Are these worms safe?

zachSalty · Jul 17, 2021

Help! I just was creeped out of my mind when I went in to check on my new mates and saw all this creepy crawlers. Please tell me these are not fire worms and just bristle.. and should I get this under control?

MERKEY · Jul 17, 2021

Bristle worms, reef safe.

But some do make traps to get them out when they become a nuisance.

LAX Noob Reef · Jul 17, 2021

Way too many for a new tank. Get a arrow crab.

zachSalty · Jul 17, 2021

MERKEY said:
Bristle worms, reef safe.

But some dk make traps to get them out when they become a nuisance.

Okay so they are not fireworks. Thank god. But ew they are an eye sore

zachSalty · Jul 17, 2021

LAX Noob Reef said:
Way too many for a new tank. Get a arrow crab.

That’s exactly what I was thinking.. I have a Coral banded shrimp in there now. Add the crab as well?

LAX Noob Reef · Jul 17, 2021

Depends, do u see shrimp
Eat it at all? You can wait to see if it’ll take care of it, if not get the crab, their pretty cheap usually at LFS.

zachSalty · Jul 17, 2021

LAX Noob Reef said:
Depends, do u see shrimp
Eat it at all? You can wait to see if it’ll take care of it, if not get the crab, their pretty cheap usually at LFS.

I just went in to check (and get creeped out again) I saw where he is all over that rock they came out of so perhaps he is eating them or nipping? Maybe you can help clarify, but the research I did said that not only will the two be aggressive to each other, but also the arrow will attack fish and my hermit crabs that are in there. Is this correct?

kzenoni · Jul 17, 2021

Don’t know about all arrow crabs but I have a very large one that doesn’t bother anything.

Fishnut · Jul 17, 2021

Just cut back on the amount you are feeding and blow off the rocks with your next water change. There is obviously a lot of excess food in the tank that is supporting that population. I consider them as part of my clean up crew. Their numbers will drop according to food supply.

Billdogg · Jul 17, 2021

Fishnut said:
Just cut back on the amount you are feeding and blow off the rocks with your next water change. There is obviously a lot of excess food in the tank that is supporting that population. I consider them as part of my clean up crew. Their numbers will drop according to food supply.

^^^Excellent advice!!!^^^

The problem with adding a predator to take care of a perceived problem is that once that "problem" is taken care of the predator will move on to other things. That's what they do, after all.

I'm guessing that that rock came from a very over-fed system so the abundance of bristle worms isn't totally unexpected. Limit the food and their numbers will go down. They are a very important part of a healthy system. They get into the nooks and crannies of the rocks to clean out areas that would otherwise just collect detritus.

Remember that as your tank matures all sorts of things will show up - some good, some not so much. I try to leave things alone as much as possible to allow the system to reach it's own happy place.

Goaway · Jul 17, 2021

Woah, that's in infestation of bristle worms. I'd probably bait them out and get some tweezers.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 17, 2021

There are both bristleworms and dorvillidae (their cousin). Not welcomed in my reef tanks but not of harm. There is an abundance and should be thinned out. You can net and discard or use tongs to remove individual ones. As mentioned, there is obviously a large amount of leftover food for them to thrive on.

zachSalty · Jul 17, 2021

Fishnut said:
Just cut back on the amount you are feeding and blow off the rocks with your next water change. There is obviously a lot of excess food in the tank that is supporting that population. I consider them as part of my clean up crew. Their numbers will drop according to food supply.

The thing is.. this is a rock that I got 3 days ago and there is no fish or coral. Only the shrimp and hermit crabs to help the cycle. I keep getting zeros and SG 1.026.

zachSalty · Jul 17, 2021

Billdogg said:
^^^Excellent advice!!!^^^

The problem with adding a predator to take care of a perceived problem is that once that "problem" is taken care of the predator will move on to other things. That's what they do, after all.

I'm guessing that that rock came from a very over-fed system so the abundance of bristle worms isn't totally unexpected. Limit the food and their numbers will go down. They are a very important part of a healthy system. They get into the nooks and crannies of the rocks to clean out areas that would otherwise just collect detritus.

Remember that as your tank matures all sorts of things will show up - some good, some not so much. I try to leave things alone as much as possible to allow the system to reach it's own happy place.

Okay thank you! Yes they came with that rock. It’s a brand new tank.. I’ll let things be. They may be creepy but all the research I have done shows positive

zachSalty · Jul 17, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
There are both bristleworms and dorvillidae (their cousin). Not welcomed in my reef tanks but not of harm. There is an abundance and should be thinned out. You can net and discard or use tongs to remove individual ones. As mentioned, there is obviously a large amount of leftover food for them to thrive on.

I just got that rock like 3 days ago.. there hasn’t been any feeding at all since it is a new tank. Last night they decided to just show up

Goaway · Jul 17, 2021

Thing is, there is a lot. More that die off can cause phosphate and nitrate spikes.

zachSalty said:
I just got that rock like 3 days ago.. there hasn’t been any feeding at all since it is a new tank. Last night they decided to just show up

They are hungry and looking for food. I love bristle worms. Either add some food to prevent deaths or remove some to keep water from nutrient spikes. They will spread out.

zachSalty · Jul 17, 2021

Mibu said:
Thing is, there is a lot. More that die off can cause phosphate and nitrate spikes.

They are hungry and looking for food. I love bristle worms. Either add some food to prevent deaths or remove some to keep water from nutrient spikes. They will spread out.

Okay so like add a little bit of frozen shrimp?

DocRose · Jul 17, 2021

zachSalty said:
I just got that rock like 3 days ago.. there hasn’t been any feeding at all since it is a new tank. Last night they decided to just show up

You probably should have lead with the fact that this is a new setup and you're cycling. I'd say mistake number one was putting anything in that tank during a cycle. Yes some creatures are more hardy than others, but just because they survive, doesn't mean they're enjoying life. Secondly, being a creature that virtually nobody wants to introduce to their tank intentionally...I would have just let the cycle process kill them off; whether it comes from the inevitable spikes in ammonia and nitrite, or from the lack of food for 30-45 days. I'm also surprised (depending on how long you've been going and the rest of the set up details) that the shrimp isn't dead yet. They're the least tolerant of improper water parameters.