I have a Yellow Watchman Goby and Pistol Shrimp pair who have the unfortunate pleasure of having a huge bristle worm (or two) try and share one of their favorite caves.
This morning I noticed what appears to be a few of the bristles sticking out of the side of the Goby's mouth/face some, like it tried to do it's "intimidate" face at it or brushed against it and now has the bristles stuck into it's face.
Two questions:
Should I be concerned for the fish? He doesn't seem any worse for wear, but I've never had this happen before so unsure of any issues. Will try to get a pic later, hard to get that close up as he darts away when I get the camera close enough lol
Secondly, how could I kill or remove large bristle worms? Traps won't work as these are 12"+ and will simply stretch into the container and back out again. I tried grabbing one with tongs and danged near moved the entire rockwork it was imbedded so well. Unlikely I'll be able to just pull these out. Anything I can inject them with? They are super active during feeding and stabbing/injecting something (reef safe obv) is possible. Mother in law has a diabetic cat so I can get syringes if needed lol
I'm open to killing them via chemical if it'll be safe for the fish and coral. I house everything from Yuma's, Z's, P's to Acro's. Unsure if there's anything out there safe for everything but will still kill the worms.
To be clear I don't think bristle worms are a nuisance, they are excellent cleaners, I just have a need to at least remove a few extremely large ones and at worse kill the majority.
Welcome any input, thanks!
This morning I noticed what appears to be a few of the bristles sticking out of the side of the Goby's mouth/face some, like it tried to do it's "intimidate" face at it or brushed against it and now has the bristles stuck into it's face.
Two questions:
Should I be concerned for the fish? He doesn't seem any worse for wear, but I've never had this happen before so unsure of any issues. Will try to get a pic later, hard to get that close up as he darts away when I get the camera close enough lol
Secondly, how could I kill or remove large bristle worms? Traps won't work as these are 12"+ and will simply stretch into the container and back out again. I tried grabbing one with tongs and danged near moved the entire rockwork it was imbedded so well. Unlikely I'll be able to just pull these out. Anything I can inject them with? They are super active during feeding and stabbing/injecting something (reef safe obv) is possible. Mother in law has a diabetic cat so I can get syringes if needed lol
I'm open to killing them via chemical if it'll be safe for the fish and coral. I house everything from Yuma's, Z's, P's to Acro's. Unsure if there's anything out there safe for everything but will still kill the worms.
To be clear I don't think bristle worms are a nuisance, they are excellent cleaners, I just have a need to at least remove a few extremely large ones and at worse kill the majority.
Welcome any input, thanks!