Best Bait for Bristle Worm Trap???

After reading lots of horror stories and seeing pictures of giant bristle worms, today I made a BRISTLE WORM TRAP from PVC. My questions are: 1) What would be the best bait to use in the trap? 2) The holes in the trap are about 1/4"....is that too big? 3) Will the bait foul the tank if left in all night? Oh, forgot to mention.....it's a 75g tank. Thanks everyone!

 

Well, I haven't actually seen any in my 75g but then I haven't looked. I just want to drop the trap and see what I pull up. Is that a bad idea? :-/ Kas

 

Well yeah, I guess I was just curious about what would show up in my trap. I was hoping it would give me a clue if my tank is swarming with worms. I'll first look around the rocks after dark with a flashlight. But.........just in case I decide to go "fishing", what would I use for bait?

 

Get a Banded Coral Shrimp as he is a nature predator of the bristol worm.

 

Hey Scott! I already have one of those shrimp in there. Maybe that's why I haven't seen any worms in the tank. When I lived in MI and the tank was about 3 years old, it had quite a few worms but since moving it here and starting over, haven't seen any worms. I thought every tank has them and wanted to set a trap to see how many are in the rocks now. Sooooooooo......about that bait question: any ideas?

 

No I just use a natural predator to keep the population under control. It is ok to have some, they are just scavengers.

 

Oh, OK. Kas

 

I've had my tanks now for almost 15 yrs and never removed even the very large bristle worms.
I think they get a bad rap because they do their job so well. As soon as any decaying matter presents itself, they are there to do their thing.
If a coral gets decay due to damage or die off, the worms can immediately be seen to begin their next meal, but in so doing, a lot of hobbyists have believed the worms were the cause of the demise, rather than just caretakers of decay.