[sambo]

Hello,
I gave my cousin a piece of my live rock to put under his light to grow some algae. When he gave it back, he had said i was lucky because i have a bristleworm in my rock! He told me it was half red, half blue. Now i have yet to see it. I heard from the local petshop that they are good in the sense that they clean up extra food, but when they get too big, and cant get enough food, they will begin to eat polyps. What do i do? Should i make an attempt to eliminate the worm or should i keep it?

[Reefland]

The common bristleworm is no harm at all. They are excellent scavengers that will compliment any cleaning crew that is added to a tank provided the tank has a deep bed of sand. Don't remove it by no means, chaerish that guy.

BTW, Welcome to Reefland!

[sambo]

Originally Posted by Reefland

The common bristleworm is no harm at all. They are excellent scavengers that will compliment any cleaning crew that is added to a tank provided the tank has a deep bed of sand. Don't remove it by no means, chaerish that guy.

BTW, Welcome to Reefland!

Do I have to worry about him eating on my starbust polyps?

[Reefland]

No worries at all. Some worms are known to be non reef-safe but your typical bristleworms are quite desirable.

[saltjunkie]

Originally Posted by sambo

Do I have to worry about him eating on my starbust polyps?

no.

[Poseidon]

Funny how a LFS reaction to something they don't know is GET IT OUT!!

I have tons o worms in my tank, when I pick up almost any rock there is a least one! I'd also bet that worm is NOT the only one in your tank!

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

Funny how a LFS reaction to something they don't know is GET IT OUT!!

I have tons o worms in my tank, when I pick up almost any rock there is a least one! I'd also bet that worm is NOT the only one in your tank!

Indeed!

Sambo, to eliminate further confusions about what type of worm you have or if it is desireable, read this articles that I'll post for you. It should help you understand what they are and what they do...
1 2 3

[jdblue]

I purchased my 75 gl setup 2 years ago with the sand and 80lbs. of live rock.
About 4 months ago I saw a pink worm and was told what it was. I took tweezers and got it out. Those little feelers are sharp like glass. Then last month I removed another one. I think they are like fleas. When theres one that means there are alot more. Funny I saw your post. Last weekend for 2 days I had to take apart my whole tank. I had 100's of them. I mean 100's to a thousand. I had to soak all my live rock in cool fresh water in the bath tub all day while I put my fish in a sick tank with some of the water.
I bought new sand. Then I noticed they were up in my filter for god sake.
I was having nightmares that night. They told me when I bought the tank the previous owner did not take care of the tank so the sand was dirty.
To much waste material or over feeding is when these worms develope.
I would suggest to take that rock and put it in fresh cool water for a couple hours. They do have bristeworm traps. Also certain types of crabs eat them.
I would not suggest you keeping it. It's not lucky it's a sign of to much food or waste in the tank.
Good Luck don't wait like I did

Originally Posted by sambo

Hello,
I gave my cousin a piece of my live rock to put under his light to grow some algae. When he gave it back, he had said i was lucky because i have a bristleworm in my rock! He told me it was half red, half blue. Now i have yet to see it. I heard from the local petshop that they are good in the sense that they clean up extra food, but when they get too big, and cant get enough food, they will begin to eat polyps. What do i do? Should i make an attempt to eliminate the worm or should i keep it?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by jdblue

I purchased my 75 gl setup 2 years ago with the sand and 80lbs. of live rock.
About 4 months ago I saw a pink worm and was told what it was. I took tweezers and got it out. Those little feelers are sharp like glass. Then last month I removed another one. I think they are like fleas. When theres one that means there are alot more. Funny I saw your post. Last weekend for 2 days I had to take apart my whole tank. I had 100's of them. I mean 100's to a thousand. I had to soak all my live rock in cool fresh water in the bath tub all day while I put my fish in a sick tank with some of the water.
I bought new sand. Then I noticed they were up in my filter for god sake.
I was having nightmares that night. They told me when I bought the tank the previous owner did not take care of the tank so the sand was dirty.
To much waste material or over feeding is when these worms develope.
I would suggest to take that rock and put it in fresh cool water for a couple hours. They do have bristeworm traps. Also certain types of crabs eat them.
I would not suggest you keeping it. It's not lucky it's a sign of to much food or waste in the tank.
Good Luck don't wait like I did

Hi jdblue, Welcome to RL.

