What is living in my chaeto algae

[dedvalson]

Hi,

Here is a picture of something living in the Chaeto in my fuge. They are 1-2 inches long. There are dozens of them. Can anyone tell me more about them?

Thanks,

Don

 

[cloak]

Harmless bristle worm.

http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml

 

[dedvalson]

Thanks!! And thanks even more for the link to that site. There is a lot of great info there.

Don

 

[Coelli]

Just don't touch them with bare hands.

 

[hotelbravo]

Just don't touch them with bare hands.

I dont know why people keep saying this.. I volunteer at a lfs on my days off and when cleaning the tank I take out all the bristleworms with my bare hands and put them in a bag to take home to my tank. I havent had any problems with touching them other than a slight irritation once.

 

[cloak]

I haven't had any problems either.. If you grab them too hard you will end up with some bristles in your fingers, but it's really not that bad.
When we were kids my grandparents had some Cacti around the house and we were told not to touch them. We didn't listen... There were numerous times when we were pulling the thorns out of our fingers. Bristle worms are nothing compared to that.

 

[Coelli]

Good to know, I've avoided touching them because of the warnings and was passing it along!

 

[rssjsb]

I don't know, maybe some people are more sensitive to it than others. Whenever I've been stuck (always a fingertip) I've had a reaction. It's not that bad - less than a bee sting - but it was definitely uncomfortable. A little swelling, redness, itch, and a little painful.

There's a debate about whether they've really got venom or whether it's just a physical insult (tiny fibers lodged in your skin). Whatever, I still avoid handling them and I'm careful when picking up things where they may be hiding.

 

[badbreath]

I dont know why people keep saying this.. I volunteer at a lfs on my days off and when cleaning the tank I take out all the bristleworms with my bare hands and put them in a bag to take home to my tank. I havent had any problems with touching them other than a slight irritation once.

Ha! Bare hands! Bristleworms are so disgusting to me that wouldn't touch them with a thick arm length glove on.

 

[hotelbravo]

Ha! Bare hands! Bristleworms are so disgusting to me that wouldn't touch them with a thick arm length glove on.

My wife gets on to me all the time about the things that dont bother me to handle. I believe there is only one living thing on this earth I actually hate and would avoid... roaches I hate them all. Spiders, snakes, worms, ect are all cool with me no problems at all. But roaches... burn them all

 

[lenard324]

I just cleaned out my sump and found all these I threw them all out should I have saved them?

 

[rssjsb]

They are beneficial, and I never remove them on purpose.

However, rest assured that you didn't get all of the worms, maybe not even all of them in your sump. The population will be determined by levels of food available to them, which is determined by you.

 

[hotelbravo]

I just cleaned out my sump and found all these I threw them all out should I have saved them?

yes in my opinion you should have without a doubt saved them. they are very helpful and they grow in such numbers for a reason.. there is obviously an abundance of food to be eaten since they grew so many. they were only doing you favors no harm