Could i add a leopard wrasse to my seahorse tank?
- Thread starter lulu1228
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How big is the tank? Also leopard wrasse are mostly copepod eaters rather than pest eaters. Halichoeres wrasses are probably the best for bristle worms.
Personally I like a few bristle worms in my tank as they're good cuc.
Personally I like a few bristle worms in my tank as they're good cuc.
Is an arrow crab an option?
SaltyT
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As previously mentioned leopards won’t do much if anything to help with your bristleworms. Most wrasses will outcompete seahorses for food so I would look into other options.
lulu1228
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Right now I've got a 32 gallon. I'm planning on getting a bigger tank soon
lulu1228
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I'm worried it'd catch and harm the seahorses
lulu1228
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Are there other fish that could help?
A pink streaked wrasse maybe. They do eat pests and are more shy than other wrasse but still the same issue of it outcompeting the seahorses. Though being shy its probably your best option.
What temp are you keeping your ponies at? If below 70F, skip the tankmates. If between 70-74, then perhaps a brotulid? Brotulina fusca does well with ponies, and has somewhat of a reputation for eating bristleworms. I was keeping mine with my ponies, but do not heat their tank, and it is too cold now (68-69F) for the brotulid to do well.
They won't outcompete your ponies either. Very casual, slow eaters. Mine likes brine and mysis, even flake, but basically doesn't come out unless it is night time, so just eats what floats into the cave it lives in during the day. My ponies only eat live ghost shrimp, which the brotulid didn't care about.
They won't outcompete your ponies either. Very casual, slow eaters. Mine likes brine and mysis, even flake, but basically doesn't come out unless it is night time, so just eats what floats into the cave it lives in during the day. My ponies only eat live ghost shrimp, which the brotulid didn't care about.
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Are the bristle worms harming your seahorses? As long as you’re not overfeeding the tank causing an infestation, the bristle worms shouldn’t cause harm to the seahorses.
lulu1228
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They definitely sting them. I think I definitely had an overfeeding problem
I've dialed that in, but the bristle worm population is definitely out of hand
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Bristle worm populations self regulate so when less food is available their numbers will decrease. Until then, you could try the fish @Fishfreak2009 suggested. I’m not familiar with brotulids so I’ll defer to his expertise with them.
lulu1228
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Their temperature is about 73-75ish. Would that be okay?
Should be fine for the brotulid, although ideally seahorses are kept below 74 F, to reduce potential of Vibrio infection. Aim to keep it 72-73 F, that way both species are happy.
Just be prepared to never see your brotulid. They are one of the shyest fish in the hobby. You'll probably have to special order one. Some sellers call them cusk eels if that helps when trying to special order one.
ScottJ
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Try a trap maybe? Lots of different ideas out there.
https://fishlab.com/bristle-worm-trap/
https://fishlab.com/bristle-worm-trap/
lulu1228
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Quality Marine has them listed, and I know some stores can get them through other wholesalers or through a transhipper. You'll need to check with your LFS. I haven't seen any online retailers list any recently.
Most wrasses that would go after bristleworms would outcompete your seahorses for food.
It really depends on whether you want to control the population or eradicate all of them.
If you want to control the population, you can do the frozen food in nylon approach (tie a couple of frozen food cubes in some nylon attached to a string, and leave it at the bottom of the tank overnight, next morning pull out the nylons with the bristle worms stuck on the nylon). Or you can do a diy trap with fish food where the worms can get in but cants get out.
if you want to eradicate the population, panacur (safeguard goat dewormer) will kill the bristle worms in your tanks over 2 days, without completely destroying your biological filter. Panacur at low levels would not hurt the seahorses (I use it to profilactically de-worm seahorses as a part of initial quarantine), but, to take out the bristle worms in little time, I wouldn’t chance it with the seahorses in there.
What I’d do is get a 10 or 20 gallon tank, pull some of your sand or biological media from your current tank with a powerhead and water from your current tank. Put the seahorses into the temporary tank (they will sit on there for a week). Once the seahorses are in the temporary tank, turn off skimmer, remove carbon, and put enough safeguard into the tank to make the water cloudy (cloudy enough that you can barely see that back of the tank. Leave for 48 hours then dose panacur again the same way, the. Do the same dosage 3 days after that (days 1, 3, and 6). All the bristle worms should be dead by day 7 (technically the worms should be dead by day 3, but you add at day 6 and wait till day 7 so you take out any eggs left from days 1 and 2). Once this is done, if you had a large infestation, your ammonia by day 7 will be pretty high, so on day 7 siphon your sand really well, and change at least 90% of your water.
I would do the panacur approach, but that’s just me. After heaving dealt with pests like that for years, I am extremely cautious with pests now.
It really depends on whether you want to control the population or eradicate all of them.
If you want to control the population, you can do the frozen food in nylon approach (tie a couple of frozen food cubes in some nylon attached to a string, and leave it at the bottom of the tank overnight, next morning pull out the nylons with the bristle worms stuck on the nylon). Or you can do a diy trap with fish food where the worms can get in but cants get out.
if you want to eradicate the population, panacur (safeguard goat dewormer) will kill the bristle worms in your tanks over 2 days, without completely destroying your biological filter. Panacur at low levels would not hurt the seahorses (I use it to profilactically de-worm seahorses as a part of initial quarantine), but, to take out the bristle worms in little time, I wouldn’t chance it with the seahorses in there.
What I’d do is get a 10 or 20 gallon tank, pull some of your sand or biological media from your current tank with a powerhead and water from your current tank. Put the seahorses into the temporary tank (they will sit on there for a week). Once the seahorses are in the temporary tank, turn off skimmer, remove carbon, and put enough safeguard into the tank to make the water cloudy (cloudy enough that you can barely see that back of the tank. Leave for 48 hours then dose panacur again the same way, the. Do the same dosage 3 days after that (days 1, 3, and 6). All the bristle worms should be dead by day 7 (technically the worms should be dead by day 3, but you add at day 6 and wait till day 7 so you take out any eggs left from days 1 and 2). Once this is done, if you had a large infestation, your ammonia by day 7 will be pretty high, so on day 7 siphon your sand really well, and change at least 90% of your water.
I would do the panacur approach, but that’s just me. After heaving dealt with pests like that for years, I am extremely cautious with pests now.
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