Bristle Worms Good or Bad ???

[Trek2]

Bristle Worms Good or Bad?
I have always known I have had Bristle worms; lately I have been seeing a lot more but have never been too concerned about it. I have a Coral Banded Shrimp, Arrow Crab and a (very fat) Bicolor Pseudochromis that all love to eat these guys. I have read all the posts time and time again that they are good for the reef tank - but no longer believe it.

I just recently replenished my algae cleanup crew that included about 20 large Mexican Turbo Snails and a few Abalone. After about two weeks most of the snails were dead and the rest are no longer moving. Two of the Abalone are dead; one, I witnessed being eaten alive during the day, as it crawled under a rock! I now fear that the remaining dying snails will fowl the water. Should I take them out, has their fate already been sealed?

What do I do? I don`t think there is any effective way to get rid of Bristle Worms. I have removed some pieces of live rock and picked them off one-by-one, but I know this is a futile effort.

Do I just need to live with fact that Abalone and Mexican Turbo Snails are just too tasty of a treat for whatever species of worms I have?

Freaking out!

[rluix]

First off, calm down, second, i never saw bristle worms eat snails, thats very strange, i have some myself and the bristle never touched them, how big are your worms?

[Steve McKay]

First off, calm down, second, i never saw bristle worms eat snails, thats very strange, i have some myself and the bristle never touched them, how big are your worms?

rluix is right the common bristle worm doesn't eat snails. I have a zillion bristle worms and have all kinds of snails including Mexican Turbo snails and the only deaths are when a snail falls on it's back and can't right itself. What was eating your abalone? Abalone require cooler water than the usual saltwater tank.

[Ninong]

Bristle Worms Good or Bad?

Most bristleworms are beneficial scavengers. There are a few exceptions but the bad guys are easily recognized.

I have always known I have had Bristle worms...

They're quite common in reef aquariums with live rock.

Bicolor Pseudochromis that all love to eat these guys.

Yes, this dottyback (Pictichromis paccagnella) is known to eat most bristleworms, even the larger ones. However, it won't be able to find all of them and they will continue to reproduce, which is a good thing. I had an orchid dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani) in my reef aquarium and it definitely ate bristleworms, even large ones, but it didn't wipe them out. I purchased my bristleworms (Eurythoe complanata) from Inland Aquatics. I started out with 12 one-inch long babies and they grew to 3" long within six weeks. Within six months, I had dozens of bristleworms, including some beauties that were more than 6" long.

I just recently replenished my algae cleanup crew that included about 20 large Mexican Turbo Snails and a few Abalone.

Did you do a proper slow-drip acclimation on your new snails? If not, they could have suffered damage to their internal organs due to osmotic shock and that sometimes takes weeks to manifest itself. In this article by Dr. Ron Shimek, read the section entitled "Acclimation problems, or why do they die?"

After about two weeks most of the snails were dead and the rest are no longer moving.

This doesn't sound like anything that has anything to do with bristleworms. Most bristleworms only eat dead or dying tissue.

Two of the Abalone are dead; one, I witnessed being eaten alive during the day, as it crawled under a rock!

You would have to describe the bristleworm in detail for us to tell you if it's one of the ones capable of attacking a living mollusc. In the case of large molluscs, such as clams, they start dying while they are still alive, if you know what I mean. In other words, there will be dying tissue on a tridacnid before it is completely dead and the bristleworms will be attracted to chemical cues given off by the dying tissue.

It would also help if you said where your live rock came from -- Indo-Pacific or Gulf of Mexico aquacultured -- because that would give us a good idea of what the potential bristleworm hitchhikers might have been. For example, the Caribbean fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) is a common hitchhiker on Gulf of Mexico aquacultured live rock and it's definitely a bad guy. However, it's extremely easy to recognize.

I now fear that the remaining dying snails will fowl the water. Should I take them out, has their fate already been sealed?

If they are dying, it's almost certainly not from anything that has anything to do with bristleworms. The bristleworms would not have attacked them and then left with the job unfinished. They would have swarmed all over them and finished the job within a few hours at the most. And they would only have attacked dead or dying snails, not healthy snails.

What do I do? I don`t think there is any effective way to get rid of Bristle Worms.

Some vendors sell bristleworms traps. Sort of like a plastic tube with an inverted cone-shaped opening that the bristleworm crawls through to reach the bait inside the tube but then it can't get back out.

Do I just need to live with fact that Abalone and Mexican Turbo Snails are just too tasty of a treat for whatever species of worms I have?

Do all of your worms look alike? Can you describe them in detail?

[Trek2]

The largest Bristle Worms I have seen/captured are about 3-4 inches long. I have seen what would appear to be different types. Some are thinner and the hairy spines are more evenly spaced. The larger ones have a pointed head and clumps of hairs, very much like this image (http://www.reefclips.net/details.php?image_id=69).

I now suspect my new hermit crabs played a part in the Abalone feed. The Abalone crawled under a rock that was a known spot for a few large Bristle Worms. By the time I noticed there was a problem and pulled him out, the poor guy was half eaten. There were large worms present but it might have been the Hermit crabs that did the real damage. I still have one Abalone left, he’s not moving around too much anymore but still seems ok.

My tank has been established for about 5 years. My rock has come from all over the place. I have not introduced any new corals or rock in a long time. If I do have something bad, it’s been in there for a long time.

I did pull apart a few of the snails that were clumped together. When I did, I noticed “many” Bristle Worms feeding on them. This is what made me immediately think the worms were the problem. Maybe they died for another reason, the whole lot does not seem to be doing well?

I did a slow drip acclimation on the snails, just as I have done many times before. I also introduced Astraea Turbo Snails that seem to be doing fine. I guess acclimation could be the problem with my Mexican Turbo Snails. Has it been your experience that they are more difficult to acclimation? The living ones are still sticking to rocks or glass but they are not moving at all.

[Ninong]

I have not experienced acclimation problems with any snails but I always did a really long slow-drip just to be on the safe side. I can't say that I had any bad experience with Mexican turbo snails (Turbo fluctuosus) but I don't believe any of mine lasted more than a couple of years. The ones we get all come from Baja California, which is really a temperate area. I think that's why they're called Mexican turbo snails.

Anyway, the bristleworm in the photo you linked is not one with which I am familiar. It may or may not be a problem. I would have to have someone else take a look at the photo.

The most common one that we get in our tanks is Eurythoe complanata. This is a photo of a 6" long specimen from my aquarium. Those are beneficial scavengers.

Here is a photo of Hermodice carunculata, the Caribbean fireworm. It's a bad guy and should always be removed on sight.

There are other worms that are bad guys and some of them get quite large but fortunately they are very rare in our tanks. Hopefully you will never have to deal with one like that!