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble but you had effectively killed off the best clean up crew you could possibly have in a reef tank, now it will be your responsibility to clean up everything.

To much waste material or over feeding is when these worms develope.

I'd have to agree with this statement to a point.The worms had enough food to reproduce and maintain their population becouse they had enough food in the tank to do so...,but that is the whole point in having them in the system - help cleaning up stuff.
I would hold off on soaking your live rock in the fresh water, you'll render your live rock as dead rock real quick with this method.
Secondly, using natural control is a lot better IMHO. Certain fish eat them, I believe Pceudochromis fridmani is one of them, I believe.

[Ninong]

Hi jdblue, welcome to Reefland!

Originally Posted by jdblue

About 4 months ago I saw a pink worm and was told what it was.

And what did they tell you it was?

I had to soak all my live rock in cool fresh water in the bath tub all day while I put my fish in a sick tank with some of the water.

Are you serious or is this just a joke response? Soaking your live rock in freshwater will kill all of the beneficial bacteria and everything else for that matter.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Secondly, using natural control is a lot better IMHO. Certain fish eat them, I believe Pceudochromis fridmani is one of them, I believe.

Yes, all three of the Red Sea Pseudochromids eat them: Pseudochromis fridmani, P. flavivertex and P. springeri. I was surprised that Comus, my P. fridmani, could eat the really big ones but he did. Now all I have left are the little ones that manage to stay out of sight. Once they get big enough to catch his attention, it's sayonara. All of my gorgeous 6" and 7" Eurythoe complanata are gone.

[Samper]

Could these worms have been Oenone fulgida, nemertean or ribbon worms? Just guessing but was the body segmented?

Ninong are the worms the reason you purchased your Pseudochromis fridmani?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Samper

Could these worms have been Oenone fulgida, nemertean or ribbon worms? Just guessing but was the body segmented?

Ninong are the worms the reason you purchased your Pseudochromis fridmani?

Good question,Samper. The discussion here is about bristle worms(which in itself is a useless and generalized description for any meaningful discussion). What jdblue had no one knows but he made a broad statements in response to sambo's original post.
I can't unswer for Ninong but I believe he bought Comus for its color and beauty and not to control his worm population. George will correct me if I'm wrong.

Ninong, it's too bad you lost those beauties...I truthfully didn't expect Comus to go after the big ones but he did.LOL

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by sambo

Hello,
I gave my cousin a piece of my live rock to put under his light to grow some algae. When he gave it back, he had said i was lucky because i have a bristleworm in my rock! He told me it was half red, half blue. Now i have yet to see it.

Maybe it looks like mine. Check out the picture of one of my Eurythoe complanata bristleworms that I posted in an earlier response in this thread. I purchased a dozen 1" long babies from www.inlandaquatics.com and they grew to an impressive size within five or six weeks. I was amazed at how fast they grow. Unfortunately I later added a Pseudochromis fridmani to my tank and he devored most of my bristleworms.

I heard from the local petshop that they are good in the sense that they clean up extra food, but when they get too big, and cant get enough food, they will begin to eat polyps.

Hmmm... I wonder if they personally observed that or if that is just something they are repeating. Some hobby authors believe that bristleworms are a problem but that sentiment is not shared by all. I have yet to read any reports on the various reefkeeping bulletin boards by anyone claiming to have witnessed Eurythoe complanata actually eating polyps. Fossa & Nilsen claim that it does. Ron Shimek says it does not.

Some bristleworms do eat polyps (e.g., Hermodice carunculata) but most are beneficial scavengers. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/

What do i do? Should i make an attempt to eliminate the worm or should i keep it?

I would not remove it unless you actually witness it doing damage to something. Chances are very good that it is a good guy and not a baddie.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Samper

Just guessing but was the body segmented?

