I’ve been reading about bristleworms and there seems to be conflicting information. I wanted to get your guys opinion and see what your thoughts are. I’ve had a few fish come up missing or dead in the last month or so. All parameters are normal and fish seem to be healthy and then somehow overnight I’ll have one come up dead or missing. It seems to be fish that hover on the rocks or hide in the caves so the only thing I could come up with are my emerald crab or maybe the bristle worms are attacking them. I’ve posted a picture and video of my worms and crab. If you are of the belief that it could be the worms or crab do you have any suggestions on how to remove them from my tank to preserve my fish?
Bristleworm discussion
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Vette67
Reefing since 1997
I am an advocate for bristle worms. I actually just purchased more for my tank about a month ago. The ones I have maybe get an inch or 2. But if I saw something that big in my tank, I’d catch it and remove it. Generally speaking, bristle worms are not predatory, they are scavengers. So I would think the worms are unlikely to be your culprit. But there are plans you can google for home made bristle worm traps, and you can even buy them online. I have heard of emerald crabs going rogue and eating things they shouldn’t, but they are generally herbivores too, and I have not personally witnessed something like that happen. Do you hear any odd clicking noise in your tank? Could you have a mantis shrimp? They have been known to knock out and kill fish. Ask me how I know this.
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I haven’t had problems with bristle worms or emerald crabs killing fish. Wondering if you have a rogue hitchhiker you aren’t aware of, or perhaps a fish thats a bully when lights are out?
I haven’t heard any clicking noise in my tank but I also haven’t been paying attention for that, this is something ill keep in mind over the next few days and see if I notice anything like that. I haven’t added any new life rock in a few months, would I have noticed a mantis shrimp by now if that’s the culprit?
I now only have three fish in the tank, a clown fish a green chromis and a yellow font. All are smaller than the wrasse and goby that came up dead so that’s why I originally didn’t think it could be one of the fish causing it.
with that being said I haven’t noticed any hitch hikers besides a sea star and the bristle worms but that’s not to say there’s not something in there causing havoc that i haven’t seen yet
Clown fish
Yellow goby
Green chromis
Sea urchin (hitch hiker that appeared in there in January)
Red knob starfish
Brittle sea star (hitch hiker that appeared in January)
One fire red shrimp
One peppermint shrimp
2 emerald crabs (one is about an inch wide and another is four inches wide)
6-7 bristle-worms (hitch hiker that appeared in January but I’ve just now noticed are coming out more freely and HUGE)
Vette67
Reefing since 1997
I don’t remember exactly, but I think it took me months to figure out I had one. Could have been smaller maybe and grew. But I did eventually notice a clicking that sounded odd. You almost can’t miss it, but it is generally at night. Just keep an ear out and you’ll know if you hear it. Tough to catch too. Very smart animals.
So what kind of sea star? Green brittle stars are known fish predators.
Calm Blue Ocean
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I'm planning to remove the larger bristleworms from my rocks when I move them to my nano, but mostly because the rocks are full of bristleworms of all sizes and I don't need them to be the main feature of the tank. That said, for a long time my gobies and pistol shrimp have been living right next to some shockingly large ones without conflict. Well, I have seen the worms steal food from them on occasion but that's been the extent of the drama.
That defiantly isnt a gorilla crab but emerald crabs max out at 2.5 inches according to live aquaria. I cant really tell the color in the video. Any chance you can get a picture with white lights? And are you sure its 4 inches wide?
minus9
5000 Club Member
Ok, I think I really need to do to a write up on bristle worms. Under no circumstances will a bristle worm consume or attack a healthy living animal in our tanks. If a worm attacks something healthy, it's not a bristle worm and more likely a fire worm, which are kinda rare these days, being that we're really not pulling rocks out of the ocean now. Bristle worms serve as a valuable part of a healthy marine ecosystem as CUC, they really are super efficient at consuming detritus and leftovers. In fact, their numbers are solely based on food availability. If you have a ton of bristle worms, guess what, you have a lot of available food for them.
As for the crab in the picture, it's a male emerald crab, which have been known to be a little aggressive, but not really towards fish.
As for the crab in the picture, it's a male emerald crab, which have been known to be a little aggressive, but not really towards fish.
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Ive
ive heard green brittle stars can be opportunistic fish eaters...I’ve never had one so don’t have any experience with them.
