I have an unknown quantity of bristle worms in my 29 gal biocube. I see them when I feed, and occasionally out scouring the sand bed when the moon light is on. I have seen little trap tubes for salevel at my LFS. what are their purpose and is it worth the time to remove them??
bristle worms...?
- Thread starter ttheus
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Some people consider them pests while others see them as beneficial. Everybody has them whether you see them or not. What you can do is control them with fish that will eat them. One thing for sure, be careful when reaching in your tank and putting fingers under rocks....the bristles don't feel to good.
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i see them as a neutral organism, their effects good and bad cancel each other out. on one hand they scavange left over food but on the other they can hurt like h e double hockey sticks if you get stung. but one thing they are good for is serving as an indicator of overfeeding, their population will grow slowly with steady overfeeding of the tank so if you see a bunch of them when you feed you should probably ease up on the feeding a little.
When I find them roaming loose...I throw them out only because I know they will multiply. I would reduce feeding if I were you.
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i agree with jeff, if you're seeing that many in just the filter floss than you're feeding too heavily. if you dont mind my asking what, how much and how often do you feed?
It might not be that you are feeding too much. It might be you are feeding too quickly. Give the fish time to eat what's in the tank before you give them more. With pellets, for example, I will only drop a single pellet in at a time and won't put in any more until it's eaten.
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that could definitely be the case. try going back to daily feedings and just feed a little bit less and make sure they eat it all. if you see any left over then feed even less next time. also just because they eat every bit of 5 cubes of frozen food dosent mean they need more. fish, like humans, can over eat. in the wild they constantly have to move and swim after their food and end up working most of what they eat off. in our tank they are handed food on a silver platter and dont have to chase after it or pick at a thousand rocks to get what they need.
My son's BioCube 29 has more bristle worms than I've ever seen.
There's nothing in his tank that eats them. Thus, they are doing what they do. Making babies.
We feed his tank rather heavy just to keep the fish and the corals happy. No signs of red slime or any other nuisance algae. We just leave them be. They are one part of the clean up crew that never seems to die off.
My tank, 66 gallon, has some but my Yellow Coris Wrasse is always picking them off as fast as they make new ones.
There's nothing in his tank that eats them. Thus, they are doing what they do. Making babies.
We feed his tank rather heavy just to keep the fish and the corals happy. No signs of red slime or any other nuisance algae. We just leave them be. They are one part of the clean up crew that never seems to die off.
My tank, 66 gallon, has some but my Yellow Coris Wrasse is always picking them off as fast as they make new ones.
+1
Fish should be fed at least once a day (a few mouths full) with ^ in mind.
Love thy worms.
I do agree though if your rocks come alive with them at feeding time, you're feeding too much.
They are doing you a service though, if there's that much food that they are flourishing on the leftovers, if they weren't there to consume it you'd have a lot of rotting food fouling the water.
They do poop too though, so if you're feeding that much, you want to keep a close eye on your water quality, especially for phosphate and nitrate.
The only real down side is if you get your fingers bristled, otherwise they are good to have in the tank. If you do get bristled, soak your fingers in vinegar to dissolve the bristles.
Jenn
I do agree though if your rocks come alive with them at feeding time, you're feeding too much.
They are doing you a service though, if there's that much food that they are flourishing on the leftovers, if they weren't there to consume it you'd have a lot of rotting food fouling the water.
They do poop too though, so if you're feeding that much, you want to keep a close eye on your water quality, especially for phosphate and nitrate.
The only real down side is if you get your fingers bristled, otherwise they are good to have in the tank. If you do get bristled, soak your fingers in vinegar to dissolve the bristles.
Jenn
Perhaps my Yellow Coris Wrasse is some sort of freak but he keeps my main tank pretty clear of the bristle worms. I have some but they are tough to find unlike in my son's BioCube 29.
All I need to do is pick up an old shell, poke around in the sand, etc...
He's got a few that are an inch or longer.:unsure:
