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I hate bristle worms.

W

Wilson

I like my fish fat and healthy, so I feed pretty heavy.. with that, comes a ton of bristle worms and I absolutely hate them. They give me the heebie jeebies.

I've tried wrasses, but for some reason whenever I get one, they'll be around for a day or 2, then never to be seen again. They could be hiding in the sand, but it's been too long. If they're actually still hiding, I may have a dozen wrasses in the sand hiding.. I have a mesh lid and a canopy, so the assumption is if they jump, they kinda just bounce back into the water. Overflow box is covered.

I tried an arrow crab, rumored to be the hunter of bristleworms. Saw him on the rock a few times, but the numbers haven't gone down at all.

Built a trap to catch em, only get a handful each time.

The most successful so far was just to take out a rock, dunk it in RO and slowly pluck out the corpses before throwing the rock back in..

This is just a portion of today's harvest. Is the only solution just to feed less? I'd really like to remove them and not just starve them out so they can decompose in my tank..
20210101_182523.jpg

Anybody have experience bringing down their numbers?
 
erics210

erics210

Secretary
NJRC Member
I had seen someone take a shrimp or something and wrapped in a netting material and all the bristle worms came out to feed on it and they just pulled the entire net out with tons of worms caught in and on the betting.
 
W

Wilson

My trap has been a short piece of PVC. Capped on each end, one side with a small hole. Middle filled with filter floss, the other end with food. The worms wriggle to get to the food, some getting tangled, some make it through but it's been tough to entice them to leave their rocks to even go in the trap. Only get a handful each time.
 
erics210

erics210

Secretary
NJRC Member
people always talk bad about aiptasia.
They are relatively easy to treat, and lots of options.

My PEST chart: Toughest to easiest time I had: #1The Vermatid Snails (Ongoing), Montipora Nudis- (LOTS of dipping and dipping and scrubbing- Arrrr), and #3. Bristle worms (Ongoing), #4. Asterina (my Harlequinn is doing a great job, will they ever be gone 100% - Doubt it, but manageable), #5 Aiptasia and #6 Majano.

The darn Vermatid snails get in the darkest corners of the system and are impossible to fully eradicate.
I have done some bumble bee snails and lots of manual removal.
 
W

Wilson

DangerDave said:
Those bristle worms are great cuc. I don’t like when they get big, those bristles can hurt. I throw them in my sump and watch the arrow crab go to town on them.
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So you actually see your crab eat them? I wish mine would go hunting for em, tear them from the home..
 
W

Wilson

Lights winding down, walked by the tank and saw this guy. Speak of the devil, they're everywhere. Damn thing must've been at least 6 inches long.

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DEL

DEL

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have you tried the 2 liter bottle trick ? cut a 2 liter in half. flip the side with the spout and place it inside. glue pieces together. place some food inside the bottle and place in tank at night. worms go in but can't get out
 
W

Wilson

Here's my bristleworm trap, loaded with floss in the middle, food on one end. Hoping they get trapped and tangled in there, and can't make it out.
20210102_162704.jpg
 
B

brokereefer

Wilson said:
In light of their abundance. I've decided to create an arena of sorts. Anybody I pull out shall have their fate decided by arrow crabs and/or coral bandit shrimps.. as opposed to just being flushed. May the odds be never in their favor.

View attachment 34197
Click to expand...

Wow, I love this idea. And I hate bristleworms. I may have to drop off some contestants for your arena!
 
erics210

erics210

Secretary
NJRC Member
I havent seen my coral banded shrimp in a while which is kinda crazy cause he was HUGE. But have noticed more and more bristle worms. I may go see if I see him now. Did have him for a few years. May have just been his time.

Than again, I have a harlequinn I wanted to add but was afraid he would get attacked by the CBS.
 
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