Too many fireworms in 'fuge?

[tormented]

I must have thousands in my 20g refugium, and they seem to be affecting my pod population. Will too many fireworms affect the pods or will i have to find a way to kill worms without hurting the pods? I was about to get a mandarin until I noticed so many worms in there. I dont know for sure if I have less pods now or if its just contrast, but it seems to be less.
Any ideas?

 

[poniegirl]

Do you feed your fuge? Have fish in it?
Arrow Crabs are known to eat bristle(fire) worms. Decorator crabs, also, tho if you have any reason to ever move either to your main tank, research them first. I've heard that decorators are pretty destructive in their quest to adorn themselves. They will use coral pieces, and not just dead corals. And I am not familiar with the temprament of either crab, personally.
For my bristleworm problem, I bought a Social Long Finned Fairy Wrasse. He did a good job on the population of smaller worms. And he still does follow me around when I clean or move things, because that tends to stir up a few of the little ones hiding in empty hermit shells and whatnot. He snicks them right out of the water as they float. Literally, follows, so that I have to check for his whereabouts before I move.
Does anyone know if the things I have mentioned will bother the pods?

 

[fishieness]

the fairy wrasse will eat pods. and arrow crabs will eat larger ones like amphiopods.
The bristle worms will affect your pod population because although they are beneficial, they are also competetors with your pods. Id try removeing a bunch manualy. maybe even feeding them to something like an aneneme if you have one.

 

[tormented]

Im getting rid of my LTA becasue my lighting is not good enough for it. Didnt know they ate worms.
I have a yellow tail damsel in the fuge, the only one of 3 I have ever been able to catch from my main 90g tank, and will be giving him up soon. Because of him I have been fedding the fuge some flakes. Now I have hundreds of worms. Must be scores in my little balls of chaeto alone, they pop out when i feed.
Will the arrow crab eat all my plants? I have the long leaf kind, and chaeto. How about the decorator crabs?
I could be rid of alot of the worms by removing all the pieces of rubble and crab shells, but that would kill off the pods too. I know they live in there too.
Still not sure what to do, manually picking out worms has never been very effective from what ive seen so far.
Anyone know any tricks?

 

[fishguy84]

Same problem in my tank too. I caved in and tok out the CC, But before that, I was told to put a bottle in there with some food, and a few times every night check to see if there's any activity. Of course with the population that fires/bristles usually reach unchecked, that's probably not going to be very effective.
Arrow crabs are supposed to be great at eating worms, but they can be a little aggressive towards tankmates once they reach a larger size. If you were to get one, I'd probably think about just keeping him in the fuge... but one of those would definately start thinning out the population.

 

[jon321]

My coral banded shrimp slurps fireworms up like candy, although it will most likely atleast pick at the pods alittle.
Jon

 

[tormented]

I have a skunk and fire shrimp and alot of hermit crabs and a few emerald crabs in my main tank. I know the emeralds eat the plants, but what about the others? Are any of them useful and safe for a fuge with plants and pods?

 

[tormented]

I also have 2 black brittle stars, will they eat anything like that?

 

[tormented]

I had to pick the weekend to ask this, no one seems to be on.
Anyone else know the answers? Waaaay to many worms :help:

 

[fishieness]

the shrimp may eat some, but are not likely because they are so small and not too agressive. The brittle stars would eat anything they can fine. However, the problem is, anything that would eat the worms will also eat pods too.

 

[tormented]

I guess ill have to take a hit to the pod population. Hopefully they will return fast to a high level without worms.

 

[mark_d]

Originally Posted by Tormented
I guess ill have to take a hit to the pod population. Hopefully they will return fast to a high level without worms.
just do whatever it takes and buy some pods online... thats probably the easiet solution if your willing to spend 15ish bucks to help rebuild ur pod population...

 

[tormented]

Thanks for the help guys.
I removed a bunch of crab shells and put the tufts of chaeto in a opaque plastic sieve kind of thing from an old canister filter, and am hanging it up to get more light in my main tank. They are so full of little worms and they sort of hang from the grill underneath the thing, ready to be eaten by the sixlined wrasse. I figure that it will also be a good way to allow the tang and angel some vegies when it grows down thru the grill.
I am going to try the bottle trap method before i remove anything else, maybe it will be enough.