Bristleworm population outbreak

[jgalina]

Hello fellow reefers,

I have a bristleworm population outbreak in my 10 G pico. I have macroalgae, soft corals, a couple of clams and 5 sexy shrimp.

I already went in and swept the entire sandbed removing several but there are still many out there; I do have a trap, however I’m worried that the sexy shrimp might go inside the trap together with the bristleworms and get hurt or mabe eaten?

Is there a natural solution with inverts or fish that would be compatible with my setup and not harming my shrimp in the process?

Thanks as always for your help!

 

[bluemon]

are they actively harming livestock?

Because bristleworms are beneficial. I would just wait for the population to stabilize.

 

[jgalina]

I had some suspicious deaths in this tank before, the only resident that has survived for years was a Banggai cardinal, but lost a couple of reciently introduced clowns and a mandarin goby, I can’t be sure they were the culprits but it was a bit strange…. My population could easily be in the hundreds if not thousands, for a 10G I do think they are too many, but I also agree they are beneficial, keep the sandbed aerated and eat all possible detritus. Haven’t read anything on them harming living creatures… Thanks for your response

 

[TankYouVeryMuch]

You have thousands of bristle worms in a 10G? How often, how much, and what are you feeding?

 

[jgalina]

You have thousands of bristle worms in a 10G? How often, how much, and what are you feeding?

Pinch of flakes once a day and Reef Roids once a week before a 10% water change, occasional brine shrimp naupli…

 

[Skywater]

Hello fellow reefers,

I have a bristleworm population outbreak in my 10 G pico. I have macroalgae, soft corals, a couple of clams and 5 sexy shrimp.

I already went in and swept the entire sandbed removing several but there are still many out there; I do have a trap, however I’m worried that the sexy shrimp might go inside the trap together with the bristleworms and get hurt or mabe eaten?

Is there a natural solution with inverts or fish that would be compatible with my setup and not harming my shrimp in the process?

Thanks as always for your help!

Interesting article here; https://www.liveaquaria.com/article/451/?aid=451

 

[gkprevite]

Stop feeding the corals. It’s not necessary it tends to to grow everything you don’t want as well. The traps work well. Manually you can drop a small piece of table shrimp in and nab them when they come for it.

 

[Lavey29]

Banded shrimp keeps my population in check

 

[bluemon]

I highly doubt the worms killed the fish.

They probably died of another issue and worms ate the corpse.