how to get rid of bristleworms

[andrewkw]

I think you should sell this as live rock - good live rock is a lot harder to find these days, then buy some sterile dry rock with the money.

Or just add it all to your tank and have live rock. If it's a brand new tank you're not going to be pouring and endless supply of food in and the population will self regulate.

 

[Doctorgori]

Yeah even placing the rock in very shallow water removes a lot... Ive put rock in the fridge also ..funny how some stuff makes it ... anyway I didn’t mind some types... the fuzzy lil red ones are actually a cuc thing ... the centipede type with pinchers gotta go ,,, I think some wrasses eat them ... my rock is 10yrs old and thanks to fish no worms or feather dusters exist anymore so total eradication is possible

 

[Billdogg]

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 say 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 brisslet 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.

^^^This x 1000^^^

Yes, that is a lot of bristle worms. I'd be temted to pick off the ones I can easily get to just to reduce their number somewhat, but I absolutely WOULD NOT destroy that lovely rock because of them. There are a whole bunch of fish that find them to be tasty treats, and as mentioned above, their population will self regulate dependent on the available food supply.

I have to transfer them from my frag tank to my DT because my Leopard Wrasse eats them faster than they can reproduce.

 

[EMeyer]

All because they saw a bristle worm and it was eating something that was dyeing. well the brisslet worm must have killed it right..

If youre asking that I discount the repeated evidence of my own eyes based on the word of a messageboard expert, I have a question for you.

Should I also discount the evidence of my skin? these creatures -- the exact worms pictured in this thread -- deliver extremely painful "stings". Even a brief encounter causes swelling and pain as intense as a bee sting.

Just like I didnt really see the worms eat live shrimp and corals, did I also not experience these repeated stings?

This is so useful, I used to have to rely on personal observations, this internet expert thing is so much easier! <- smiley face indicates that while the opinions I am expressing are sincere, I am not flaming anyone or trying to anger anyone, just having a good-natured debate with maybe a tiny bit of good-natured snark.

 

[shred5]

If youre asking that I discount the repeated evidence of my own eyes based on the word of a messageboard expert, I have a question for you.

Should I also discount the evidence of my skin? these creatures -- the exact worms pictured in this thread -- deliver extremely painful "stings". Even a brief encounter causes swelling and pain as intense as a bee sting.

Just like I didnt really see the worms eat live shrimp and corals, did I also not experience these repeated stings?

This is so useful, I used to have to rely on personal observations, this internet expert thing is so much easier! <- smiley face indicates that while the opinions I am expressing are sincere, I am not flaming anyone or trying to anger anyone, just having a good-natured debate with maybe a tiny bit of good-natured snark.

When you call someone messageboard expert it is a insult no matter how you phrase it.
If you did not mean you would have just left it out.


This is not facebook!

 

[tracereefer]

i sprayed the rocks off yesterday and got all the visible worms off. i’m picking up my tank tomorrow and i’ll scape it and get water in as soon as possible. i’m assuming all the BB is dead by now anyway

 

[Sassifrass7]

You guys are nuts! I love my pretty pink bristle worms. They are gentle and sweet tempered. They never bother anything in the tank,....and they keep my rock clean as a whistle inside and out. I just don't get it? Why does everyone hate bristle worms? They're not Fireworms, right? Just common fuzzy pink fellas. A perfect clean up crew that won't do anything to your reef. Poor fellas, you are going to just kill hundreds of living creatures without even seeing if you need to? Give them a chance,....they'll help you alot in maintaining a clean healthy reef tank.

 

[Sassifrass7]

If they are stinging your hands, they are telling you that you are scaring them, maybe you should let them be? They can't get up and say it in English right? Lot's of things in reef tanks give off a toxin,...just look at Zoanthids! God they make me get hives! Just don't put your fingers on them. Duh.

 

[ectoaesthetics]

A freshwater soak will kill far more beneficial bacteria in your rock than anything else...

Any dark container with holes will work to trap bristle world when loaded with bait. Could be a plastic strawberry basket or a loofa... as long as you poor good in the middle you ar good.

But here is the real issue. Those worms are just like algae they are not the cause of your issues they are the result of a problem that is currently unchecked. There is simply a ton of decaying matter in the tank. If there wasn’t they would have nothing to build their flesh out of. You need to limit that. If you “fix the worm issue” then you have another major problem in your hands. This will continue to be a domino effect until you correct the decaying matter problem anyway. But if you simply fix that your worm issue goes away too. It’s like killing the algae but not solving the nitrates issues... you will just chase the problem down other rabbit holes.

