How big before bristleworms become a problem?

[Mical]

A six line wrasse will decimate a population of bristleworms.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I began my reefing journey a few years ago as many do: visions of a pristine reef with wavy corals and anemones hosting natural instinct-competent clownfish. Maintenance of a pest-free environment was, of course, a top priority, and among those critters categorized as pests was the unsightly bristleworm. As the story goes, the first tank was problematic, and I eventually came around to embrace full ocean live rock and sand and all the critters that don't spell imminent death. Curiously, I went bristleworm-free until my third and current tank. They are fine They do a great job. Acceptable tenants... until they're not.

My question is, do bristleworms become problematic once they are very large? I've read that they regulate their own population based on availability of food, but will a large hungry bristleworm just let itself starve or begin to experiment with living foods? At some point, simple biomass would become a problem, no?

I don't harbor ill feeling toward them, but I also don't have any ethical dilemma in culling the population. I see them like an algae scrubber--removing some of them and turning them into fertilizer is essentially nutrient export.

This is one of the yasha goby's back doors. When I feed corals at the end of the day and the lights are dimming, these guys start pouring out like they're crawling out of the pits of hell! Some are becoming quite large.

One is too many as it is for me. I have pulled a 12" and 14" one before and despise them,, however many regard them as cleaner crew and they keep sand loose and consume detritus and uneaten food

 

[00W]

I have zero in my 75.
Trigger has eaten them all.
My 20 is insanely infested.
Long nose just sits and does nothing all day.

 

[fishface NJ]

My favorite video LOL

 

[BristleWormHater]

EW! I hate those so much. I got a predatory wrasse (rainbow) to eat these MFs. They creep me out. If I see one I grab pinchers and pull them

I bet I hate them more

 

[BristleWormHater]

My favorite video LOL

I saw that before I started reefing lol, its part of my origin story

 

[JoJosReef]

My favorite video LOL

 

[JoJosReef]

My favorite video LOL

I think a line was crossed a few clogged overflows back. What was that guy feeding his tank!?

 

[JoJosReef]

I let them get out of control in one of my tanks….to the point where I don’t even feel comfortable putting my hands in the tank!!!
The tank isn’t big enough for a wrasse, so I’ve been trying to trap them unsuccessfully...if I could have a do-over, I would’ve started chopping their numbers when I first started seeing them.

I'm in the thought process of when is the time for a good culling. After the tank transfer, I'll re-evaluate, but it might be time to bring the population down a bit and let the young'uns have their turn.


@Slocke I've observed my leopard flash against the sand a few times. I doubt she has any illness, so I was wondering if she's doing that to stir up the sand in the hopes that a few baby worms might kick up. Does that track?

 

[Slocke]

I'm in the thought process of when is the time for a good culling. After the tank transfer, I'll re-evaluate, but it might be time to bring the population down a bit and let the young'uns have their turn.


@Slocke I've observed my leopard flash against the sand a few times. I doubt she has any illness, so I was wondering if she's doing that to stir up the sand in the hopes that a few baby worms might kick up. Does that track?

Some fish do do this but you’d expect to see it searching the disturbed sand afterwards for dislodged critters. Flashing isn’t necessarily a sign of disease. Can also just be an itch. Regular flashing is the worry

 

[Slocke]

My favorite video LOL

Times like this I want more reactions. R2R need a vomit emoji reaction. I like bristleworms…..

Nope scratch that. I hate bristle worms now…. I don’t ever want to see another one. That was nasty!

 

[JoJosReef]

Some fish do do this but you’d expect to see it searching the disturbed sand afterwards for dislodged critters. Flashing isn’t necessarily a sign of disease. Can also just be an itch. Regular flashing is the worry

She does this when she's picking around in the limited space between corals.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Times like this I want more reactions. R2R need a vomit emoji reaction. I like bristleworms…..

Nope scratch that. I hate bristle worms now…. I don’t ever want to see another one. That was nasty!

Welcome to the club

 

[littlefoxx]

I bet I hate them more

Maybe only cause you have a username declaring it!! Lol

 

[merkmerk73]

A six line wrasse will decimate a population of bristleworms.

You sure about that?

My six line doesn't seem to care about bristleworms

In fairness they don't dare come out during the day or even at night across the rocks

But if I lift up a rock I'll see 3-8 small bristleworms

I always pluck them out and dispose of them. I absolutely hate bristleworms, more than @BristleWormHater does, and I was crushed when I realized my tank had them.

If you can't keep them out - at least keep their numbers low and small. If you have giant worms like this, you probably have hundreds of smaller ones everywhere.

 

[Cthulukelele]

My opinion is too many is a bit of a nuisance but I think the only REAL way to control their population is access to food. Consider feeding less food at once but more times throughout the day. They tend to control their own population to the quantity of leftover uneaten food that makes it to the sandbed, and feeding less but more frequently would end with more of that food in fish tummies

 

[PharmrJohn]

One of my all time favorite movies!

 

[Scottiemac]

My rule of thumb has always been that I will remove any bristle worm I see. If there's one there's a dozen.

I knew this wasn't going to get rid of them altogether, but the hope was to at least keep them in check. I'd go on bristle worm hunts, digging through the rocks and pulling them out. Next day there'd be more of them.

 

[BriDroid]

Oh they're not all that bad! Ugly as sin, but don't deserve all the hate.

I actually wish that I had some in my tank. There were some babies on a frag that I got a while back, but the dip knocked them all off and killed them. They work great in the rocks and sand!

 

[Tamberav]

My favorite video LOL

omg, bristle worms don't gross me out normally but THIS IS GROSS!

I might have just tossed the whole tank in the street vs cleaning that out. I watched the whole video unable to look away but my face... was twisted in horror!

It is one thing to have some bristleworms hanging out cleaning up but it's another to have a wreathing mass of bodies!!