I've got WAY TOO MANY BRISTLE WORMS!

BRS
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I had exactly the same problem, and yes, it was because I was overfeeding (I only have a 90l nano by the way). I have cut back on feeding dramatically, but it doesn't appear to have made any noticeable difference to the worm population. It probably has, It just doesn't seem so.

Which sort of brings up the reverse side of an earlier comment. If the worm the worm numbers haven't reduced....then what are they eating now :eek:
 
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saltyhog said:
We want pictures of the hunt tomorrow! :D
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He's hard at it.

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Assume fish will eat all this, will the "cube" be able to handle the waist? How many fish will be needed as the waist production probably will increase the Bristelworm grow rate?
Imagen how many eggs and larvae must be present .
On what these Bristelworms are feeding?
There must be cycling a lot of "nutrient" in the cube.
I would stop feeding for a few days and try to trap most of them away. The trap may contain a lot of other valuable creatures. Repeat this as necessary for to catch new born. As long there are adults eggs and larvae will be present to maintain a healty population. Adding live amphi- and copepods, if not present, for competition and for to help maintain the nutrient cycle. The Anthias will love it.

An example of how a high nutrient system may create live. It does not always finds its balance in a way as we would like it to be, but it is easily manageable.
 
stevieduk said:
cut down your feeding by 50% and they will eat each other when they cant get enough food , plus buy a couple of arrow crabs , they eat them
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I use an autofeeder, so I did exactly this last night. I reduced feeding by 50%. Now it's watch and see what happens. Lights are still out, so I'm not bringing in the haul yet. I'm hoping to catch a few... we'll see...
 
Are they bothering anything or just looking ugly? Do you have any nutrient spikes due to worm die off?
I overfeed (a lot) and my bristleworm population looks “worse” at night but they don’t bother anything. The sand in my tank is pretty much pearly white without ever being cleaned or siphoned

Recently I’ve been experimenting by adding ordinary clams and oysters from the supermarket and the worms won’t touch any until they die - although most from what I’ve been told are barely alive.

Some time ago I used to go crazy about seeing so many worms and did the trapping every day for weeks. The outcome - small dent in the population for 2-3 weeks after and then back to square 1. Sorry to say but you’ll be wasting a lot of time trapping if you don’t significantly reduce feeding and for longer periods of time. My current tank has been fallow for almost a month and I’m not feeding anything, still don’t see any major population reduction.

In sum, I think you should just leave them be...:)
 
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You are feeding your tank too much. I had a similar issue early in my tank maturation process. I was feeling about the same that I was raising worms not fish and corals. I even joked about going into the business of selling worms for clean up crews I had some many. I have cut back on food going into that tank. It is obvious their numbers have decreased. Unless you see one grab one of your fish I wouldn't worry about it. Part of nature's balance. Attacking the worms is treating the symptom and not dealing with the cause.
 
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Dennis Begley said:
You are feeding your tank too much. I had a similar issue early in my tank maturation process. I was feeling about the same that I was raising worms not fish and corals. I even joked about going into the business of selling worms for clean up crews I had some many. I have cut back on food going into that tank. It is obvious their numbers have decreased. Unless you see one grab one of your fish I wouldn't worry about it. Part of nature's balance. Attacking the worms is treating the symptom and not dealing with the cause.
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You think that is a lot of worms? Turn the lights off then wait an hour or two. Bring a flashlight and shine it into the tank then count your worms. I'd say if you have that many under the lights, you are going to be shocked by what comes out at night. I hear certain coral banded shrimps will eat them. I still have them but their numbers have decreased a lot. My tank just turned 2 years old. Hey, they are doing their job and calling for friends to eat the excess food in your tank.
 
Yeah. I don't want them gone. I just don't want to have so many that they're coming out with lights on (not nearly as many, but they've started crawling over the rock a good bit, and I'd like to see fewer). I turned my auto feeder down yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't actually catch many of them last night. I'll try again tonight.
 
They are kind of cool creatures. I have seen worms 3-4" long in my tank. Makes me wonder what I am not seeing. Cut down on the food you are putting in the tank. I also increased the other clean up crew populations in my tank for competition. Our tanks are an ecosystem that tries to find a balance based on what it going on in the tank. Worms are a reflection of that. I picked up some new clean up crew members last weekend. I noticed a couple of the snails apparently didn't survive the transition. Sure enough they were covered in worms very quickly. That is the worm's job, right? Don't panic and do any rash things. Do things the compete with and cut down the food going into the tank. When you do a water change vacuum the bottom to remove what you can. I have started making that part of my water change again. I had built a PVC - hose device that hangs over the tank to make the water changes in and out easier. Problem with that is I stopped vacuuming the bottom and was just changing the water. I now have a cyano issue I am dealing with. I have now gone back to vacuuming during the removal water process.
The worms freak my wife out. Not sure that is a bad or good thing. I wanted her to appreciate my tank. Keeps her out of my mancave which might be a good thing.
 
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mdbannister said:
Yeah. I don't want them gone. I just don't want to have so many that they're coming out with lights on (not nearly as many, but they've started crawling over the rock a good bit, and I'd like to see fewer). I turned my auto feeder down yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't actually catch many of them last night. I'll try again tonight.
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Quinquevittatum man..you will be surprised, lol.
 
Dennis Begley said:
They are kind of cool creatures. I have seen worms 3-4" long in my tank. Makes me wonder what I am not seeing. Cut down on the food you are putting in the tank. I also increased the other clean up crew populations in my tank for competition. Our tanks are an ecosystem that tries to find a balance based on what it going on in the tank. Worms are a reflection of that. I picked up some new clean up crew members last weekend. I noticed a couple of the snails apparently didn't survive the transition. Sure enough they were covered in worms very quickly. That is the worm's job, right? Don't panic and do any rash things. Do things the compete with and cut down the food going into the tank. When you do a water change vacuum the bottom to remove what you can. I have started making that part of my water change again. I had built a PVC - hose device that hangs over the tank to make the water changes in and out easier. Problem with that is I stopped vacuuming the bottom and was just changing the water. I now have a cyano issue I am dealing with. I have now gone back to vacuuming during the removal water process.
The worms freak my wife out. Not sure that is a bad or good thing. I wanted her to appreciate my tank. Keeps her out of my mancave which might be a good thing.
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This is a good point. I just added a few new additions to my CUC including nassarius snails and a couple of tiger conchs. Until now, the worms were the only things in the sand bed.
 
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Have you noticed any increase in snail deaths? Before my rebuild I had some long buggers that I became convinced were preying on snails. The rebuild process eradicated them and I’ve never had the problem again. Of course there are a wide variety of bristle worm types and I never did get a specific ID on the perps in my tank.
 
BRS

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