Some bristle worm related questions

[rowenaad]

Hi, Im trying to restart my tank aiming for a bristle worm free tank (I know bristle worms are good CUC but I just have mental problem with them so my tank cant have them and please dont attach any worm related images or ill freak out thanks). I know as a fact there are tons of them in my tank and I would appreciate if anyone could help me with stats of bristle worm and figure out which and how the following livestocks can be treated and how much chance they would still carry bristle worm of any life stage.

My understanding of bristle worm is they have 3 life stages: egg, larvae, and worm. Egg appearance and sizes are similar to snail eggs so they are visible to bare eyes which take a few days to hatch into larvae? Larvae size is in hundreds of micrometer so they are not visible and can last a few month? How can we kill larvae? Would they attach to any livestocks? then we have the worm.

Im considering bringing the following to the new tank:
1. Fish and pistol shrimp: I would love to assume theres little chance that they will carry any bristle worm/egg/larvae
2. Clam: its a small maxima calm ~7cm. Its scutes can hide worms of all stages i guess? Is there any way to treat it? I know clam may suvive freshwater dip so will eggs IIUC, but would larvae also suvive freshwater? Is it okay to wash the shell with coral dip without soaking the clam in the dip? How much odds i can brush all worms off the clam?
3. Black sea cucumber: i have dipped this cuke in freshwater before so im confident it can survive another one, but im not sure if worm eggs/larvae can survive in its belly and got into the new tank from its poop
4. Snails: I think new borns without coraline algae should be safe with a fresh salt water rinse
5. GSP: i have gsp attached to the backwall and it for some reason not growing in mat but branches so i think i can just rip them off the wall and dip it with coral dip since theres no where worms could hide (I hope)
6. Toadstool leather coral: it came with a piece of rock and later turned out to be home to dozens of worms which i removed a few month ago, and attached it to a frag plate but just to be safe, I think I would cut it off the plate, dip it and reanchor it to a new plate. The coral itself shouldnt home any worm?
7. Bubble tip anemone: I think removing them from rocks and rinse with fresh salt water should be enough?

Thank you for any input

 

[Nano sapiens]

To eliminate bristle worms completely from a living system is quite difficult, but they can be controlled to the point of very rarely being visible.

IMO/IME, I've used various methods to effectively control their numbers:

1. Not overfeeding the aquarium (removal of any uneaten food after feeding)
2. Competitors (detritus eaters like 'spaghetti worms', for example)
3. Organisms that eat bristle worms. For example certain species of Dottybacks such as Springeri and crabs like Arrow Crabs, Galathea Crabs)

 

[Sharkbait19]

Unless you are starting with all dry rock and sand, and getting all of the corals/inverts out of sterile systems, there’s really no way to 100% avoid bristleworms. Stocking up on natural predators is going to be the best bet.
My tiger pistol eats them, arrow crabs are another great option for controlling them.

 

[Troylee]

It’s not possible honestly lol… just get a six line or my chalk bass loves them! I only see them late at night after the lights are out and they’ve never caused a problem.. I had millions but down to a handful as I don’t feed the tank as much as the last owner..

 

[dr_vinnie_boombatz]

For a newbie, are we talking about larger tanks? Can they survive in nano tanks?

 

[Sharkbait19]

For a newbie, are we talking about larger tanks? Can they survive in nano tanks?

Bristleworms? They’ll do fine in anything that contains saltwater.

 

[Bucs20fan]

So you have a couple of options here. Eventually, somehow some way you will reintroduce bristleworms back into your DT. Either by a coral or rock, or nem. They attach eggs to everything and are nearly impossible to see. I have a bicolor hogfish that loves to eat them and has put a significant dent in the population in my tank. Another very good option is an arrow crab, these are worm destroyers. Once they are inside and they will quickly colonize your rock work, the only option is to submerge the rock in hypo, or hyper salinity water. This would obviously kill any coral or nem you have on the rock if it is not removed.

Removing an attached anemone is not an easy feat. I understand your fear and dislike of the worms, but you are highly likely to damage the foot of the nem which is almost always a death sentence for it.

 

[Bucs20fan]

For a newbie, are we talking about larger tanks? Can they survive in nano tanks?

Bristle worms will live in a toilet bowl with some sand.

 

[Bucs20fan]

Hi, Im trying to restart my tank aiming for a bristle worm free tank (I know bristle worms are good CUC but I just have mental problem with them so my tank cant have them and please dont attach any worm related images or ill freak out thanks). I know as a fact there are tons of them in my tank and I would appreciate if anyone could help me with stats of bristle worm and figure out which and how the following livestocks can be treated and how much chance they would still carry bristle worm of any life stage.

My understanding of bristle worm is they have 3 life stages: egg, larvae, and worm. Egg appearance and sizes are similar to snail eggs so they are visible to bare eyes which take a few days to hatch into larvae? Larvae size is in hundreds of micrometer so they are not visible and can last a few month? How can we kill larvae? Would they attach to any livestocks? then we have the worm.