Polychaete worms are segmented. The word means many segments bristles. Unfortunately the common name "bristleworm" has been applied to virtually all polychaete worms. It refers to the fact that many polychaete worms have bristles.

Ninong are the worms the reason you purchased your Pseudochromis fridmani?

Hardly! I paid good money for my Eurythoe complanata bristleworms. I believe I still have a few in hiding but I'm not sure. I haven't rearranged any live rock in the past few months and the only survivors would be hiding in places inaccessible to Comus. A good hiding place is between the sand and the base of the live rock. If I lift a piece of live rock that was in contact with the sand bed I will usually spot a few bristleworms. At least I did the last time I tried that a few months ago. I hope I still have some in there somewhere. If not, c'est la vie.

I knew that Comus might eat them, which is why I waited a few months after buying the bristleworms before getting Comus. Comus was a captive-bred juvenile (from O.R.A.) when I purchased him and he didn't bother the really large bristleworms at first, but it didn't take him long to take them on and wipe them out. Most fish will not touch them because of the bristles.

[Samper]

I didn't figure he bought comus to eat his expensive worms unless like was said earlier they got too big and became gluttons.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Samper

I didn't figure he bought comus to eat his expensive worms unless like was said earlier they got too big and became gluttons.

The big ones were fun to watch. If I dropped some Formula One pellets onto the sand bed, the Nassarius vibex would pop out of the sand and make a beeline for the pellets. Then the bristleworms would poke out from under the live rock and snatch the pellets away from the snails. They would expose just enough of their bodies to reach the food because they usually don't come out into the light. Then they would retract back into their hiding place with the food. The bristleworms seem to have chemo-sensory abilities equal to that of the Nassarius snails and my reddish serpent star.

Sometimes the Nassarius would crawl right over the bristleworms and it didn't seem to bother either them or the worms. But if the worms wanted to get rid of the snails, they would just shake them off. I have seen as many as two or three snails on top of one of the larger bristleworms at the same time before the bristleworm withdrew back into it's hiding place dislodging the snails in the process. They can pull back with lightning speed.

[saltjunkie]

Originally Posted by jdblue

I purchased my 75 gl setup 2 years ago with the sand and 80lbs. of live rock.
About 4 months ago I saw a pink worm and was told what it was. I took tweezers and got it out. Those little feelers are sharp like glass. Then last month I removed another one. I think they are like fleas. When theres one that means there are alot more. Funny I saw your post. Last weekend for 2 days I had to take apart my whole tank. I had 100's of them. I mean 100's to a thousand. I had to soak all my live rock in cool fresh water in the bath tub all day while I put my fish in a sick tank with some of the water.
I bought new sand. Then I noticed they were up in my filter for god sake.
I was having nightmares that night. They told me when I bought the tank the previous owner did not take care of the tank so the sand was dirty.
To much waste material or over feeding is when these worms develope.
I would suggest to take that rock and put it in fresh cool water for a couple hours. They do have bristeworm traps. Also certain types of crabs eat them.
I would not suggest you keeping it. It's not lucky it's a sign of to much food or waste in the tank.
Good Luck don't wait like I did

Damn,, are you kidding me??? never ever listen to the kids at pet stores...
what a huge waste of effrot, time.. and MONEY!!!!!!

[RockAddict]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Good question,Samper. The discussion here is about bristle worms(which in itself is a useless and generalized description for any meaningful discussion). What jdblue had no one knows but he made a broad statements in response to sambo's original post.
I can't unswer for Ninong but I believe he bought Comus for its color and beauty and not to control his worm population. George will correct me if I'm wrong.

Ninong, it's too bad you lost those beauties...I truthfully didn't expect Comus to go after the big ones but he did.LOL

hey, i have one of those clam/snail eating worms in my rock. i have been seeing slime globs around, and i saw the worm himself this am. what creature can i buy, to erradicate this predator? if none, then how do i get the sucker out?

[CSeaSee]

RockAddict,
You dug up a pretty old thread here. You may be better off starting a new one and explaining the whole situation there.