I saw this worm I would say 1" it looks like a sandworm(for all you fishermen) I tried to suck it up in a turkey baster put it ran under a rock. What is it and is it good or bad also if it is bad if I cant catch it how to I kill it (prefer crabs shrimp clean up crew coming from group buy) thanks John
-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
identifying a worm in my tank
- Thread starter bovsbaitboxes
- Start date
should I leave it alone or get rid of it what eats them ??? thanks John
Some wrasses eat them. There's debate over whether they are good or bad. Certain species are definitely bad but most are scavengers. They usually are not a problem unless they get really big and even then, not that big of a deal. Just don't ever touch them with your hand. I say that from first hand experience. Once you feel a bristleworm, you will never want to touch live rock with bare hands again. I spent close to an hour tweezing the bristles out of my finger.
Try to get a picture to help indentify. If you really need to get it out, you could try a bristleworm trap, but I have never used one so don't know if they are any good. You can try the wrasse as biological control but no experience using them for that purpose. I don't care about my bristles.....some are really large and have never bothered anything other than my finger in any of my systems.
Try to get a picture to help indentify. If you really need to get it out, you could try a bristleworm trap, but I have never used one so don't know if they are any good. You can try the wrasse as biological control but no experience using them for that purpose. I don't care about my bristles.....some are really large and have never bothered anything other than my finger in any of my systems.
I looked at another site and saw a picture and that is what it is I just dont want it to mess with any of my corals shrimp crabs or fish thanks John
i must have some caloussy fingers cause i've smooshed them into the rock when i've seen them atleast 3 or 4 times and never got hurt.... but i do eat lots of garlic (garlic in people prevents bristle worm attacks)
If you have corals in your tank, you probably want to try and get them out of there. When they get bigger they can destroy corals and eat some inverts.
The easiest way to get rid of them is an arrow crab, but that might be to extreme if you have only one or two. Once they finish with the bristle worms they go after snails.
If you have room for another fish in your tank, try a dottyback. They are known for going after bristleworms but they can be aggressive fish so make sure you have room in your tank for one.
Traps are ok, search online and there are a lot of how to guides to getting rid of them.
The easiest way to get rid of them is an arrow crab, but that might be to extreme if you have only one or two. Once they finish with the bristle worms they go after snails.
If you have room for another fish in your tank, try a dottyback. They are known for going after bristleworms but they can be aggressive fish so make sure you have room in your tank for one.
Traps are ok, search online and there are a lot of how to guides to getting rid of them.
sixlines reportedly go after them...
harmless scavengers imo. You can waste time and money trying different methods to get rid of a "couple" of bristle worms when a healthy sand bed could have thousands. Just dont overfeed your tank and the populations should stay under control. Fireworms are notorious predators so watch out for them.
THAT worm I actually got off before I put the LR in my tank. It was fully exposed and luckily Dr Jim didn't hurt himself when he grabbed it out of his QT. I would have felt really bad! 
As you mentioned, it looked so much like a sandworm that I used to fish with, but it didn't seem to have the front pincher's. I almost went right in to remove it and I'm like ... maybe I shouldn't. I got the tweezers and put him in the bucket. I searched the rock over and didn't see anything else, but I figured it might have been.
I dropped the rock in my DT and when the lights went out I checked the tank/rock every 15-20 minutes. Sure enough, I saw another in 1-2 looks. I took out the tweezers and off went the 2nd. Later that night I found another, that I missed, roaming around the far side of the tank.
Ultimately, I felt bad getting rid of them so they went into the 10g tank. Then a seal went on that tank and they got dropped into a brand new 15g tank w/o cycling it - although I used bottled bacteria and the LS, LR and water from the 10g + DT. So, they are pretty darn hearty.
As you mentioned, it looked so much like a sandworm that I used to fish with, but it didn't seem to have the front pincher's. I almost went right in to remove it and I'm like ... maybe I shouldn't. I got the tweezers and put him in the bucket. I searched the rock over and didn't see anything else, but I figured it might have been.
I dropped the rock in my DT and when the lights went out I checked the tank/rock every 15-20 minutes. Sure enough, I saw another in 1-2 looks. I took out the tweezers and off went the 2nd. Later that night I found another, that I missed, roaming around the far side of the tank.
Ultimately, I felt bad getting rid of them so they went into the 10g tank. Then a seal went on that tank and they got dropped into a brand new 15g tank w/o cycling it - although I used bottled bacteria and the LS, LR and water from the 10g + DT. So, they are pretty darn hearty.