Bristle Worms.....die

[heirfaus]

Ok so I have some bristle worms like many of us. I want to kinda keep them under control. I bought a CBS and hoped he would eat some of them. Before I bought the CBS I capture 2 three inch bristle worms. I want them in there but not when they get big. I just fed my fish this evening and noticed that in the back corner of my tank, behind some rocks, where the water settles a bit 5 worms came out. I am guessing to eat chunks of food. The bad part is my CBS was just sitting next to them the whole time!!!!

PS why can't I load a pic? I have a great one of 5 bristles right next to my CBS

 

[Riley]

You could buy a six line wrasse, they eat Bristle worms. I am going to buy one as soon as my new tank comes in. Ive got bristle worms coming out the ass. I just don't want them to start taking out my fish.

-Riley

 

[Donya]

How big is the CBS? Beyond a certain worm size relative to the shrimp's size, the shrimp can't really do anything to the worm except scare it into running away. I've seen my CBS wrestle with some pretty big worms and loose the battle because the worms just didn't care because the CBS couldn't do any damage. Once they get in the 8" range some bristleworms are like tanks. Smaller ones on the other hand are lunch...especially the epitokes.

Go to http/www.photobucket.com and signup for their free photo storage; then you can link to your photo from a forum post using the img tags.

 

[heirfaus]

the CBS is about 2.5-3 inches long. the worms are 1-3 inches

click here

 

[Donya]

Could be that if the CBS is finding a lot of easty-to-get food elsewhere, it isn't going after the bristleworms because it has no motivation to hunt them.

 

[boshank23]

do bristle worms hurt fish? i know they are pretty nasty if we grab them by accident. i heard they are quite benificial

 

[Donya]

do bristle worms hurt fish?

Only if the fish either runs directly into the bristles (thereby getting stuck by them) or tries to eat the worm. My engineer goby has done both a couple times but is no worse for the wear.

 

[Opcn]

Bristle worms are your friends unless you have lots of clams andscallops, I recomend leaving them, a CBS isn't the best way to deal with more problems, a 6 line would have been a better choice I believe.

 

[boshank23]

are there any other ways of controling their population? i do have rather alot living in my coral sand and i cant add anymore fish to my setup.

 

[Donya]

As long as they arn't real big, something that would do the same job as them but more efficiently cleanup-wise would cut back on the amount of food the worms get, thereby eventually decreasing the population. I'm not sure if Nassarius would fall into that category, since I have not kept them myself.

Have you seen any epitokes in the tank, or rather have you seen the CBS pass up an epitoke swimming by? It is possible that even if the CBS isn't eating the adults, that it may eat any epitokes produced and thereby prevent the worms from reproducing on a large scale (this is how I think my CBS must namely be limiting the population in my tank). It takes a while for the effects to be visible of course.

 

[Donya]

As long as they arn't real big, something that would do the same job as them but more efficiently cleanup-wise would cut back on the amount of food the worms get, thereby eventually decreasing the population. I'm not sure if Nassarius would fall into that category, since I have not kept them myself.

Have you seen any epitokes in the tank, or rather have you seen the CBS pass up an epitoke swimming by? It is possible that even if the CBS isn't eating the adults, that it may eat any epitokes produced and thereby prevent the worms from reproducing on a large scale (this is how I think my CBS must namely be limiting the population in my tank). It takes a while for the effects to be visible of course.