Bristleworms killing my cuc!!!

[Herbie's Reef]

I have not seen either of my turbo snails roaming around in a while. Well today I found a dead turbo with some sort of bristleworm in the shell. The other turbo is now missing and so is one of my two trochus snails. Below is a photo of the worm which I beleive might be a fireworm? Is there any way I could get help on an id or suggestions on how to combat this such as adding some predators?

Also I did start my tank with live rock from KP so there is a large chance of unwanted hitchikers like this. Many of my hermits have also been showing up dead ripped out of their shell so these guys may be eating them too. TIA.

 

[Herbie's Reef]

In nearly 10 years of reefing i've never physically seen a bristleworm in an open area of my tank so this was a surprise for me. that being said, if its that responsive to food just fashion up a simple bottle trap, place it in the same place and pull it. should be fairly easy

Yeah I have heard that bristle worms are shy but fire worms are not and that is one way to help differ the two. I have also moved the rock to my sump and will try the same thing with my tweezers. When moving a pistol shrimp also came out. I have had this rock for almost 2 months and have never even seen that little guy.

 

[SDReefer77]

Bristle worm. Still an eye sore, and that one definitely isn't shy so should be easy to grab with your tweezers if you want it out.

That early pic of your turbo snail though...

 

[Hermie]

IMO and experience, the best way to get rid of a lot of bristle worms is to Hydrogen Peroxide Dip your Live rock.

It kills way more than a trap will. Second way is to take out all your substrate/replace it. That's where a ton live.

Yes there can be cycling issues if you do these things but if you do it piecemeal you will be fine.

Trust me, it's way easier than siphoning them out after dark or setting a trap every night after night.

 

[Herbie's Reef]

IMO and experience, the best way to get rid of a lot of bristle worms is to Hydrogen Peroxide Dip your Live rock.

It kills way more than a trap will. Second way is to take out all your substrate/replace it. That's where a ton live.

Yes there can be cycling issues if you do these things but if you do it piecemeal you will be fine.

Trust me, it's way easier than siphoning them out after dark or setting a trap every night after night.

Not going to do anything too extreme unless it becomes close to infestation levels. For now I will probably stick to traps and in the coming weeks add predators of the bristle worms. Going to try and take a more natural approach. Thanks for the tips on dealing with loads of bristles. If it gets to that point I will probably do what you have recommended.

 

[SDReefer77]

Here's some info I found that may or may not help in terms of identification.

Bristle worm:

• Evenly spaced bristle tufts along the sides of the worm.
• Brightly hued white bristles.
• Can have a colorful body or have a dull gray hue.

Fireworm:

• Reddish color base along its bristles.
• White bristle tips.
• Red, yellow, brown or green gill filaments along its body.

 

[Hermie]

Not going to do anything too extreme unless it becomes close to infestation levels. For now I will probably stick to traps and in the coming weeks add predators of the bristle worms. Going to try and take a more natural approach. Thanks for the tips on dealing with loads of bristles. If it gets to that point I will probably do what you have recommended.

np, to be honest I was really really hesitant to do it but it basically had no noticible effect on my corals and what happened was so satisfying that I repeated the process with all of my live rock.

if you do an iodine dip to the container after the hydrogen peroxide it will "nullify" any remaining hydrogen peroxide so it will be safe to put back in your tank

 

[Hermie]

I hate bristleworms lol

 

[Herbie's Reef]

np, to be honest I was really really hesitant to do it but it basically had no noticible effect on my corals and what happened was so satisfying that I repeated the process with all of my live rock.

if you do an iodine dip to the container after the hydrogen peroxide it will "nullify" any remaining hydrogen peroxide so it will be safe to put back in your tank

OMG!!!
That is A TON of bristle worms.
The only reason I don't want to do it is that it will probably kill lots of cool things that I want in my tank. But hey that looks kind of appealing. Don't think my tank is infested enough yet to warrant this action though.

 

[Herbie's Reef]

I hate bristleworms lol

Ha! I can tell.

 

[MinnieMouse2]

Hard to fit a bottle trap. Trust me on the netting with shrimp in it. They get stuck on the netting and in the shrimp, and you just remove it, killing a lot of worms. For tight-fitting spots netting is the way to go.

 

[Hermie]

OMG!!!
That is A TON of bristle worms.
The only reason I don't want to do it is that it will probably kill lots of cool things that I want in my tank. But hey that looks kind of appealing. Don't think my tank is infested enough yet to warrant this action though.

the only way you can know for sure is to look at your tank at 3 AM with red lights on (no blue). Bristleworms react negatively to any blue light. You can use blue light (or white) but they will hide as soon as you turn it on, so you can get a good glimpse at first until they retract.

Believe me tho... you probably have way more than you think. They have millions of years of evolution for hiding during daylight.

 

[Herbie's Reef]

I thought most of the actually fireworms were gone with only bristles left. But I just caught this guy. Could it’s large size mean that it has had offspring in my tank. He is pretty big.

 

[Herbie's Reef]

the only way you can know for sure is to look at your tank at 3 AM with red lights on (no blue). Bristleworms react negatively to any blue light. You can use blue light (or white) but they will hide as soon as you turn it on, so you can get a good glimpse at first until they retract.

Believe me tho... you probably have way more than you think. They have millions of years of evolution for hiding during daylight.

I hope I don’t have more. They kind of gross me out. Also I can’t use red light because I am using T5’s. So I’ll just turn them on at night and see if I can get anything.

 

[PotatoPig]

/deleted, didn’t look at when post was made

 

[Goaway]

This photo i cant see the red tuffs, looks mostly like a common gristle worm.

 

[Goaway]

I thought most of the actually fireworms were gone with only bristles left. But I just caught this guy. Could it’s large size mean that it has had offspring in my tank. He is pretty big.

This one is probably an Caribbean orange fire worm. I never found this species to be an issue.

 

[Herbie's Reef]

This one is probably an Caribbean orange fire worm. I never found this species to be an issue.

Thanks for the ID. That one looks EXACTLY like the ones I have been finding. Good to know that they don't seem to be an issue.

 

[Goaway]

Thanks for the ID. That one looks EXACTLY like the ones I have been finding. Good to know that they don't seem to be an issue.

I have had at least 1 for 3 years, most killed by my copperband butterfly. They get huge, but great scavengers.

 

[Hermie]

I hope I don’t have more. They kind of gross me out. Also I can’t use red light because I am using T5’s. So I’ll just turn them on at night and see if I can get anything.

Another thing I did to fight them, used a head-mounted red led light (like a gopro) and hooked up a siphon late at night (after midnight), then I siphoned out as many as I could into a filter sock in the sump.

I did this multiple nights maybe 5 nights at least before I finally relented and did the H2O2 dips.


Happy Hunting!

 

[ravila101]

How should I go about getting rid of them? Wrasses? Traps? inverts?

Coral banded shrimp will do the job