Help me! Big Bristle Worms!

nickenayat · Sep 30, 2017

The tank is roughly a year old now. Corals and fish are doing great, but I’m not sure what to think of these huge bristle worms. Can someone give me some advice if they are okay to leave alone or should I remove them (if so, how). There are at least 4 of them. They mostly only come out at night when I feed the fish or the lights are out.
Thanks in advance

Parameters: 8.3 ph, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 1360 mag, 460 calc, 8.1 alk, 1.025 salinity

Maggie321 · Sep 30, 2017

Beautiful tank! What have you tried so far?

EriksOasis · Sep 30, 2017

They are fine as long as they are not hurting anything. To remove if wanted use a long pair of feeding tongs just don’t touch them they will release the bristles into you and can irritate your skin.

sbash · Sep 30, 2017

Once they get pretty big, some people do like to remove them as a preventative thing. I have never had any issues with giant ones in my 220g, but I suppose if you have a lot of fish, there may be issues.

Use a red lamp to see them after the lights go out, like EriksOasis says, and very carefully remove them with tongs... Their 'bristles' are extremely fine and will easily penetrate your skin if you touch them. I have had several unexpected incidents; the worst of which was when I was cleaning the gunk off an overflow box and there was a worm in there. It took over a week for the swelling to go down, and at least two before I could no longer feel the needles under my finger-tips...

bif24701 · Oct 1, 2017

nickenayat said:
The tank is roughly a year old now. Corals and fish are doing great, but I’m not sure what to think of these huge bristle worms. Can someone give me some advice if they are okay to leave alone or should I remove them (if so, how). There are at least 4 of them. They mostly only come out at night when I feed the fish or the lights are out.
Thanks in advance

Parameters: 8.3 ph, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 1360 mag, 460 calc, 8.1 alk, 1.025 salinity

Photo #3 looks like some kind of fireworm. These kind could be dangerous. Try to get it out or at least a better picture so can get a positive ID on it.

Reafer · Oct 1, 2017

You could try to trap them also.

nickenayat · Oct 1, 2017

I’ve tried to go in with feeding tongs before but they are fast. They retract back into the rock and are impossible to grab at that point. My tank is 24 gallons so 4 big worms can feel like a lot more, and I don’t want them to get out of hand.

I’ve heard arrow crabs eat bristle worms and had one for a while but he died a while back. I may go for another. I think I prefer to add something that would manage them because grabbing them has been so difficult. Any ideas?? Thank you all

nickenayat · Oct 1, 2017

bif24701 said:
Photo #3 looks like some kind of fireworm. These kind could be dangerous. Try to get it out or at least a better picture so can get a positive ID on it.

Pic 3 and 4 are of the some worm if it helps, I’ll try to get another.