Emergence of Bristleworms

[Treefer32]

So, I was just thinking the last week as I watched my tank and saw nightmare posts of tanks on here and FB about worm infestations and I was so thankful that after 4 years of my current reef I don't have bristleworms! Well, last night Karma decided to kick me where it counts...

I turned the furnace room light on (just an incandescent room light for my "in wall" 340 gallon tank) and was observing it in the yellow light. To discover a pile of worms on my sand bed near one side of the tank. One was curling around my nori clip that I normally feed nori from. That one was short and fat. The others were long and moving around on the sand bed. I've never seen any worms in my tank and I've observed it many times at night.

So, three changes I've made in the last 2 months

1. doubled my in tank circulation with 2 additional Maxspect XF 280 gyres and a wave engine controller to decrease flow at night and increase it during the day and have an hour of nutrient export.

2. I stopped doing water changes.

3. I am on day 4 of dosing around 30 ml of live phytoplankton per day.

My goal with phyto was to boost my pod population for my CBB as I noticed him eating a lot of pods. My suspicion is I boosted food population for worms as well, which allowed them to take off? Or I'm not sure why they were coming out of the rocks if I hadn't seen them for 4 years, why would they come out now?

I hate worms! And why isn't my dragon wrasse eating them? Or my CBB? You guys are constantly searching for food, dinner was served right in front of you!

 

[saltyfins]

So, I was just thinking the last week as I watched my tank and saw nightmare posts of tanks on here and FB about worm infestations and I was so thankful that after 4 years of my current reef I don't have bristleworms! Well, last night Karma decided to kick me where it counts...

I turned the furnace room light on (just an incandescent room light for my "in wall" 340 gallon tank) and was observing it in the yellow light. To discover a pile of worms on my sand bed near one side of the tank. One was curling around my nori clip that I normally feed nori from. That one was short and fat. The others were long and moving around on the sand bed. I've never seen any worms in my tank and I've observed it many times at night.

So, three changes I've made in the last 2 months

1. doubled my in tank circulation with 2 additional Maxspect XF 280 gyres and a wave engine controller to decrease flow at night and increase it during the day and have an hour of nutrient export.

2. I stopped doing water changes.

3. I am on day 4 of dosing around 30 ml of live phytoplankton per day.

My goal with phyto was to boost my pod population for my CBB as I noticed him eating a lot of pods. My suspicion is I boosted food population for worms as well, which allowed them to take off? Or I'm not sure why they were coming out of the rocks if I hadn't seen them for 4 years, why would they come out now?

I hate worms! And why isn't my dragon wrasse eating them? Or my CBB? You guys are constantly searching for food, dinner was served right in front of you!

I hate them too! Picked up a rock with some awesome green mushrooms that fell over into the sand bed, face first. just as I set them back, a felt something, then saw the worm! I've gotten stung before, but not like this. Lost the skin around the sting, and now the skin is split. hate them! I'd trap them, but then I'd have to call 911 to have someone else take the trap out for me! ;Nailbiting

 

[Treefer32]

I hate them too! Picked up a rock with some awesome green mushrooms that fell over into the sand bed, face first. just as I set them back, a felt something, then saw the worm! I've gotten stung before, but not like this. Lost the skin around the sting, and now the skin is split. hate them! I'd trap them, but then I'd have to call 911 to have someone else take the trap out for me! ;Nailbiting

I was just thinking this, can I 3d print a disposable trap? I have no intention of seeing what's inside the trap!!! If it's designed for worms only... There's nothing inside I want to see! They might actually be peanut worms. I'm pretty sure I saw one worm with bristles though. It was very skinny and long. The rest were all thick and lacking bristles, segmented like earth worms almost, but very pale, grayish in color (well under an extremely poor light.)

 

[saltyfins]

I was just thinking this, can I 3d print a disposable trap? I have no intention of seeing what's inside the trap!!! If it's designed for worms only... There's nothing inside I want to see! They might actually be peanut worms. I'm pretty sure I saw one worm with bristles though. It was very skinny and long. The rest were all thick and lacking bristles, segmented like earth worms almost, but very pale, grayish in color (well under an extremely poor light.)

gross. there's another way, that seems to be pretty effective, using nylons...but again, you'd have to see them...and take out the trap. ;Dead

 

[Yates273]

I’m not a big fan of them but I’m leave them alone since they are good for tank. Only time they come out is when the get huge. I have a couple right now I’m trying to catch because they are so big. They come out when I feed but if I go near them the disappear in the rock work. I actually caught one attacking one of my small nassarius snails.

 

[ScottJ]

I was just thinking this, can I 3d print a disposable trap? I have no intention of seeing what's inside the trap!!! If it's designed for worms only... There's nothing inside I want to see! They might actually be peanut worms. I'm pretty sure I saw one worm with bristles though. It was very skinny and long. The rest were all thick and lacking bristles, segmented like earth worms almost, but very pale, grayish in color (well under an extremely poor light.)

This may be a stupid question, but if you can't see inside the trap, how would you know you trapped anything?

 

[anthonygf]

This may be a stupid question, but if you can't see inside the trap, how would you know you trapped anything?

Stick you fingers inside, or better yet ask your wife.

 

[Duncan62]

So, I was just thinking the last week as I watched my tank and saw nightmare posts of tanks on here and FB about worm infestations and I was so thankful that after 4 years of my current reef I don't have bristleworms! Well, last night Karma decided to kick me where it counts...

I turned the furnace room light on (just an incandescent room light for my "in wall" 340 gallon tank) and was observing it in the yellow light. To discover a pile of worms on my sand bed near one side of the tank. One was curling around my nori clip that I normally feed nori from. That one was short and fat. The others were long and moving around on the sand bed. I've never seen any worms in my tank and I've observed it many times at night.

So, three changes I've made in the last 2 months

1. doubled my in tank circulation with 2 additional Maxspect XF 280 gyres and a wave engine controller to decrease flow at night and increase it during the day and have an hour of nutrient export.

2. I stopped doing water changes.

3. I am on day 4 of dosing around 30 ml of live phytoplankton per day.

My goal with phyto was to boost my pod population for my CBB as I noticed him eating a lot of pods. My suspicion is I boosted food population for worms as well, which allowed them to take off? Or I'm not sure why they were coming out of the rocks if I hadn't seen them for 4 years, why would they come out now?

I hate worms! And why isn't my dragon wrasse eating them? Or my CBB? You guys are constantly searching for food, dinner was served right in front of you!

Love those worms. Their population will self regulate with food supply. Great CUC. The phyto probably helped them out but they are still cleaning up somebody's mess. Lol you can trap them but will only catch the larger ones.

 

[ubiq]

I'm neutral on worms, but for one thing: they continuously foul my ammonia sensor leading to ridiculously high readings. Has anyone found a work-around?