Im considering bringing the following to the new tank:
1. Fish and pistol shrimp: I would love to assume theres little chance that they will carry any bristle worm/egg/larvae
2. Clam: its a small maxima calm ~7cm. Its scutes can hide worms of all stages i guess? Is there any way to treat it? I know clam may suvive freshwater dip so will eggs IIUC, but would larvae also suvive freshwater? Is it okay to wash the shell with coral dip without soaking the clam in the dip? How much odds i can brush all worms off the clam?
3. Black sea cucumber: i have dipped this cuke in freshwater before so im confident it can survive another one, but im not sure if worm eggs/larvae can survive in its belly and got into the new tank from its poop
4. Snails: I think new borns without coraline algae should be safe with a fresh salt water rinse
5. GSP: i have gsp attached to the backwall and it for some reason not growing in mat but branches so i think i can just rip them off the wall and dip it with coral dip since theres no where worms could hide (I hope)
6. Toadstool leather coral: it came with a piece of rock and later turned out to be home to dozens of worms which i removed a few month ago, and attached it to a frag plate but just to be safe, I think I would cut it off the plate, dip it and reanchor it to a new plate. The coral itself shouldnt home any worm?
7. Bubble tip anemone: I think removing them from rocks and rinse with fresh salt water should be enough?

Thank you for any input

Removing the anemone is going the be the hard part, rinsing with fresh salt water would not affect anything bristleworm related.

 

[dr_vinnie_boombatz]

Bristle worms will live in a toilet bowl with some sand.

I googled and wow... I started my nano and have 2 clowns in QT... I will need to do more research to prevent these things. Do coral dips and ~72 day QT not remove them?

 

[Sharkbait19]

I googled and wow... I started my nano and have 2 clowns in QT... I will need to do more research to prevent these things. Do coral dips and ~72 day QT not remove them?

Coral dips can knock them off, but you’ll never get rid of them all. They really aren’t harmful, just not the most pleasant to look at (I don’t mind them).

 

[Bucs20fan]

I googled and wow... I started my nano and have 2 clowns in QT... I will need to do more research to prevent these things. Do coral dips and ~72 day QT not remove them?

I know for a fact they can survive an iodine based coral dip, seen it with my own eyes. But as far as coral dips killing eggs, I doubt it. Most eggs are immune from chemical dips. Ive grown to live with em, my wife hates them and they hurt when you pick em up so dont do that, but they are a part of the ocean and serve a purpose as far as im concerned.

A 72 day qt period is not necessary in the slightest, but if you want to go that hardcore against them then its worth a shot. I would be too worried to lose the coral in the 72 day period in qt and not under my good lights and highly watched DT.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi, Im trying to restart my tank aiming for a bristle worm free tank (I know bristle worms are good CUC but I just have mental problem with them so my tank cant have them and please dont attach any worm related images or ill freak out thanks). I know as a fact there are tons of them in my tank and I would appreciate if anyone could help me with stats of bristle worm and figure out which and how the following livestocks can be treated and how much chance they would still carry bristle worm of any life stage.

My understanding of bristle worm is they have 3 life stages: egg, larvae, and worm. Egg appearance and sizes are similar to snail eggs so they are visible to bare eyes which take a few days to hatch into larvae? Larvae size is in hundreds of micrometer so they are not visible and can last a few month? How can we kill larvae? Would they attach to any livestocks? then we have the worm.

Im considering bringing the following to the new tank:
1. Fish and pistol shrimp: I would love to assume theres little chance that they will carry any bristle worm/egg/larvae
2. Clam: its a small maxima calm ~7cm. Its scutes can hide worms of all stages i guess? Is there any way to treat it? I know clam may suvive freshwater dip so will eggs IIUC, but would larvae also suvive freshwater? Is it okay to wash the shell with coral dip without soaking the clam in the dip? How much odds i can brush all worms off the clam?
3. Black sea cucumber: i have dipped this cuke in freshwater before so im confident it can survive another one, but im not sure if worm eggs/larvae can survive in its belly and got into the new tank from its poop
4. Snails: I think new borns without coraline algae should be safe with a fresh salt water rinse
5. GSP: i have gsp attached to the backwall and it for some reason not growing in mat but branches so i think i can just rip them off the wall and dip it with coral dip since theres no where worms could hide (I hope)
6. Toadstool leather coral: it came with a piece of rock and later turned out to be home to dozens of worms which i removed a few month ago, and attached it to a frag plate but just to be safe, I think I would cut it off the plate, dip it and reanchor it to a new plate. The coral itself shouldnt home any worm?
7. Bubble tip anemone: I think removing them from rocks and rinse with fresh salt water should be enough?