 

[dadnjesse]

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

I have a 6 line and a yellow coris wrasse, when I shine a flashlight in my tank I see hundreds of them scatter, they probably eat them but I don't think they will ever eradicate all of them

 

[vetteguy53081]

Arrow crab is your answer

 

[doughboy]

i sprayed the rocks off yesterday and got all the visible worms off. i’m picking up my tank tomorrow and i’ll scape it and get water in as soon as possible. i’m assuming all the BB is dead by now anyway

you won't know for sure if you got rid of every single one. and there could be all kinds of other problems with the rocks, that's probably why it was given to you for free. Just sanitize it with muriatic acid (or vinegar) and then bleach. Always best to start a tank with clean rocks. nitrifying bacteria will populate the rocks completely again in due time.

 

[dadnjesse]

Arrow crab is your answer

That's so cool, I just ordered one.

 

[SDK]

My two cents after doing this for a few decades and coming back after some time off. I have always taken the path of higher diversity. Both the methodology of starting tanks with dry rock, and the idea of sterilizing mature rock are completely counterintuitive to me. Why kill off a free cleanup crew that also helps maintain the porosity of the rock and its ability to fully function as a biological filter?

I'm not sure what the exact correlation between the two is, but the more recent emphasis on overly clean and sterile tank startup sure appears to be increasing issues with cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates.

I've put together over a dozen FOWLR and reef tanks over the last 20 years with "dirty" live rock and never had a major issue with either. Cyano used to be a big problem in the 80's and early 90's when marine tanks were set up with dry aragonite and dead coral skeletons. Back then, keeping a box of "Ultralife Red Slime Remover" handy was almost mandatory. We now seem to be circling back in that direction.

As others have said, if you keep the feeding properly balanced, bristleworms are only going to bring positives to your reef ecosystem. That is most likely is true for everything else in mature live rock. In all of my prior and current LR aquariums, I have never had an issue with them, never trapped any, etc.

It's the same issue with snails in freshwater aquariums. People overfeed, slack on maintenance and then come on the forums with snail population explosions. They then get all kinds of advice on how to trap them, squish them or poison them. I personally wouldn't keep a FW aquarium without snails, and now we are going back into the 1970's without ever having an issue with having them in the tank.

 

[Stephen Glover]

If you want to keep them in check add a Halichoeres Wrasse. I personally want as many detritus eating creatures as possible in my tank. Just wear gloves and you will never get stung. I have never had a problem with them.

 

[ChiSox Rabbitfish]

Coral banded shrimp will do great against those worms

 

[PhreeByrd]

The 'forum'.
"I want to buy a new car."
"Why would you buy a car? Cars are bad. Get a bicycle instead."
"No, I need a car".
"You don't need a car. You can walk".
"I really want a car."
"But today is Wednesday."
<Groan...>

The OP isn't, as far as I can tell, saying he wants to eliminate bristle worms. The concern is the overpopulation, and having a good opportunity to rectify that before placing the rock in his system. I am a big fan of bristleworms and all other natural life in a reef tank, but I agree, that piece of rock has issues that have resulted in a severe overpopulation.
"Nuking" or bleaching the rock is a ridiculous suggestion, IMO.
The goal should be to remove as many as possible without killing them and thus fouling the rock with dead tissue.
The club soda suggestion is not a bad one, and might be worth a try. There is some risk of killing worms while they are still inside the rock, which would be bad.

I would do this:
Rinse the rock extremely well in pure water. It isn't necessary or desirable to soak it long-term, but swish it or spray it really well. The goal is not to remove the worms, but to remove any detritus and food matter that they are eating. Some worms probably will in fact leave the rock. Then put the rock in enough clean saltwater to cover the rock, in a container large enough to hold the rock with a foot or so of space around it. Put the container in a dark place (bristleworms don't like bright light). Place a dish or cup containing pieces of fish, shrimp, clams, oysters (whatever seafood is handy) at the far end of the container, away from the rock. After a couple hours, that dish of food should be jam-packed with hungry feeding worms. Remove them and repeat as needed until the population left in the rock is at an acceptable level.

This is an extremely easy, safe, and natural way to accomplish the goal. Even on a Wednesday.

 

[Oldsalt]

http://www.oceanarium.com.au/item.toy?iid=650075

Why kill bristleworms ??

 

[RudyB]

Bristle worms may look ugly but they are a great part of a cleanup crew. They eat anything that is dead and decaying. You can get a wrasse to pick of the little ones and a couple of arrow crabs, they love the worms.

 

[BestMomEver]

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.

I just purchased 6 from IPSF. It really is counter to what I would typically do but I read lots of info on them and decided to get some after all. The main reason is because I KNOW they are safe worms because they were raised in captivity.