What the heck is this???

[christopherjay]

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Found this in my seahorse tank..It is a orange red color with a grey/black butt...It has alot of friends with him too...!

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[theplantman]

Bristleworms, as long as they are not fire worms you should be fine, they eat detritus.

 

[mrsmojo]

Bristleworm

 

[christopherjay]

Ok..Now here is my question..Kill or not...I keep hearing..OMG that is so bad..and others say..Leave them alone its fine..if I should kill it..how do I do it?

 

[twistoflime]

bristle worm they are benificial. If you just make sure you don't have fire worms because they will sting your seahorse.

 

[christopherjay]

mann.....Now I have to find someone to watch after my sea horse..

 

[mrsmojo]

Bristle worms are detritus eaters, we tend to leave them alone unless we find a large one out where it is easily removed from the tank

 

[jesspete]

Those guys are fine. Google image fireworm and see if you can find a pic of one. I thought they were the much larger white ones.

 

[jennm]

It's fine. I had tons of bristleworms in my seahorse tank - comes from the copious amounts of food that seahorses need - the populations tend to be higher in highly fed tanks.

It's a good thing - it and it's zillion buddies clean up the leftover food that the seahorses don't eat.

Don't try to pick them up - the bristles will get into your fingers and irritate them (like fiberglass insulation/itching powder).

Love thy worms.

Jenn

 

[cr500_af]

That's interesting, I've always heard that they were OK, then I read a book by Dana Riddle that said they can harm corals and anemones. Good to hear that they aren't so bad.

 

[jennm]

Which book? The Captive Reef? If so, written a long time ago. Not sure if he still has the same opinion (I'll ask him next time I speak with him)... literature of that era suggested the worms are bad - IMO they were misunderstood.

They won't harm healthy tissue but they will clean up dead/dying tissue. I think that people have mistaken their activities as "killing" stuff - they don't kill stuff but if its on its way out, they will take advantage.

In the big picture - you want that. Better to have something consumed when it's freshly dead or almost dead, than have it rot and foul the water.

Jenn

 

[dakota9]

Wow, lucky to have been in this hobby for a while without having to contend with the site of these guys. Everytime a fed my 14g nano, they came out everywhere, including an 11" fireworm I was able to wrangle and flush down the toil...... WAIT, I mean humanely euthanize by bagging and freezing, and then properly disposing of.

 

[cr500_af]

JennM;367634 wrote: Which book? The Captive Reef? If so, written a long time ago. Not sure if he still has the same opinion (I'll ask him next time I speak with him)... literature of that era suggested the worms are bad - IMO they were misunderstood.

They won't harm healthy tissue but they will clean up dead/dying tissue. I think that people have mistaken their activities as "killing" stuff - they don't kill stuff but if its on its way out, they will take advantage.

In the big picture - you want that. Better to have something consumed when it's freshly dead or almost dead, than have it rot and foul the water.

Jenn

Jenn, how'd you know? You must be psychic. What can I say? It was free with a purchase.
BTW, I'm givin' the chiller a vinegar flush now. Should the feed line be the large pipe or small pipe?

 

[jennm]

I think that's his only book - I have a copy he "defaced" (his word for autographed) a few years ago but even then he was somewhat modest about it because it was out of date. I can't get more copies (it used to be published by ESU/Coralife) - my supplier doesn't even carry it now - I used to keep a few in stock and have him "deface" them when he comes by for lunch a couple of times a year

I just looked for my copy but it must be at the shop - I was going to look for the publish date. Tried Amazon and there are copies available but no particulars... but I know the book is "old" by current standards.

I think that's his only book but he's written countless articles. In fact, I got a plug in his May article in Advanced Aquarist for a photo he took in my shop in January The frogspawn that was in the Nano on the front counter.

But I digress... the book is still very good, even if bits and pieces are 'dated'.

Most worms are good. The one pictured is harmless.

Jenn

 

[ralph atl]

Yes, they are beneficial to almost all reef tanks, however, when dealing with pipefish & ponies, if you have a chance, I would remove as many as you can. Don't lose any sleep over them, I have many, but if they are easy to catch, get rid of it. They supposedly eat copepods.

 

[christopherjay]

cool cool..Thanks for all the help...Yeah I fed my tank and all of a sudden BOOM!! Everywhere they came out and picked up the left overs off the sand..seahorse seems to be fine..eating well..Corals look better than ever

 

[jennm]

The only sygnathids I ever had trouble with where bristleworms were concerned were H. zostrae - dwarf seahorses. They *will* pick a dwarf off its holdfast and eat it.

However larger seahorses and small Gulf pipes - no issues.

Jenn

 

[radha]

I have a 2 foot fireworm in my tank, bristleworms are ok, though, because they do eat up detritus, and whatever they can get that's leftover. Now fireworms will just eat whatever they can get, which means anything in your tank is in danger, but mine is a vegetarian, go figure!