bristle worm infestation
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Invertebrates
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about invertebrates.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=36683
Printed Date: November 25 2024 at 11:42am
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Topic: bristle worm infestation
Posted By: lilnicky864
Subject: bristle worm infestation
Date Posted: November 23 2009 at 10:28pm
| 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. |
Replies:
Posted By: pa_reptileman_4
Date 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. ------------- pitiful guppy tank. shane |
Posted By: saltybuck
Date Posted: November 23 2009 at 11:36pm
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I had a similar problem. I fed less and it eventually helped out. ------------- Mike |
Posted By: CapnMorgan
Date 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. ------------- Steve http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40637&PID=356246" rel="nofollow - My Old 180G Mixed Reef Currently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8 |
Posted By: sanddune600
Date 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
------------- Andy Jorgensen My number is four three 5 7 six four 8 0 three four |
Posted By: chk4tix
Date 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.
------------- Original Crappy Reef Club Member #2 |
Posted By: Jeremyw
Date 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!
------------- Next meeting: |
Posted By: lilnicky864
Date Posted: November 24 2009 at 1:36pm
| I have heard that arrow crabs can bother some corals and hermits is that true |
Posted By: chk4tix
Date Posted: November 24 2009 at 1:43pm
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 ------------- Original Crappy Reef Club Member #2 |
lilnicky864 wrote:Posted By: Will Spencer
Date Posted: November 25 2009 at 12:06pm
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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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Posted By: Jeffs_little_ocean
Date Posted: November 25 2009 at 9:52pm
| 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. |
Posted By: lilnicky864
Date Posted: November 25 2009 at 10:16pm
| 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 |
Posted By: mmellor
Date Posted: November 26 2009 at 9:38pm
| 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. |
Posted By: Jeffs_little_ocean
Date Posted: November 26 2009 at 9:50pm
| 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. |
Posted By: mmellor
Date Posted: November 27 2009 at 12:33pm
| Mine doesn't want to leave and I don't have a cover. Had him for about three months |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 27 2009 at 6:19pm
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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.
 ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: lilnicky864
Date Posted: November 28 2009 at 1:40pm
| 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. |
Posted By: sanddune600
Date 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
------------- Andy Jorgensen My number is four three 5 7 six four 8 0 three four |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 29 2009 at 9:33am
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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  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: lilnicky864
Date Posted: November 30 2009 at 6:37pm
| 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. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 01 2009 at 11:03am
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At some point sooner rather than later I would add 10 more snails. Do you have a variety like Astrea, Margarita and Cerith. (Nasarrius don't count). This will ensure that a problem algae bloom doesn't surprise you in a month or two. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Jeffs_little_ocean
Date Posted: December 01 2009 at 2:24pm
I know that bridelveil trap will work great, but I sure like my worm solution. This thing is creepy but it sure is fun to watch. It sticks those long arms deep into crevaces and pulls things out that none of the other clean up crew could ever reach. As long as it doesnt crawl out of the tank and into my bed, its all good 
 |
Posted By: lilnicky864
Date Posted: December 01 2009 at 7:22pm
| i have cerith and astrea's i seen some peach color snails i thing im gona get this weekend they would ad some nice color versis the same boring colored snails |
Posted By: Spbeyond
Date Posted: December 07 2009 at 12:17am
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I loved my arrow crab! Those legs are not even strong enough to lift itself above water ;) ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: December 07 2009 at 1:35pm
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I love arrow crabs, but agree with what Will and Mark has stated above. Also keep in mind that one day that arrow crab my get lucky and catch your favorite fish.
------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: Dexta
Date Posted: December 17 2009 at 1:26pm
| I know this is a definite newbie question but what is it that the bristle worms do that is bad besides growing to huge numbers? |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: December 17 2009 at 1:37pm
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Some people are grossed out by them and find then unsightly but they are good and a valuable part of the clean-up crew.
Mike -------------  |