Bristles in fish, how to remove some huge bristle worms?

[Reffetsevla]

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!

 

[i cant think]

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!

What’s the live stock (Fish and inverts/coral) and tank size?
I have an idea for the second question however it may not work depending on inverts or tank size/mates.

 

[CoralB]

Arrow crabs

 

[Reffetsevla]

What’s the live stock (Fish and inverts/coral) and tank size?
I have an idea for the second question however it may not work depending on inverts or tank size/mates.

Tank is a 20g IM Fusion Pro

Fish
2 Wyoming White Clowns (Ocellaris variations I believe)
1 YWG
1 Red Dragonet (I stock the tank with pods monthly dont worry lol)

Inverts
1 Candy Cane Pistol
1 Mithrax Crab
2 Peppermint Shrimp
~18 snails between Ceriths, Astrea, Margaritas

I really need to put a build thread together one of these days...

 

[Reffetsevla]

Arrow crabs

I've read they like to nip at some corals, is that true? Or is it more like with Emerald crabs where they only do it if there's not enough food? I feed really heavy in order to keep my PO4 and NO3 up naturally, so there's always food available. Which is likely why my worms are so huge lol

 

[CoralB]

Hit or miss . Never happened to me but I kept him well fed . They do occasionally eat snails

 

[i cant think]

Tank is a 20g IM Fusion Pro

Fish
2 Wyoming White Clowns (Ocellaris variations I believe)
1 YWG
1 Red Dragonet (I stock the tank with pods monthly dont worry lol)

Inverts
1 Candy Cane Pistol
1 Mithrax Crab
2 Peppermint Shrimp
~18 snails between Ceriths, Astrea, Margaritas

I really need to put a build thread together one of these days...

First of, YES we need a build thread!
Second off, consider one of these options;
Boxer shrimp (Risky in terms of slow moving or small fish/inverts and are opportunistic hunters)
Arrow Crabs (Same as the boxer shrimp)
Pink streak wrasse - Pseudocheilinops ataenia (Peaceful and excellent but hard to find and can be pricy sometimes)
Six line wrasse - Pseudocheilinus hexataenia (MANY horror stories about them being aggressive to other fish and ruling a tank).

 

[SlugSnorter]

Among all the other suggestions for bristle control, to answer your first question, as long as the watchman is still eating its fine.

 

[i cant think]

I will also add another fish that is known for bristleworm hunting, Callogobius hasselti or amikami. The hasselti is more well known for it however I’m pretty sure both are good.
Their common names are Amikami Goby and Hasselt’s Goby. They’re more of a goby that isn’t always spotted in the hobby but you may come across one randomly at some point.

 

[SlugSnorter]

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!

could be fireworms.

 

[Reffetsevla]

I actually have an order in for the Pink Streaked Wrasse (Cryptic Wrasse) at an LFS, just hoping they come in soon. I opted not to do the Six Line until I get the bigger tank going in a few months (also aggression horror story's lol)

Will the crabs go after the BIG worms?

 

[Reffetsevla]

could be fireworms.

I've been pretty diligent in watching, the worms I've seen in the caves have all been your run of the mill bristles but I'll definitely keep watching for sure!

 

[i cant think]

could be fireworms.

+1 to this, bristles getting stuck in the fish doesn’t sound right if it’s a bristleworm. Fireworms do however leave their bristles and it can be extremely irritating. Predators of these are the same as your run of the mill bristleworm (Fireworms are also bristleworms they’re just a different species).

 

[Tired]

An arrow crab big enough to go after huge worms may also go after small fish.

Got any pics? It's unusual for the typical bristleworms to get that large, at least in numbers.

Sounds like you need a longer trap. If you can force them to come out of the rock entirely, you can grab them, remove them, and euthanize them with clove oil. (They are animals, after all- best to kill them humanely if possible.)

 

[Reffetsevla]

+1 to this, bristles getting stuck in the fish doesn’t sound right if it’s a bristleworm. Fireworms do however leave their bristles and it can be extremely irritating. Predators of these are the same as your run of the mill bristleworm (Fireworms are also bristleworms they’re just a different species).

I'll keep an eye out but they've all been pretty "Bland" kind of fleshy colored ones. The "cave" they like to use is literally just a small hole in the rock that they squeeze themselves through and the YWG is adamant he not move even when that worm is rubbing right along side of him. He literally pushes back against it. I don't think the worm did this on aggression, I think just really cramped quarters lol

 

[Reffetsevla]

An arrow crab big enough to go after huge worms may also go after small fish.

Got any pics? It's unusual for the typical bristleworms to get that large, at least in numbers.

Sounds like you need a longer trap. If you can force them to come out of the rock entirely, you can grab them, remove them, and euthanize them with clove oil. (They are animals, after all- best to kill them humanely if possible.)

Going to try for a pic here after this meeting. I usually don't have them this big but I am feeding really heavy, PO4 and NO3 keep bottoming out so trying to keep it up without dosing. But the effects of all the nutrients is giving me huge worms hah

May have to try with a PVC tub like 16" long and only openings on the ends maybe? Need them to get out of the rocks.

 

[SlugSnorter]

An arrow crab big enough to go after huge worms may also go after small fish.

Got any pics? It's unusual for the typical bristleworms to get that large, at least in numbers.

Sounds like you need a longer trap. If you can force them to come out of the rock entirely, you can grab them, remove them, and euthanize them with clove oil. (They are animals, after all- best to kill them humanely if possible.)

I understand that this is anthropomorphizing, but Im vengeful and if those guys hurt my fish then they are gonna be thrown into a brackish tap water.

 

[i cant think]

I understand that this is anthropomorphizing, but Im vengeful and if those guys hurt my fish then they are gonna be thrown into a brackish tap water.

+1 to this, my golden dwarf boxer was put into my 4’ tank as I wasn’t risking anything when I got my Discordipinna griessingeri.

 

[Reffetsevla]

On the right side of his face, right on his mouth. I really think he tried to bite one that was in his cave like he does when the clowns get too close

 

[Reffetsevla]

On the right side of his face, right on his mouth. I really think he tried to bite one that was in his cave like he does when the clowns get too close

He is quickly outgrowing this hole but he refuses to leave it lol

That sentence out of context is......different