Bristle Worms?!

[Titus77]

Help. I have a TON of worms that I can see in the sand, up against the glass, and they are red with a ton of skinnier red "tentacles" coming from the top of them. I just fed my tank frozen mysis shrimp, and the worms each grabbed one of the little shrimps. It is easy to make out at least 50 of them and they have the death-grip on the shrimps. Are these bristle worms? I will try to get a pic, but I can guarantee you that the pics will come out blurry, no matter what, but I will try anyways. Thanks in advance.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Nothing wrong with having bristle worms -- they are a good part of a clean up crew. Odds are that there was a population explosion from a bit of over feeding. In time some will die off and they will reach a sustainable level.

 

[Titus77]

 

[Titus77]

Sorry for the quality. My camera is new, yes, an Olympus 770, but the close-ups and zooms come out horrible. I do not think that anybody should get it. Underwater though, it takes decent pictures.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Do they look like these? If so, they are good for your tank.

 

[Titus77]

They are not out of the sand...just the red "hair" is out. Maybe are they red tube worms?

 

[Phoenix19]

Could be spaghetti worms...

 

[Titus77]

They are tiny little red things that stay in the sand. Not a spaghetti worm at all.

 

[Photo_John]

Those are not spaghetti worms they are bristle worms...be happy, they are good. Just dont grab them, sting....if you dont want them get a 6 line wrass

 

[Titus77]

I currently have a Leopard Wrasse, but he just hides most of the time :lol: Is it okay if the Leopard and Six Line are in the same tank, or will they dominate each other?

 

[FishAreFriends2]

6 line might kill your leopard.

 

[Titus77]

Damn. Okay... anything else that would gladly eat bristle worms?

 

[billy73]

On rare occasion the do get to be a little much(start eating bottom dwellers). The 1-2 times I saw this they came out of the sand like nassirus snails. They got rid of some by taking a dark brown colored 20oz bottle and put a raw shrimp in it. Then they buried it in the sand flat with the mouth of the bottle half in the sand and the other halfout.

 

[Titus77]

Would they eat a Longspine Waspfish? He hangs out on the sand and just sits there. I do not want him to be eaten alive by the bristle worms. If so, I am gonna get em outta there!

 

[acrodave]

put some food in some old pantyhose and leave it on the bottom and the story is that they will get all tangled up in it and you just pull it out

 

[eeorrandy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12739368#post12739368 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Titus77
Would they eat a Longspine Waspfish? He hangs out on the sand and just sits there. I do not want him to be eaten alive by the bristle worms. If so, I am gonna get em outta there!

No... Bristleworms will normally only eat an animal that is already dead or dying.. they don't kill anything themselves. They do a great job of cleaning detritus and excess food. Also they help keep the sand moving and help keep your sandbed healthy.

Hope this helps

 

[Titus77]

I will keep them then I have heard stories of them going into a clam and eat it alive. So they wont kill coral¿

 

[Phoenix19]

Just to clarify I know that the worms pictured are bristleworms. Going by Titus' verbal description though, I just offered another suggestion.

 

[ReefMasta08]

suggestion would be a small horseshoe crab. they will take the population down plus he will move your sad around ALOT. but if you have any feather dusters on the floor he might munch on them also...and the ones that eat corals are fire worms, kinda rare though havent seen much of any

 

[Ebmorri]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1310879

Look at this thread, hopefully that it. That one was in the water colume and removed from the tank.