Thank you for any input

Im in the same boat and do not welcome them in my tanks despite benefits they offer.
A simple solution is addition of arrow crab (pic below) which will find them and eat them like candy

 

[Troylee]

I googled and wow... I started my nano and have 2 clowns in QT... I will need to do more research to prevent these things. Do coral dips and ~72 day QT not remove them?

Not worth the effort.. you’ll get them regardless if you have salt water..

 

[Bucs20fan]

Not worth the effort.. you’ll get them regardless if you have salt water..

100% agree.

 

[dr_vinnie_boombatz]

Not worth the effort.. you’ll get them regardless if you have salt water..

I'm not following the logic, if I do dips including Bayer and QT for that long [76 days] wouldn't any bristle worms show themself in a bare bottom coral-only QT tank? For me personally I'm talking very small scale, 2-3 plugs at a time (I haven't actually got to corals yet). The DT was all new including dry rock. Thanks!

 

[Bucs20fan]

I'm not following the logic, if I do dips including Bayer and QT for that long [76 days] wouldn't any bristle worms show themself in a bare bottom coral-only QT tank? For me personally I'm talking very small scale, 2-3 plugs at a time (I haven't actually got to corals yet). The DT was all new including dry rock. Thanks!

He saying its not worth the effort in most cases so to speak. Bayer would have no effect on bristle worms as I understand it, thats mainly for acro bugs. Praziquantel is what kills worms, flatworms and flukes.

In a nutshell, even with a 30 or a 458 day qt protocol your odds of adding bristleworms period is almost 100%
as @vetteguy53081 stated, its better to have a predator in the tank to keep them controlled so you never see them anyway.

 

[Troylee]

I'm not following the logic, if I do dips including Bayer and QT for that long [76 days] wouldn't any bristle worms show themself in a bare bottom coral-only QT tank? For me personally I'm talking very small scale, 2-3 plugs at a time (I haven't actually got to corals yet). The DT was all new including dry rock. Thanks!

Your chances are slim to none at keeping them out of your tank.. if you wanna do all that crazy stuff and have the patience go for it! But if one or a egg gets by that turns to 10 and then 100 in a very short amount of time.. I had at least 1000 at one point and find them cool personally! Prolly the best clean up crew you can get! And they’re free haha! No reason to freak out over them it’s no different than a snail or small crab etc except if you grab one it can leave some bristles in your finger like a cactus.. wear gloves if you have sensitive hands.. I’m a welder fabricator by trade my hands are beat lol.. I’ve never noticed a sting from them…

 

[Bucs20fan]

Your chances are slim to none at keeping them out of your tank.. if you wanna do all that crazy stuff and have the patience go for it! But if one or a egg gets by that turns to 10 and then 100 in a very short amount of time.. I had at least 1000 at one point and find them cool personally! Prolly the best clean up crew you can get! And they’re free haha! No reason to freak out over them it’s no different than a snail or small crab etc except if you grab one it can leave some bristles in your finger like a cactus.. wear gloves if you have sensitive hands.. I’m a welder fabricator by trade my hands are beat lol.. I’ve never noticed a sting from them…

+1 to this. Ive gotten bristles in my thumb and index finger and didnt even realize it. I guess that makes me lucky. These worms can get everwhere that snails and hermits cant get, which is alot of places AND they dig in the sand. Which is invaluable if you have no sand sifter or you dont mix your sand up periodically.

 

[rowenaad]

Thanks everyone.

To eliminate bristle worms completely from a living system is quite difficult, but they can be controlled to the point of very rarely being visible.

Unless you are starting with all dry rock and sand, and getting all of the corals/inverts out of sterile systems, there’s really no way to 100% avoid bristleworms. Stocking up on natural predators is going to be the best bet.
My tiger pistol eats them, arrow crabs are another great option for controlling them.

Lemme be more specific here. Yes im going to start over fresh with marco rock and dry sand. Im also open to quarantine any existing livestock but dont know how long and how to ensure they are free from bristle worms. And ill not add new corals if they carry any risk of having bristle worms (but im still dreamming if sps like pocillopora could be dipped and be safe from bristle worms lolll) other than the exiting gsp and toadstool (if they cant be treated to be worm free, they are going to a new home. yes this is the extent of my fear). Do you think i will have a chance?

Removing an attached anemone is not an easy feat. I understand your fear and dislike of the worms, but you are highly likely to damage the foot of the nem which is almost always a death sentence for it.

I have done this enough times to its splits and never damaged one so im pretty confident in that. Im more worried if they can carry eggs/larvae

Im in the same boat and do not welcome them in my tanks despite benefits they offer.
A simple solution is addition of arrow crab (pic below) which will find them and eat them like candy

Unfortunately we dont have arrow crab in australia and my sixline wrasse somehow managed to jump out from my lid
: (. But regardless under control is just not enough for me.