaning it up for you. They won't over populate unless they have the extra food, so that is always in proportion to your bristle worm population.

Any time you remove the rock and let it air out...you kill the living critters in it, that creates an ammonia spike, which is a good thing if you are just setting up your tank.

If your tank has living fish in it:
You can't get the dead critters out of the dried out rock... soak the rock in saltwater in a separate tub until it "cures"...that means until the ammonia caused by the dead and dying has stopped, you will see the same test results you do when setting up a new tank...first is the ammonia spike, then nitrites and last nitrates. Once the ammonia and nitrites reach 0, and you see only nitrates...the rock is cured and can be placed back into the display tank.

Even drying out the rocks will not prevent the overpopulation of bristle worms, they lay their eggs...which isn't affected by your drying them out. The only answer to preventing an over population again, is to not give them the extra food to eat.

 

[sharmaine langford]

Hello flower! Thanks so much for the information. But I have another question for you. if I put the rocks in a bin with saltwater would that work or do I have to do a full set up like the tank you know like all the works? Also if I can do the bin how long does the rock have to been in the bin and does it have to be stored a special way? Whatever information you can give me with getting this tank back on top would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pegasus]

The rocks will have to be "cured" all over again. Once they dry out, they are no longer live rocks. To re-cure them, they need to be in a container with saltwater at the proper salinity and temperature... just like in your tank. A tub, power head (or power heads) to move the water around the rocks, test kit(s), and heater are all that are needed. A light can be added, but not necessary. You'll leave the rocks in the bin until Ammonia spikes, and then falls to zero. Nitrate will spike, and then fall to zero. Nitrate should be the only thing detectable. Once this happens, you can use the rocks in your tank again. I prefer to do a large water change in the tub, and let the rocks "cook" for another week or two, just to be safe. As flower said... bristleworms are a part of the cleaning crew. If there is an overpopulation of them, that means there is an overabundance of food. Reduce the food source, and the bristleworm population will be reduced. You can trap bristleworms (search for bristleworm trap) which will remove many of them, but since large populations are an indicator of excessive waste, treating at the source is the best method of reduction. Adding more snails such as nassarius snails can help reduce un-eaten waste accumulation, and compete with the bristleworms for their food source.

PS: Please don't dry your rocks out again...

 

[bang guy]

Depending on the quality of your live rocks (amount and diversity of life inside them) it can take up to a year to get rid of all the built up nutrients after killing everything in the rock. In the worst cases it becomes impossible to control the hair algae growing on the rocks because the fuel for the algae growth comes directly from the rock.