Bristleworms....what do you do with them?
 

Ever since I got in the hobby, first tank from another reefer, so over three years this bristleworm of mine grew quite large. Recently notice my regal tang had bristleworm bristles suck to the side of his body creating quite an irritation for the Regal but after a few days, the bristle were gone, after watching the Regal tang flashing his side.

So after that I figure its time to pull this large bristle worm out due to bristles on fish, pocked myself leaving fiberglass like brittle after aquascaping, knocking over corals & a suspect of eating zoo's & once seeing it grab a small peppermint shrimp.

So I spot it out on feeding time, pull (thick gloves), it grabs hold and rippp! He ended up breaking in two pieces before I got the rest of him out. EEK! It is soOoOo interesting to see the pieces that broke off regenerate into their own piece and crawl away! EEK! So now I have all three peices in a 10gal tank for the last week.

Anybody want it!!!!! I can't bring my self to flush it! :frown:


Like most bristleworms I have seen, mine is not pink/red. Its light brown with big thick white bristles on each of its side. The worm is approx 1/2inch thick and one piece is approx 11inch long. Other pieces about 2-3 inchs long now regerated end limb. :lol:

What do you do with bristle worms when they get too big?


p.s. can post pic later this evening.

Maybe I should take your worm to eat my snail sliming/eating worm :evil: Well..... maybe not :eek:

Didn't know they would regenerate like that :eek: Kind of a scary thought. Really, though, if you don't want to flush it, and nobody wants it, put it in some tankwater in a plastic container and freeze then flush.

NASTY and i thought my 2 inch long one was disgusting. I made my boyfriend flush it... that's the way to go... Find a man to do the dirty work!

Just caught a big sucker, about 8" when not stretched out & thicker as a fountain pen. This killer worm has cost me at least a couple of corals that it bit & killed so I took one photo of it & flushed the b@st@rd down the toilet.

Anthony

I like a little garlic and melted butter with my bristle worms. At least I don't need a tooth pick after. :mrgreen:

Just use him for fertalizer in the garden.

:lol: :lol: Yeah I love that idea... So I asked my man... :eek: He said, "NO FRIGIN WAY I"M PUTTING MY HANDS NEAR THAT UGLY, GROSS THING!" No dear I have gloves...here! :lol: :rofl: Didn't work....BUmmer!

Yeah I have it in a 10gal bare bottom tank, sitted right on my dining room table. Ewwww..... no wonder everyone here saying night after night that they are not hungry. :lol:

I remember that monster the last time me and john were over your place :eek: I have a small version of yours,maybe I should fish him out soon :confused:

nasty. mine is a 10g too, but it's sand and rock. but i actually found two more friggin worms on the same piece of CRAP ROCK i bought from BA. 3 freakin worms on one piece. grrr... i did a fresh water soak on it today... one plopped out and died... hopefully the other one died too (and any other buggers hiding in there)

i can send over my boyfriend to flush it! he didn't want to flush mine either, but i was busy cooking him supper so i made him... ya gotta show him who'e boss! hehe... hope he's not reading this. but i know he will eventually. oh well. love you sweetie!

eva

I have tons of BW's in my tank but only several that are over 6-8" Could this be whats been taking bites out of my leather? Maybe I should bait and hunt them down?......

kill the basta*ds!!!
i found my first on at night, took out the rock and grabbed him with tweezers, the other two i actually saw during the day. crazy worms.

what do you do with a bristleworm?? ummm...


MURDER THEM

ummm ya.... they are probably the most disgusting evil little creatures...i mean yes i understand that "every creature serves its purpose" but ever gotten bitten by one of those babies??? grrrrrrrrrr.... see above for my best suggestion.

Hmmm Ya they are ugly and can be painful. But they also serve a very good purpose in maintaining the tank. My concern is the big jumbo dudes. I'm not worried about the tons of 1-5" guys...well until they get bigger that is.....

reply
 

I find that having many bristle worms helps to controle their population. Due to interspecific competition the population will not exceed what the tank can sustain. I find that the overall size they can achieve is also limited because of the above factors. Having only one will alow it to grow bigger because there is nothing to limit its growth.

:eek: O.h yeah thats right hey and that was a year ago when you seen it! Its grown! Although for a while its my own fault.. when I figured he was one of my cleaning crew so I fed him a piece of krill, almost everyday. Feed like I turned on him now and feel bad for killing him.



