Red/blue ribbed worms?

[marine24]

I set up a 14Biocube about eight months ago, and in the past couple weeks, I've noticed a bunch of little half-red, half-blue ribbed worms crawling in and out of the rocks, and one in particular is almost 4 inches long now. Any idea what they are, and are they harmful to the tank?

Thanks in advance.

 

[panmanmatt]

Bristle worms. Great additions to your clean up crew.

 

[marine24]

Thanks for the quick response. A quick check on google shows split opinion on the bristle worm; some say it's very harmful and should be removed immediately and others say no problem. I've got one that's about 8 inches long and bunch of little tiny ones. Are there subspecies that are harmful, or should I just not worry about it?

Thanks again.

 

[Nickjr000]

yeah still mixed opinions on them. I haven't decided what side i'm on yet. Leaning toward the good side though

 

[qwik]

I wouldn't bother trying to remove them . You will never get them all out, I would bet there has to be at least 10 more that you dont see to every one you do. Unless it gets huge and you see it doing damage I would just consider it part of your cuc .

 

[marine24]

Ok. Thanks, guys - very much appreciated.

 

[Hawkeye]

late to this thread but "welcome to njrc!"

if you have a plethora of bristle worms - you could be overfeeding.

If you absolutely want a fish to keep them in check - a coris wrasse might help. I think mine is gut-loaded from eating worms.

Some inverts like an arrow crab will work too - but this crab species is not reef safe.