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lilnicky864 
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 Topic: bristle worm infestation
Posted: November 23 2009 at 10:28pm |
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I have a 39 gal. and it is infested w/ bristle wormsand not just a few im talking like 50+ that counted at one time. i have a 6 lined wrasse and a worm trap constantly catching . it seems the more i try to decrese the amount of worms the more i get. they dont seem to causing any harm however seems to be over infested. is their any ideas on other ways to decrease worms. note: tank is a reef w clams stoneys and rose anemone.
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pa_reptileman_4
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Posted: November 23 2009 at 10:37pm |
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arrow crab, i had a big infestation as well i got an arrow crab and within a few days i noticed a huge decrease in them, then a few days later i got a six line wrasse and it helped even more, now i dont see them during the day anymore and at night i only see a few not a few hundred.
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pitiful guppy tank.
shane
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saltybuck
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Posted: November 23 2009 at 11:36pm |
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I had a similar problem. I fed less and it eventually helped out.
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Mike
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: November 23 2009 at 11:50pm |
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An emerald crab couldn't hurt. You can also just reduce feedings, and give your tank time to balance out.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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sanddune600
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Posted: November 24 2009 at 12:20am |
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arrow crab x2 plus you get the satisfaction of seeing it rip them apart they twist and twist them then hold them till they are dead then they eat
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Andy Jorgensen
My number is four three 5 7 six four 8 0 three four
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chk4tix
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Posted: November 24 2009 at 7:27am |
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arrow crab x3. I got one just because of how they look and when I saw him ripping those worms apart after dropping him in my tank. I was super excited.
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Original Crappy Reef Club Member #2
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Jeremyw
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Posted: November 24 2009 at 9:44am |
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arrow crab x4, had a bad problem in a nano, got an arrow crab.... he took care of the problem in a couple of days! Boy he must have been hungry every time I looked at him he was holding a worm!
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lilnicky864
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Posted: November 24 2009 at 1:36pm |
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I have heard that arrow crabs can bother some corals and hermits is that true
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chk4tix
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Posted: November 24 2009 at 1:43pm |
 lilnicky864 wrote:
I have heard that arrow crabs can bother some corals and hermits is that true |
I know the arrowhead decorator crabs do, I am not sure on the arrow crab. I have mine in my frag tank and havent noticed a problem
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Will Spencer
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Posted: November 25 2009 at 12:06pm |
Definitely cut down on feeding. Overfeeding, especially in a smaller tank, will definitely make for a bristleworm population explosion.
Here's the good/bad of the deal:
Good: Bristleworms are very interested in the leftover food from feeding your tank. You probably notice that they come out in droves when you feed. This is good for your tank since they eat up all that excess food and rather than it polluting the tank it simply makes more bristleworms.
Bad: If you remove a major portion of the bristleworms and don't cut back on feeding you will throw the balance of your tank off and the extra pollution can crash your tank.
My mom had a 20 gallon nano with hundreds of bristleworms in it. I helped her get a hundred or so out one day. Then she fed the tank the "normal" amount. Immediately I said "Cut back on the feeding. No wonder you have so many bristleworms." What she thought was a "normal" amount to feed, and it really didn't seem like that much, was still way more than the few fish in her tank could eat before it ended up on the ground or under the rocks where the Bristleworms could get it. Once she cut back, by more than half, the population stopped growing and we were able to cull the herd back to normal numbers.
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Jeffs_little_ocean
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Posted: November 25 2009 at 9:52pm |
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So this post got me kind of amped up on arrow crabs so i bought me one today at birdworld. Im alittle freaked out by it to be quite honest. I like fish, not spiders and this thing serioulsy could star in a horror movie. But I am getting afew too many bristleworms in my tank so I figured what the heck. I put it in around 5pm and have yet to see it eat any worms. I fed the tank some brine just to get the worms to come out. Guess what? Aparently the arrow crab loves brine. Lol. But wouldnt even touch the worm that crawled right under his long legs. Funny, I guess it goes hand in hand with my non-aptasia eating pepermint shrimp and my non-aptasia eating copperband butterfly.
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lilnicky864
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Posted: November 25 2009 at 10:16pm |
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i got back into town and went to go get a crab and ill be if i can find one. went to aquarium and they havent any, so went to bird world and they had just sold their last one (thanks jeff ) it was around 6'30, was going to try aquatic and they were closed so i will try again fri at other shops. i also am going to cut feeding down, my wife feeds while im out of town workin and see thinks they are starving and over feeds i think. i have the food pre rationed however she feeds them extra on the dry food
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mmellor
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Posted: November 26 2009 at 9:38pm |
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I've never seen my arrow eat one worm but it didi the job for sure. I had hunderds and now I might see one every so often. Plus its a great scare for the kids looking like a spider and all.
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Jeffs_little_ocean
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Posted: November 26 2009 at 9:50pm |
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Hey will arrow crabs climb out of the tank? I dont have a cover on my tank and just noticed he is on top of a powerhead right near the surface.
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mmellor
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Posted: November 27 2009 at 12:33pm |
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Mine doesn't want to leave and I don't have a cover. Had him for about three months
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 27 2009 at 6:19pm |
I agree with Will. In fact I would probably permanently cut the feeding by 1/3
An Arrow Crab is not necessary. There is an easy way to remove many bristleworms at a time. But I would definitely cut back on the feeding. In fact if you stop feeding for 4 days and then use this trap you can catch most of the Bristleworms and then because you will be feeding less, they won't bother you again.
You will need to get some Bridalveil material. It's also called Tulle in the fabric store. a little more than a square foot of it will do nicely. When you have the Tulle come back here and I'll describe how to use it. In the meantime, here is a pic of the Bristleworms that Will was talking about.
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lilnicky864
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Posted: November 28 2009 at 1:40pm |
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i went and got some material (and from looking at pic) i wrapped a couple silver slidders and a few raw shrimp in it and put in tank for a few hours last night and checked it had a few but not like pic i will try again for longer period of time again.
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sanddune600
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Posted: November 28 2009 at 3:00pm |
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you will want to starve the tank for a few days get them really hungry first
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Andy Jorgensen
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 29 2009 at 9:33am |
I can see from what you used for bait that you definitely could change your thinking about food. The bit of shrimp is all that was needed. You are way overdoing the feeding. I mean way over doing it. This may be blunt for me to say but if you want to keep a nice Reef for a long term, please take this as good advice from some one who has been around this block many times.
Stop feeding for 4 days.
On the night of the fourth day, cut one raw shrimp in half. Place that piece in the bridal viel wrapped loosely and tied with a length of thread or fishing line leading to outside the tank. Do this after the lights go out and you are sure to find a hoard of worms attaking the bait. Wait until there is a large ball of worms and then pull out the "package". I usually throw that in the garbage and repeat with a new piece of Tulle.
It's also possible that your bristleworm problem is not as bad as you think. Bristelworms are actually very good. Because they eat up extra food, they are one of the best parts of our clean up crew. 
 Letting the tank go for 4 days without feeding is the healthiest thing you could do for it right now. 
Also, the tank is probably going to need more snails. How many snails are in the tank right now 
Edited by Mark Peterson - November 29 2009 at 9:40am
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lilnicky864
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Posted: November 30 2009 at 6:37pm |
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i did quit feeding over the holliday and went and got a few more snails and hermits for a more attractive clean up crew now i have about 10 snails and 12 hermits or so that i could see.
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