what the heck??! I cleaned my tank and it looks like some one dumped these things inside??!!

[Daniel@R2R]

Someone please tell me what to do!! What is this and why??!!

That's a LOT of bristle worms!

 

[Reef pete]

Woah.....yuck, Thats right up there w the worm/return vid on here not too long ago.
Just tell people its a bristle worm tank and you're gooooooood. J/K

 

[SMSREEF]

I am with you, I do not care that some say they are beneficial, I dip EVERYTHING when I buy it, and often get bristle worms fall off. I bought an elegance coral a few months ago, they have hollow channels in their skeleton, the one I bought from Liveaquaria was riddled with them. I could not believe how many crawled out during the dips.

Im gonna be buying an elegance soon. I did not think about it, but how long did you leave a big coral like this in the dip? And what did you use. I normally use Revive.

 

[lsawchuk]

Wow that is creepy..

I’m sad

 

[terraincognita]

I’m sad

LOL it's not that bad man. You could've had so many worse things happen in your reefing life. If this is the worst thing that ever happens to you, you're doing great my friend. Just great

 

[Randallh99]

I’m sad

I think this a great opportunity to redo your aquascape or upgrade to a bigger tank. You know, after you get invest in a blow torch and go crazy on your existing tank. But seriously, I would have a big vat of RO water and just freshwater dip all those rocks and slowly bring them back into your tank. You'll have stragglers for sure but it might take years of overfeeding to get to that level of real life nightmares.

 

[BloopFish]

I think this a great opportunity to redo your aquascape or upgrade to a bigger tank. You know, after you get invest in a blow torch and go crazy on your existing tank. But seriously, I would have a big vat of RO water and just freshwater dip all those rocks and slowly bring them back into your tank. You'll have stragglers for sure but it might take years of overfeeding to get to that level of real life nightmares.

That might be a big overkill and will surely tick off any corals that he has growing on those rocks. Maybe not freshwater dip, but OP definitely could try to clean up as much detritus and stuff as possible. OP should just trap and scoop out as many as he can, and buy something that will eat them up (various wrasses, crabs and shrimps are known to gobble them up). Then gradually reduce feedings (an abrupt lack of feeding might cause a tank crash).

 

[andrewkw]

Before I saw these pictures that was a previously unimaginable amount of bristleworms, I wouldn't freak out too much. Siphon a bunch out and reduce feeding by 75% and you should have a healthy number in probably 2-3 months or less. It would be both foolish and impossible to get them all out, outside of destroying the tank and as many have said you want some, just not this many. If it wasn't such an insane amount I'd say don't do anything but reduce feeding, but its already been mentioned so many could cause a die off. That's why I suggest remove a bunch you can see and then reduce feeding and see where the population is after a while.

 

[Potatohead]

Ok well now I know I am not sleeping tonight. Yikes

 

[fishface NJ]

Don't do a RODI freshwater bath. That will destroy your bacteria. Instead do a high salinity bath. The worms will leave the rock. If you have sand in your tank, the worms are in there too.

 

[GK3]

Someone please tell me what to do!! What is this and why??!!

What did you do to “clean your tank”?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Man alive- you need 2-3 of these arrow crabs right away which eat bristles exclusively

 

[Bobblehead]

I remember reading a while back where a member here had an infestation and made these traps with bait inside some pantyhose. Apparently the bristles get tangled up on the material so you can just pull the whole thing out worms and all.

 

[John08007]

Its like raiders of the lost ark, I've never seem them that bad.

 

[Justanano]

Take an old pantie hose wrap a piece of shrimp in it.. rubber band it closed and in some knots.. the worms will get caught in it then just throw it away keep doing it until gone

 

[Glass Algae]

Congrats your tank is stable enough to mass breed bristles.

 

[Katrina71]

Leave them imo

 

[Dw79]

 

[Tired]

Y'all calm down a little. Those "fully grown" bristleworms on the first page are fireworms, which ARE pests. Bristleworms like these have a sting, but it's not severe, and you shouldn't be handling your rockwork bare-handed anyway. Common bristleworms are detritivores, that are frequently blamed for killing a coral because they ate it while it was dying.

You do have a ton, though. Manually remove some, maybe via siphon? And consider using clove oil to humanely kill them- you should have clove oil on hand anyway, in case something gets badly injured enough that it needs to be euthanized.

 

[BackToTheReef]

That's a whole lot of nope for me!