bristle worm infestation

TMow · May 15, 2013

in the past I have removed bristle worms before. But now I find myself literally with a bad infestations of thousands of Bristle worms. everytime I go for a feed they come out of the woodworks, coming out of my rocks and sand. I really don't mind having a few bristle worms for my other fish to pick on and the crabs to eat. but now it just seems to be a problem. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to remove them? I really don't want to go about removing all of the rock and all of the sand and starting over.I have a 75 gallon aquarium with about a hundred to a hundred and fifty pounds of live rock. oh yeah and I have black sand about 80 pounds.I don't have a whole lot of corals I have a few polyps and zoos. a couple of anemones. I have had my rock and my aquarium in everything for about 6 years now.

Reefing Madness · May 15, 2013

An abundance of Bristle Worms is from excess nutrients in the tank. You can keep them to a minimum by not having nutrients build up on the sand bed.

TMow · May 15, 2013

Thanks madness

Laborator · May 15, 2013

Reduce feeding as well and get some wrasse

TMow · May 15, 2013

I had a six line wrasse and he was way too aggressive killed two of my clown.so I had to get rid of him. The best one I ever had was a arrow crab who went to town on them but for some reason only live about 3 months.

tidus10 · May 15, 2013

sorry i posted on the other thread

tidus10 said:
arrow crabs eat them, so do six line wrasses... pick the ones out you can, dont break them in half or else they will double..

tidus10 said:
oh and best way to fish for them is to feed your tank, shut off the lights and then use a red bulb and shine it on your tank and you can see them come out of the woodworks...

jcdeng · May 15, 2013

build a simple pest trap: plastic soda bottle, cut all around where the logo is, invert the cut part and push is back into the bottle. so now the plastic bottle will have the mouth piece inward. toss a piece of oyster/clam/shrimp meat inside and leave the trap on the sandbed overnight, and have fun emptying it out in the morning. Repeat process next day.

Rikerbear · May 15, 2013

jcdeng said:
build a simple pest trap: plastic soda bottle, cut all around where the logo is, invert the cut part and push is back into the bottle. so now the plastic bottle will have the mouth piece inward. toss a piece of oyster/clam/shrimp meat inside and leave the trap on the sandbed overnight, and have fun emptying it out in the morning. Repeat process next day.

You will also catch/trap any and all shrimp in the tank as well as some fishes. :smile:
The traps do work though

jcdeng · May 15, 2013

fishes and shrimp (maybe, if they are smart) can get out themselves, but the bristle worm definitely can't. You can still separate out whatever you want back in the tank in the morning.

kschweer · May 15, 2013

I have heard of placing a shrimp inside of a piece of panty hose and tying off the top and place in your tank after the lights go out. The bristles of the bristle worm get stuck in the panty hose and they can't get free. I haven't personally tried it but have heard from a few people that it works. Good luck!

that novice guy · May 15, 2013

^ i have to give that a try sometime!

kschweer · May 15, 2013

Here's a thread where this was discussed. One guy claimed to catch 100 in a night and another 217+!

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96855