Hey EVA, Bring your man over! I'll make you guys dinner! :lol: :lol:
I just can't bring myself to kill anything...how pathetic hey. See when I was young, I was the little girl that got upset if boys killed the bugs...then again I did have a bug farm in my mom's shed. O.H maybe I was a weird kid.... loved nature though. :mrgreen:

:mrgreen:

haha... what part of downtown you in? i'm not too far from you. maybe if we are together we can flush him with eachothers support lol...

eva

:lol: :lol: support group is awesome! :lol: :lol:

AHGHGHGHGH

ANOTHER ONE IN THAT FRICKEN ROCK FROM BIG ALS

DIE DIE DIE

uhg. i have no love left for them. i plucked it out with tweezers. stupid little fuzzy pieces of crap.

uhg

bullet, i have no issues in killing that thing for you. let me know when! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE

My sister has a great way of getting bristle worm . . . she grabs her ever-so-handy turkey baster and sucks them up! Then FLUSH! I've done it too - works like a charm!!

i have at least three large bristle worms in my tank. the largest is about 12" long. they are not the most attractive thing but i have never seen mine eating anything othe than scraps and left overs from the messy eating fish. i don't think they eat corals. as i said befor i have three quite large ones in my tank and my corals are healthy and have never been eaten.

i like have the briastle worms because i know that they eat the left over food that the fish miss that would otherwise ROT in your tank. maybe some of you guys have something different but i have exactly what you have discribed bulletsworld.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/dat...G_0700-med.JPG

is this what you guys have in your tanks. you can see my finger in the bottom of the picture for reference.

manuel,

mine are different then that. mine are the kind that do eat the corals from what i've read about them. i'm not sure what kind yours is.

I've caught mine taking a bite out of a perfectly healthy red brain coral that went downhill from there.

Small bristle worms in my fish only tank - not a problem. Big ones anywhere - DIE. Small ones in my seahorse tank get washed down the drain to control the population.

That's my story & I'm sticking to it. (Besides, my wife HATES bristleworms)

Anthony

Bristle Worm Control
 

I used to have a fair number of these worms until I bought Sid (CB shrimp). I never realized until one morning I saw him with a worm in his pinchers. Unfortunately these shrimp have a reputation. But no more bristle worms. I don't know if that is good or bad like someone else said everything has a purpose.

George

Re: Bristle Worm Control
 

What's a CB shrimp? Any pic of one?

Re: Bristle Worm Control
 

coral banded shrimp
http://www.fabfish.net/gallery/galle...ded_shrimp.jpg
cleaner shrimp and peppermint shrimp will also eat bristleworms

Re: Bristle Worm Control
 

coral banded shrimp


look them up on liveaquaria.com

edit: guess i'm too slow. :evil:

Re: Bristleworms....what do you do with them?
 

Sound like your pretty good at fragging bristle worms :razz:
Thats one frag i don't want. You could try Muck he may want one, if your giving them away :razz: :razz: :razz:

P.S how long before Muck responds?

well, i caught a fairly small bristle worm just the other day and fed it to my plate coral. It was pretty happy with the free lunch....

...just a thought, but it sounds like some of you are dealing with Eunicid worms which aren't quite the same as regular old fuzzy bristleworms.

Yes, some bristleworms will eat soft corals..but their attack is more like gumming the coral to death than "chomping or biting". They would typically have to remain attached to the coral for extended periods of time in order to affect any damage. Most bristleworms are harmless, except for their bristles...

Whereas eunicids have very distinct pincer jaws and can grow to scary sizes. These guys are pretty interesting, but will probably eat anything they can.

Re: Bristle Worm Control
 

I loved my CB shrimp, i miss him!! :cry:

My office tank was full of bristleworms. Everyone in the office hated them. Then I got a magenta dottyback. Now, I have no more bristleworms at all in that tank.

Unfortunately, it also ate my sexy shrimps and coral banded shrimp.

Yup thats what I have in my 10gal tank still.. well actually three of them now since it broke off in 2 places. :eek: Now all three crawl around. Ewwwwwwww....

So that is a bristle worm then? Mine is bigger but same thing.

I just feel so bad for killing it. You know the thou shall not kill thing. Hehe

So your pic above is what kinda bristle worm...anyone know?

That is no Brisleworm as I know them. :eek:

Pretty sure that is a regular bristleworm, Bob, they just don't look as cute when they get to that size.

Ive got two types in my tank.

1. Looks like above picture.
2. Looks more orangey-pink in the middle with purple head and tail.

yup thats a bristle worm as it is a genaric name that covers a bunch of worms.. I have a few of that type that are over 12" long and they cause no problems whats so ever.

Bob, whats the link for that internet spell thing that goes into explorer? I redid my computer and forgot to back it up hehe.

Steve