Brissle worms!!!!!!

Justin Johns · Dec 20, 2015

So I got my hands on 55 gal tank back in August and since then I have put a lot of husbandry into the tank and have a little reef on my hands now, but I also have a really big brisle worm probably on hands. Any good ways of getting most of these things out of the tank would be greatly appreciated.

DaveMorris · Dec 20, 2015

Why do you want to remove them? They are very beneficial to your reef.

Pete polyp · Dec 20, 2015

There are bristleworm traps for sale. If you're overrun with them you might want to watch how much you're feeding.

twilliard · Dec 20, 2015

My pistol shrimp loves them as a snack., well until the tank is empty of them

Justin Johns · Dec 20, 2015

Ok, so I know that they are beneficial to the tank, but how many is to many? This question comes from one night I was out of town and when I came home and the moon light was on there was brisle worms all over the rocks, never seen that before and yesterday I got feather duster and it came out of the its tube so I tried to dig it into the sand and when I came home from work the brisle worm were eating the crap out of it. Is this normal?? I only feed the tank very small amounts of food daily, so it's hard for me to think I over feed.

Blue Lip · Dec 20, 2015

I dont like them! Get a leopard wrasse & they will disappear.

Justin Johns · Dec 20, 2015

They won't eat any of the corals??

saltyfilmfolks · Dec 20, 2015

Blue Lip said:
I dont like them! Get a leopard wrasse & they will disappear.

Or they hide better. It's perfect population control. Keeps them in the sand and under the rocks keeping them clean.
No haven't bothered anything so far. I have a finger rule. Bigger than my finger ya gotta go. Also the cheap bristle worm trap works leavi it in and the dumb ones get trapped.
I do wonder if the giant ones ya see posted are from tanks with big worm eating fish. I'd actually put money on it.

sc8kv123 · Dec 20, 2015

Take a fresh piece of shrimp soaked in garlic and put it into some clean pantyhose at the foot. Drop it into your DT after lights out and then check it first thing in the morning before the lights come back on.

Justin Johns · Dec 20, 2015

So last night, we made some traps, some with pantyhose and one with a pill bottle. They started to go after the traps, and when I got up today there weren't any worms in any of them!! I'm looking into getting a 6 line or a leopard wrasse and hope to just control them.

JBB · Dec 20, 2015

Boxer shrimps eat them and so do some wrasses

sc8kv123 · Dec 20, 2015

Arrow crabs are fun to watch eat them. They carry them around all day snacking.

Thunt4jr · Dec 20, 2015

If you want to get rid of those bristle worms so bad, sell em on eBay! You'll be surprised how many people would buy those stuff!

Blue Lip · Dec 20, 2015

saltyfilmfolks said:
Or they hide better. It's perfect population control. Keeps them in the sand and under the rocks keeping them clean.
No haven't bothered anything so far. I have a finger rule. Bigger than my finger ya gotta go. Also the cheap bristle worm trap works leavi it in and the dumb ones get trapped.
I do wonder if the giant ones ya see posted are from tanks with big worm eating fish. I'd actually put money on it.

I also have 3 yellow tail wrasses that used to eat them. My tank hasn't had Bristol worms for years!

Blue Lip · Dec 20, 2015

Justin Johns said:
So last night, we made some traps, some with pantyhose and one with a pill bottle. They started to go after the traps, and when I got up today there weren't any worms in any of them!! I'm looking into getting a 6 line or a leopard wrasse and hope to just control them.

I dont think a six line is good for bristol worms. Tammarin wrasses like a yellow tail coris wrasse work great but they also flip over rocks & eat shrimp. Leopard wrasse is reef safe but like many wrasses you should have a deep enough sand bed to sleep at night.

Blue Lip · Dec 20, 2015

Justin Johns said:
They won't eat any of the corals??

They can irritate clams.

scardall · Dec 20, 2015

I too have bristle-worms and the trap that is sold will only capture the small ones. Works best with brine or small chunk of shrimp. Unless you can make a larger version the parent will still be there and by the way the wrasse's that you have mentioned will eat the small ones only. I have some that I've seen so far as to be 4" at least and 3/8" wide. As long as what some of the others imply that they are harmless to our corals and fish I'm basically good with that. Time will tell I guess???????

scardall · Dec 20, 2015

Thunt4jr said:
If you want to get rid of those bristle worms so bad, sell em on eBay! You'll be surprised how many people would buy those stuff!

Try catching the really big ones. I could occasionally catch 2" and smaller sizes. But not consistently. If someone is in my neck of the woods wants them, let's make a deal. Not sure how to catch and hold them safely/keeping them healthy without them escaping.

PS: My tank is a bare bottom type As far as I know there is only one trap on the market.