Kimberlee Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Okay so I've never worried about the bristle worms in my tank. They have always been on the small side and never done any damage. Now I have 2 big ones that are causing problems. They crawled across my star fish the other night and did some damage to his skin. I don't think it will be long before they start to hurt other things in the tank. So who eats them? They are quick and I swear they smell me when I put my hand in the tank, and they are in 1 of my bigger rocks w/ a few corals on it. I guess I need ideas on how to get them out. Tried baiting them w/ food, their to smarter than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefsickness Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 i thank there are wrases that will get after them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Head Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 i thank there are wrases that will get after them Indeed there are. My eight-line keeps them under control quite nicely. They have all but disappeared since I added him/her to the tank. Now it just eats like a horse at feeding times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnkrcklives Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 My melanurus wrasse and cigar wrasse love to eat them even big ones. I have made traps that help get them out. Get a small jar put food inside(I used dried shrimp). Put a panty hose over the jar so it slightly goes inside the jar Like a cave. Rubber band it on. Put it in the tank at night. The bristles seem to get stuck to the holes in the panty hose. Hope that makes sense. Happy Hunting P.S. If you get the spines in your hands duct tape really helps pull them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberlee Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 My melanurus wrasse and cigar wrasse love to eat them even big ones. I have made traps that help get them out. Get a small jar put food inside(I used dried shrimp). Put a panty hose over the jar so it slightly goes inside the jar Like a cave. Rubber band it on. Put it in the tank at night. The bristles seem to get stuck to the holes in the panty hose. Hope that makes sense. Happy Hunting P.S. If you get the spines in your hands duct tape really helps pull them out. the cigar wrasse is that 1 you have w/ the red stripes right? Will try the jar trick, and thanks for the duct tape tip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnkrcklives Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Yes that is the one. The stripes are more dark orange fading into yellow. But that fish eats everything as far as pests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberlee Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 Thx for the id. I had 1 when I set up my tank over a year ago, but the store that sold him to me didn't tell me he was old and called him a tobacco wrasse. I've been trying to get an id on him since to get another 1 and thx to you I now have an id. Put an order in for him today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Arrowcrabs are good for the small ones. Leopard wrasses have eaten them for me as well. I did a 10 minute dip of my LR once at a salinity of 1.040 when a situation got out of control. Drove the worm from the rocks but the worst smell ever. The raised salinity for the shortened period of time does not harm the bacteria or critters but does make the worm flee the rocks. If they are not causing damage they are a great part of your clean up crew and if you are to remove then you should look to something else that will replace there function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberlee Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 just concerned about the ones that are big enough to hurt things, not looking to get rid of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigjohnwoody Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I must have the dumb species then. Pulled 2 out with fragging clamps yesterday during feeding time. They are fast, but they couldn't resist me laying food by there lair. They were only about 3-4 inches long. This is the first time I have ever seen them in my tank though. I know they are a good cuc member, but they are nasty little....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberlee Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 Mine are ingenious. I found about 4 of them when I stopped and watched. They are all against me I think. Don't mind the smaller ones, but I watched these guys do damage to the starfish so they gotta go. I think they communicate, because if I get a grip on 1 they all disappear. They are fell fed I think because food isn't a good enough reason to come out. I'm quick, not as quick as them. Wish I had the dumb ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frlejo Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Wish I had the dumb ones. laffin (laugh)(laugh)(laugh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Bristleworms themselves will not do harm to living things for the most part. There are cases of certain fish sustaining injury trying to eat them (not so uncommon with seahroses when trained to a feeding dish), but that is more of the fishes fault and hard to pin on the worm. They get a bum wrap. They do not eat live tissue at all. If your worms are attacking your fish, or eating your coral, they are not bristleworms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennmac415 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Oh my gosh.....I still just have the little nano up, and I was feeding my new brain coral and lobo last night and I saw that I have hundreds of bristleworms...!!! now, I have never really worried about them either, but I have always had a bigger tank set up....some of these are the little tiny ones, BUT there are quite a few that are absolutely HUGE and about 7-8 inches long.....I don't care about the smaller ones but should I try to get rid of these HUGE ones???????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frlejo Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 should I try to get rid of these HUGE ones???????? forget it if you have the smart ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Ive lost fish to fireworms, and now thanks to the [language filter] things i have no normal bristleworms left lol pledo, got any advice on fireworms? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberlee Posted October 6, 2011 Author Share Posted October 6, 2011 It isn't that they are eating tissue, it's that when they crawled across the starfish their bristles left damage to the tissue. Other than that I always thought they were a great part of the cuc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Ive lost fish to fireworms' date=' and now thanks to the [language filter] things i have no normal bristleworms left lol pledo, got any advice on fireworms?[/quote'] Do the hyper dip, they run out of the rocks like crazy. About 10 minutes at 1.040 worked well for me to catch my eunicid (4 footer) and a few hundred other worms. Make sure you use a powerhead and a nose clip, worst smell ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 It isn't that they are eating tissue' date=' it's that when they crawled across the starfish their bristles left damage to the tissue. Other than that I always thought they were a great part of the cuc.[/quote'] I've never heard of that before. Interesting. What kind of starfish? If only they killed asterna's, they'd be everyone favorite, including myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberlee Posted October 7, 2011 Author Share Posted October 7, 2011 Linckia laevigata - Blue Linckia Starfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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