Bristle worms and Seahorses

[newfisher]

What do you think is a better choice for bristle worm removal in a Seahorse and pipe fish tank, Melanarus wrasse or Coral banded shrimp? Both seem to have pro's and con's. Con's on the wrasse, fast to eat misis from the horses and hard to catch in a 40 tall cylinder tank. Con's with the shrimp, aggressive towards slow moving tank mates. It would be a huge chore to break the tank down to remove the rock that the worms are in, but I don't want to risk harming the horses to get rid of my bristle worm outbreak. Any thoughts? Thanks.

[snowpunk]

Fish trap after the melanurus has done his work? If he is the fastest in the tank then he'll get the food in the trap first too. He will be the fastest in any tank really. What about an arrow crab? They maow on those things too.

[newfisher]

I have a decorator arrow now and he just hangs out on top of the rocks,never goes near the sand bed unless he sees something down there that looks like it will stick to his body. We call him the "drag queen". Always dressed up,but no place to go. The fishtrap is a good idea.

[snowpunk]

lol... the drag queen...

 

Whatever you do don't get a melanurus and a arrow together. the arrow was lunch when I did it. Mine was smaller though so if its big and the melanurus is small you may have a chance for a while.

[pledosophy]

Bristleworms are good, what's the worry?

 

You can battle them all you like but they are a standard plague in seahorse systems. Seahorses produce a lot of waste, there digestive track does not fully digest all of the food they eat often. This leaves mysis for the bristleworms to munch on.

 

The best way to limit there numbers is to limit there acsess to food. You can use a feeding dish and siphon out any uneaten food, or poop. Limiting there food source is the easiest way to control them.

 

There are other option such as removing all of your rock and doing a hyper salinity dip. Measure the water to 1.040 and put the rock in a tub with a powerhead. In about 10 minutes the bristleworms will have fled the rock, leaving a pile of eewww in the bottom of the bin. When you dispose of the worms I would seal them in a plastic bag, they tend to have a fragrant smell very quickly IME.

 

There are various traps you can make by putting food in a mesh bag that some people like to do, and pulling out several worms at a time.

 

IMO I think you should go with the learn to love them option, or the ways of removal i have suggested.

 

A wrasse in that size tank is not going to work out longterm. There swim movements are likely to bother the seahorses which often leads to the horses not leaving there hitch, not even to eat. Which is bad. The food competition would require you to feed so much more you would just be making the worm problem worse IMO.

 

Arrow crabs and CBB shrimp don't belong with seahorses IME. A snap from either on a seahorse opens the door for secondary infection, which is the biggest threat to seahorses developing disease. There is almost always an intial trigger IME.

 

HTH

[impur]

Yah i'd start with some sort of trap and just try to limit their numbers, and get rid of some of those monsters that are in there (scary)(scary)

[newfisher]

After pulling out that 18 inch black bristle worm from the othe tank, I am suspicious of leaving them alone. The bag and bait idea sounds interesting? Any previous threads or advise on that method?

[jgf86123]

Pair of sheer nylons with some shrimp or something it in the bottom of the tank should do the trick nicely.

[Jules]

I was just reading up on the bristle worms and +1 on the nylon, also a pvc pipe about 6-8 inches long with holes drilled in it just big enough for them to crawl into, place bait inside, cap the ends and set it in the tank when lights out. Pull it out in the am. Sounds like a good control method if anything. Something I am looking into myslef.

[Gill]

Bristle worms are good they are helping you clean up, so ugly though.