I’m tired of the bristle worm bigotry

[Dennis Begley]

Of course all my renters sign a contract, however, it is tailored due to the needs of the individual. Coral renters must have good polyp extension and be healthy all the time, violation of these terms means the offender must have a dip or operation performed. Free-swimming inhabitants must eat at least once daily and be very happy, violation of these terms could lead to QT or dip protocols. But my worst offenders are definitely the anemones, always violating their contracts by walking all over the place but I let them stay because they pay all their rent and fees on time

Hmm... sign a contract? I assume it is a verbal contract. Worms don't have hands or arms.

 

[homer1475]

Hmm... sign a contract? I assume it is a verbal contract. Worms don't have hands or arms.

What do you mean? Haven't you ever seen them write with their bristles?

 

[Sandersonville]

Does that mean they'll start flying soon ?

I get the feeling some peeps in this thread may not be able to cope with that.

I’m not sure I could cope with it! ;Nailbiting

I just know my kids love caterpillars and have no problem picking them up however its a firm “hell no” when it comes to worms.

Caterpillars and ladybugs get all the love.

 

[footgal]

Hmm... sign a contract? I assume it is a verbal contract. Worms don't have hands or arms.

I just use their wet splat on the paper as a signature

 

[Thales]

A deli cup full of awesome

 

[uhgster1]

My fox face loves them! I don’t mind them and have enough predators to keep them in check. They are not worth freaking out over like aptasia or flatworms. If you have them , good. If you don’t, good. To me they’re just something else to catch my eye and entertain me with the difference.

 

[Robert Ranciato]

If they were eating your LPS corals, they were dying. They actually do a great service to our corals by eating the dying flesh so new flesh can grow into that spot.

If you see bristle worms on a coral, that coral is dying. They can smell death long before anything else in the CUC dept.. Always the first to the scene of death or dying things.

They do not have a mouth with teeth and cannot bite anything. Their mouths are like straws and can only suck up decaying flesh thats more like soup.

 

[Robert Ranciato]

No the coral was definitely ok still have it

 

[Robert Ranciato]

It's amazing that someone who has never seen a person reef aquarium can tell them what they have or don't have. Special abilities I assume

 

[theMeat]

Nah. If that was the case my tanks would be dying for decades. When in fact the opposite is true. Helpful members of my tank, and a good visual by watching population as to how you’re feeding

 

[Newbie219]

I needed this post today! Thank you for posting! We are new to the hobby and just a few days ago saw our first Bristle Worm. We did some research and decided we are happy to have them. At first, they were creepy now I see them come out and realize they are just part of our reef tank doing their job.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Is this too much???

That must be the local bristle watering hole! They congregate there to discuss the events of the day, the goings-on in your reef if you like. Ha

 

[Magellan]

I have a bajillion of the small ones in both the display and frag tanks.

I also have 2 huge worms - not sure if they are 'bristle' worms but they rock. The one in this video is probs 4ft in length when stretching out.

That worm has graduated, it is now an eel!

 

[schuby]

I just use their wet splat on the paper as a signature

Bummer! I was wondering if they signed in print or cursive.

 

[DiZASTiX]

Whats next, putting a nest of hornets in your living room to help control fly populations?

Someone earlier in the thread made a good analogy about a spider. As long as you stay in your web, little spider, you get to live. As soon as you crawl on me, the truce is over.

To extend that analogy, bristleworms are the spider thats not only left its web and crawled on me but has actually already bitten me repeatedly, and collectively given me weeks of pain recovering from their stings. (Analogy here folks, I know they arent actually biting me)

The truce has been over for years. This isnt squeamishness or a desire to have a sterile tank. This is much more important than any of that.

This is vengeance.

Exactly. All I was saying was NOT you ought to, or ought not to have, bristleworms. I could give neg ___s what you want. It's your tank.

Instead, what I'm saying is each of these strategies obviously work. By strong empirical evidence.

Therefore, do or do not, they're both okay.

Why does it even matter to you?! (Not you, AquaBiomics .. the Homer person).

If you have a problem with us slaughtering bristleworms, then I have a problem with you killing prions, toxic black mould, roaches. I think by your argument of "they have their place in nature", and as you argue that a tank is nature, I, therefore, argue that your house is a subset of the nature that surrounds it. Therefore, I'd invite you to put your money where your mouth is, and add a biodiversity pack by going to the dumpster at nite, scooping up a good amount of roaches, some centipedes, maybe some rice weevils and other pantry bugs; don't forget some termites too—who .. how was it that you put it? Yes, they have their place in nature. (What, you don't like weevils crawling in your rice? That's free protein ..... bro.)

 

[Doctorgori]

to each their own, I got no use for them...
...I wanna say parroting might be at work here promoting the darn things ...
as it now seems common earthworms are a harmful and invasive species in much of Easter N.America
How many of us has parroted the earthworms are good for earth cliche’

 

[DiZASTiX]

to each their own, I got no use for them...
...I wanna say parroting might be at work here promoting the darn things ...
as it now seems common earthworms are a harmful and invasive species in much of Easter N.America
How many of us has parroted the earthworms are good for earth cliche’

They're harmful for some things and good for other things. It depends on what your objectives are. I would say there are other solutions, albeit more expensive. We did not specifically add them to our setup in Taiwan. Everything was perfectly fine. No one from a forum said: "Hey moron, you need earthworms; listen up: everyone who hates earthworms is wrong, and all earth has earthworms. People who think earthworms aren't needed are younger agriculturalists."

We had a ton of sugar cane, mango varieties, Asian pears.

Obviously for North America, the continent did just fine before they were brought there. In fact if anything, I'd say it was probably way better off.

There are many ways to skin a bristleworm.

But this conversation with you ( @homer1475 ) is good. I feel like you've grown a little. Maybe become a bit more accepting of other perspectives. It's healthy. I'm happy for you.

 

[92Miata]

so all nonsense aside, i recently discovered that i too have bristle worms. They are a good addition?? I've been told multiple times that they will over run my tank and i need to remove all i see. This is not true? They only breed to the space they are in? Please let me know, i don't want to remove a beneficial cuc addition.....I see mine usually after i feed with reef roids as a broadcast feed. It amazes me how quickly they "smell" it and come in search of the source.

Bristleworms grow to their food supply. In low flow, high feed, gross tanks, they literally clog the plumbing there's so many of them. In high flow barebottom tanks, there tend to be fewer, and they stay small. They're pretty much dine on settled fish food and poop.

If your tank is getting overrun by them, its a maintenance/tank configuration issue.

 

[DungSl1nger]

I have found one. I am assuming it came in with the KP rock. I am fine with him for now. I assume he is about 6-7 inches in length.

 

[footgal]

Bummer! I was wondering if they signed in print or cursive.

Looks like very thick script, like a doctor’s signature but they used a sharpie instead of a pen