attack of the bristle worms!!!

[nemo1991]

i have like hundreds of small bristle worms in my sand bed , well nt hundreds, but i can see at least 20 on jsut one side of the tank in the sand (55 gallon) any know of any good ways to get them out,, any links to home made traps or cheap traps online, there all under an inch like 1/2 an inch if that helppp!!!!!!!!

[cwop357]

I had tons of them in my tank and after getting sick of looking at them all the time I bought an arrow crab and within about a month he had killed them all.

[nemo1991]

btw. i have a cbs

[missionsix66]

Suck them out with a turkey baster.

[stylaster]

leave them be, they are great scavengers

[reef_guru]

bristle worms are fine when there small, its when they get big that is the problem. there are other tank cleaners that can be used if you dont like fire worms.

[omard]

"Creepy..."

(Just thought of all that slithering going on in my tank makes my skin crawl.)






Bad Type Bristleworms Control

(About.com)

Ways to Prevent and Remove Infestations

Remove them by hand using tweezers or a net when you see them.

Buy a bristleworm trap, or make your own.
Use a baited nylon stocking.

Introduce a natural predator of these worms into the aquarium, such as a Dottyback, Wrasse of the Halichoeres family, Bird Wrasse (Gomphosus varius), Maori Wrasse (Cheilinus oxycephalus), Sunset Wrasse (Thalassoma lutescens), Coral Banded Shrimp (Stenopus hispidus) or Arrow Crab (Stenorhynchus setrcornis).

Severe Infestation Solution

Although this problem is not likely to occur if the worms are removed when found, if your aquarium is overwhelmed by a severe bad type, or even a beneficial type bristleworms infestation, such as with those of the Eurythoe genus, you can quickly reduce the population by cleaning up the substrate and rocks. Here is what you can do.

Only remove small portions of the aquarium substrate at a time and either:
Spread it out on a plastic sheet, then sieve through the media by hand and pick the worms out using tweezers.

Place the substrate in a plastic container partially filled with saltwater, and stir it around. The worms should come up from the media each time this is done and be in the water portion of the container where they can be scooped out. A fine meshed fish net works well for this.

Remove the rocks one at a time and follow the rock cleaning procedure outlined under the "Preventative Measures" section above.


Tip: It is advised to always wear a pair of gloves of some kind when dealing with Fireworms to avoid coming into contact with their stinging bristles.

Tip: Whenever working with live substrate media and rocks in the open air, it is best to keep it moist, which can be done by using a spray bottle filled with saltwater to dampen it.