how to get rid of bristleworms

[tracereefer]

. i’m starting up a new tank and don’t want to spend 100s on live rock. i was given about 30 lbs of rock from someone i met, but it’s absolutely infested with bristleworms. i’m setting the rock out to dry out and kill all the worms, is it a terrible idea to use this rock in my new tank? is there a way to make sure they’re all dead, like bleaching the rock or something?

 

[tracereefer]

i’m thinking a freshwater dip of the rocks maybe after they dry out

 

[Mastiffsrule]

They are ugly but can be beneficial sand sifters if truly bristleworms as any FYI.

 

[Clownfish2]

. i’m starting up a new tank and don’t want to spend 100s on live rock. i was given about 30 lbs of rock from someone i met, but it’s absolutely infested with bristleworms. i’m setting the rock out to dry out and kill all the worms, is it a terrible idea to use this rock in my new tank? is there a way to make sure they’re all dead, like bleaching the rock or something?

I’d set the rocks on driveway and shoot them with high pressure water hose and then dunk them in a 10 parts to 1 part bleach water bath for a week to kill off everything.

Then rinse them off with freshwater and put them in a bucket of freshwater with dose of dechlorinator for 24 hours and you are good to go.

 

[robert]

Setting the rock out to dry will kill the worms but they probably die inside the rock meaning you'll probably have nutrient issues when you use the rock later.

If you don't want to go that route, then putting the rock in a spare tank or bucket with tank water and a 2-3x dose of flatworm exit for 1.5 to 2 hours should cause them to bail and kill them.

I know that FW exit is not supposed to kill BWs but believe me it does.

 

[tracereefer]

I’d set the rocks on driveway and shoot them with high pressure water hose and then dunk them in a 10 parts to 1 part bleach water bath for a week to kill off everything.

Then rinse them off with freshwater and put them in a bucket of freshwater with dose of dechlorinator for 24 hours and you are good to go.

the rocks won’t absorb the bleach and release it back into the aquarium?

 

[Clownfish2]

There is a BRS Bulk Reef Supply video on rock curing that explained rock curing. I do not recall if they used dechlorinator, but I would personally if it was my tank.

 

[jeffyang]

why do you want to get rid of them?
They will do nothing but clean up detritus and uneaten food or dead body.

 

[Mattman1977]

Wouldn’t it be easier to order fresh reef saver dry rock from amazon. Around $60 for 40lbs.

If not use pool acid you get from HD mixed with rodi to the concrete cleaning mix. Dipped for a min or two the rinse in rodi mixed with baking soda. Be extremely careful wear all proper PPE’s including a respirator.

Good luck
Matt

 

[Flippers4pups]

They are ugly but can be beneficial sand sifters if truly bristleworms as any FYI.

They are highly beneficial clean up crew! Some people find them grotesque, but they are useful in eating small pieces of food and detritus. You really want them in your system.

They will self regulate in numbers with availability of food. In other words live and die depending on what’s available food wise.

They are not detrimental to coral, inverts or fish.

 

[robert]

Yea - FWs are a benefit. Never seen them as an issue. But if your intention is to kill the rock (because you don't know what else is in it) it would make curing so much easier if you could get the BWs out. Not dead somewhere deep inside the rock where they could only contribute excess nutrients when eventually used. That's why i suggested the FW exit. Its the only thing that I know that makes them bail as opposed to just hunkering down.

 

[Cjp63]

An easy way to get rid of the majority of them is plain club soda. You put the live rock on the ground let's say your driveway and pour the club soda into all the holes in the rock. The co2 in the soda suffocates the worms and they literally jump out of the Rock. This will get rid of the majority of them and it doesn't destroy all the life on the rock.

 

[robert]

^^ Nice trick - I'll remember that one...

 

[Hemmdog]

An easy way to get rid of the majority of them is plain club soda. You put the live rock on the ground let's say your driveway and pour the club soda into all the holes in the rock. The co2 in the soda suffocates the worms and they literally jump out of the Rock. This will get rid of the majority of them and it doesn't destroy all the life on the rock.

Does this by any chance also work for pest Xenia/zoas? lol

 

[jake_francis]

Add a wrasse in your tank once it has finished cycling.

 

[Mical]

A six line wrasse will devour the population of bristle worms

 

[EMeyer]

People. There are cleanup crew members available that do not
1. Cause very painful stings that last for several days if you touch them
2. Look like a creature from a horror movie
3. Kill inverts (yes, I trust the evidence of my own eyes more than 'messageboard experts')

Kill them with fire. Or in this case water. In my experience a freshwater soak gets a lot of them to exit the rock.

You probably cant avoid these horrible things popping up eventually, but if that was my rock I would absolutely kill them before putting them in the tank!

 

[saintsreturn]

*Always wear gloves when handling rock, especially with ones you know are infested*

Just for kicks, here is another option i have used.

Take a 5g bucket, elevate a piece of egg crate in it, fill with low salinity salt water, put food on the bottom of the bucket. Let them crawl out after the food and remove rock. Then take the rock and dunk it repeatedly in a rinse bucket. If you are not concerned with die off, you can dry the rock out to ensure they die. I do not like this method because anything that stays in the rock (including stuff you dont see) will cause a nutrient spike when you put back in the system.

Many, many, reefers have had great luck with chemicals. I for one never use anything I would not pour into my display tank. Just works for me. Unfortunately, i love the benefits of these worms, but my wife hates to look of them. So i now have a 110g tank that has been BW free since it used to be a 75. I dont buy live rock and i inspect each addition to ensure i avoid them. When i get new rock, its always dry, which has its own drawbacks, but makes her happy.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

It really looks like this was actual live rock rather than "dead rock" that someone booted up from dead rock. If so - don't nuke it! You can use the club soda trick to get the majority of the bristleworms to bail, but you really, really want this rock in tank-temp seawater as soon as possible. Truly live rock of the Pacific variety is unobtainable at present, and may never be obtainable again. And truly live rock can be used to set a tank up in hours rather 6 weeks.

So think carefully before you bleach it.

 

[shred5]

The reason you have so many is they have too much food. Their population increases or decreases by the amount of available food.

Feed the fish not the tank.. Give them less food and in months their population will decline.

Trapping them does not work because they can multiply very fast and it only takes a few.

There is nothing wrong with them, if they were not eating the additional food it would turn into nutrients that fuel algae. Yes their are some bad varieties but your is the common one. I had one gray variety that would eat only algae and was 10 inches long.

Back in the day we used to purchase them as cleanup crew. Amazing how many people now days panic over every little thing based on passed on regurgitated garbage.. All because they saw a bristle worm and it was eating something that was dyeing. well the bristle worm must have killed it right..


Eww I have a flatworm... Advice Nuke it even though most are harmless and most will not last in a tank anyway.