Poll: Bristle worms - Good or Bad?

[Bebow]

I never throw them out. Sure they a gross looking but there a lot of other things in your tank that are just as creepy. Get a microscope, you’ll be surprised at what’s in there!

 

[Rakie]

Not debating you at all because I believe they can be beneficial but HOW beneficial are they really? That would make a good discussion alone!

They are +1 beneficial -1 aesthetics, which is why people don't care for them it seems

 

[jasonrusso]

I am still getting my nano reef going. Whenever I find them in the filter sock of my 210 fowler I put them in the reef.

 

[BootyPup]

I agree that they are good, but with my fear of touching creepy things like this I can guarantee when I find some of size (bigger than 1/2 inch) in my tank, especially if I touch it I will throw up and start yelling some certain words.

 

[liveround69]

I would be more worried about nemertean , bobbit, eunicid worms etc....all those things are really bad. Bristle worms are mostly clean up crew. No real problems except that they just arent nice to look at but I can get past that and let live. I have personally had a nemertean worm in a 4 lb live rock once and he ate 6 clownfish and several inverts before being found. After that the rock was returned to and then destroyed by the LFS that sold it to me. They dropped in a bucket of bleach since he didnt want to come out to play anymore. Good riddance

 

[MartinWaite]

They are the most efficient CUC you can get and if you have too many try cutting down your feeding or increasing your cleaning maintenance as they are self regulating and less ditritus the fewer bristle worms you'll have...

 

[SpartaReef]

I watched them trap a cornered fish... and eat it alive. Fish was too dumb to swim away til too late.

 

[psychobilly07]

I prefer them out of sight out of mind, I like that they are in my tank but I just dont ever wanna see them and never do cause I have a few fish that like to eat them which Im sure controls their numbers somewhat

 

[psychobilly07]

They clean where others can't. If I see large ones I remove them if I can. Coral banded shrimp, arrow crabs, and some wrasses will eat them but those may not be compatible with your tank. Anytime I've heard of someone having a problem with a bristle worm eating coral when they show video or pics it ends up not being a bristle worm. Usually a bobbit worm or fire worm.

Ive seem them eat a small polyped blastomussa before but probably cause there was so many they had ro be oppurtunistic. Ive also seen a purple dottyback eat them regularly not sure if its common with dottybacks but for mine it was

 

[AlexDm]

I've seen them get out of control in many friends tanks to the extent they had to take it down, they started to eat the bottom of a gonipora attack several fish...

 

[Mark Waltermire]

When I started my tank I bought it used so there were already bristleworms in the sand bed. I made sure to fill the tank up with freshwater about 2 inches deep to kill any bristworms. I then went through and plucked out every single one of them. I know they are beneficial, but I have other clean up crew that aren’t ugly and painful that can accomplish the job also. This was the first tank that I could try to keep them out so I did. Half of the rock was live so there might be some in the tank, but I hope not.

 

[Jwheld]

After reading this post last night, after lights out I found my cleaner shrimp "interacting" with a bristle worm. He is a weird dude so I don't know if he was trying to clean him or eat him.

To the point... I don't mind them. They are mostly invisible during the day and I believe it adds a good diversity to the CUC.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Love those cleaner shrimp. Might be my favorite marine critters. So much personality.