help me rid my live rock of BRISTLE WORMS, please!

B

BLAMMOTOR

New member
Just starting a new 135 gal FOWLR and would like to use some of the LR from former 30 gal tank. Prob is we have an overpopulation of bristle worms!!! My husband says "really, BW's are good in a tank" I say "I hate em, they ate my snails!"
The rock really great but I won't let him transfer it unless the worms are totally gone. I know everyone will say he's right, but I stand firm.
Is there a way to get rid of the worms without cooking the rock?
 
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Your husband is right! (we usually are! j/k) ;) Bristle worms are good for a tank. Consider them part of your clean up crew. If they ate your snails, it's most likely that the snails they ate were already dead.
However, if you want to rid your tank of them, a 6-Line Wrasse will have them cleaned up in short order. I'm pretty sure an Arrow Crab will also eat them, just not as quickly.
 
[welcome]

I know that no wife wants to hear this but your husband is right. The worms are not killing or hurting your snails.
 
The only time bristle worms will eat snails if they are dying to begin with.

I have a a six inch (about as thick as a spaghettin noodle) bristle worm in my 7gallon nano. I have one fish various snails, and peppermint shrimps. It comes out to usually when the lights are out searching for leftover food.
 
[welcome]


i think they are some bad ones.....but for the most part the ones in our tanks are usually not out to harm your snails. so i wouldn't worry about them
 
Unfortunately bristleworms will hitchhike in on any live rock you put in your new tank.....and they will grow as they clean up leftovers from your fish. I think the best suggestion for you is still to put a critter who eats them, like a sixline wrasse in the old tank and let it clean them out, then transfer the rock to the new tank. This would minimize but not solve the worm issue.
Also remember that 6 lines are agressive and best added last to tanks, so you don't want it as the first fish in your new set up. Luckly they are pretty and lots of folks want them so you should be able to trade it off when you are through with it!
Aaron
 
I have em in my tank and they don't hurt anything.If you want fewer,feed less.If they don't have much to clean up,they won't multiply as fast.
 
I know of several people that have removed their bristle worms using a disposable container used for food storage. I believe that ziploc makes some, get the smallest size. They cut X shaped holes in the lid using a sharp knife. At night fill the container w/ tank water and a small piece of LR or small amt of sand to prevent it from floating, add a cube of frozen fish food (bine, mysis etc.) put on the lid and place in the bottom of the aquarium. By morning you should have a container of bristle worms. This can be done several days in a row.
 
I have a million bristle worms in my tank with snails. All they do is help your tank, so i wouldn't see they problem with letting them stay.
 
I placed a longnose hawkfish in one of my tanks. He policed up the bristleworms in a few months and kept them at a good level.
BKB
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I don't have a problem with my husband being right, he usually in these matters. I think the best solution is one of the suggested fish that will help clean up the wormies. We had way too many in our 30 gal tank and if we can control the population naturally I can live with the nastie little things.
 
Feed less. Worm population will adjust to the availability of food. Less food= fewer bristleworms.
One common "bristleworm" can asexually reproduce others.
To try and go "wormless" is basically futile unless you start with sterile sand and rock. Even then- a worm might hitch hike in on a coral......
 
I started out pretty sterile and picked up 6 or 8 bristles from a store, just for them to help scavengethe tank. Instantly I had a small outbreak of them. Then I got a six line and they dissapeared, haven't seen one since about a month after I got him. which was 4-5 months ago-Pecc
 
this might help I had alot of b. worms and more each week. I
added a 6 line wrasse to my 60 with 100 lbs. of worm infect.
rock. withen 2 weeks no worms. this little fish is an eating
machine. dont know if they all do this. I dont know if bristleworms
are good or bad but they are food for my 6 line.
and anything that looks like a worm.
 
Skip getting a six-line and just either start over with just dead live rock or live with the beneficial scavengers (bristle worms). They would never attack and eat a snail. You will only see them mostly after the lights are off or during feedings.
 
If you insist on removing some of the bristleworm population, just place some food in a toe of a nylon stocking (cut down to size). When they BW try to get to the food, they will get stuck in the nylon and you can remove then that way. Just becareful removing nature scavengers, it can lead to other problems. Remember that your aquarium is a small ecosystem, not just a museum piece. You need all the parts of the ecosystem in order to make it function correctly.
 
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