One Huge Worm

[Coral Junkie]

Hi all,

I posted a thread last week regarding worms in my tank, thanks for all the responses it was much appreciated however I just found me some other ones.

As I stated last week the worms I saw was only about 10-30mm and darkish in colour, but as I was inspecting the tank today I saw this huge worm, I mean Huge it had to be about 200mm or longer I tried to get a picture but only succeeded in getting it's head it kept darting back under the substrate, I did see another similar one but smaller about 50mm and here is something strange it spat pink/reddish stuff out. I also noticed there was other similar coloured ones around but only small at the moment.

Can anyone tell me what these other worms are and if they are good or bad.

Cheers

 

[DaveK]

They are bristle worms. Small ones are generally considered harmless. You may wish to remove larger ones. Some species can get to be about three times the size of the one you found.

Whatever you do, do not touch the worm with your fingers. They have many fine sharp spines that can break off in your skin. Always use something else to grab them for removal.

 

[Coral Junkie]

Caught the bugger

Here is a picture of it

It's about 300-400mm. Is it good or bad.

 

[David Shaw]

If you spot it under the substrate, scoop it out with a net, substrate and all. If it's inside a rock, a freshwater dip of the rock will flush it out. I always dip everything with Coral Rx before putting it into the tank as that flushes everything out. I don't do worms!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

+1 DaveK id & advise

common bristle worm

Remember they grow & multiple by how much you overfeed - still good members of the cuc, just cleaning up & growing by how much excess food they are finding

 

[Snid]

Some people don't do worms (i.e. David), and others do. It really depends on if they bother you or not I guess. I personally like having as much biodiversity as I can get in my tank. Unless something is known for causing problems in an aquarium, I like letting things live.

 

[David Shaw]

I definitely don't do worms

 

[Coraljunkie]

Put a piece of rubble inside a nylon stocking and throw some food in it, by morning you should have a lot of caught bristle worms

 

[laapsaap]

I think bristle worms are generally fine, but until a certain length.

I remove all worms larger than 20cm, easier to catch too.

 

[DianaKay]

Wondering if anyone ever tries to do a routine Bristle Worm population reduction?
I've been trying to put a small amount of food in my refugium to feed my Amphipods & I think the bristle worms are eating the pod food all up before the Amphipods get a chance

 

[gpdno]

Bristle worms are scavengers so their population is self regulating. If you over feed, have a high bio load, you get more worms. If your tank is crawling with them your probably over feeding.
Personally, I like the guys. I have half a dozen or so big ones in my 150 gal DT and they do a good job as part of my CUC.


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[DianaKay]

I put a few bristle worms in my refugium along with a ugly zoa covered LR from my DT.
There are no fish in my refugium but when I put in a pinch of sinking pellets, the bristle worms seem to come out in amazing numbers. This is WITH the lights on. So I'm just wondering if there are ever any pellets left for the Amphipods. I wish I'd have gotten a video of an Amphipod struggling to take a food pellet from a bristle worm.
I figure they are hungry when I put the pellets in the refugium or they wouldn't come out with the lights on.
My fuge comes alive when food is put into the water column. Snails pop out of the sand bed, bristle worms start sticking out from under LR, and Amphipods are seen. Seems if I want the Amphipods to eat, I'd almost have to over feed. cnfzd:

 

[gpdno]

Amphipod vs. Bristle worm, could make a good "B" movie for SciFi channel, right up there with Sharknado

The pods and feeder shrimp in my refugium seem to spend most of there time in the masses of algae and I do not feed them directly. I've got a bunch of amphipods so I assume they are happy munching on the greens.

Now the pods in the DT live down in the tank rubble were I guess the are competing with the worms. But I still see more pods in the DT then bristle worms.

I suspect it's a bit of a balancing act. In both the DT and refugium I have a great deal of rubble for the pods to hid, more so in the DT because that's where most of the hunting/hiding occurs. That whole circle of life thing


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[Oxylebius]

There are no fish in my refugium but when I put in a pinch of sinking pellets, the bristle worms seem to come out in amazing numbers. This is WITH the lights on. So I'm just wondering if there are ever any pellets left for the Amphipods. I wish I'd have gotten a video of an Amphipod struggling to take a food pellet from a bristle worm.
I figure they are hungry when I put the pellets in the refugium or they wouldn't come out with the lights on.
My fuge comes alive when food is put into the water column. Snails pop out of the sand bed, bristle worms start sticking out from under LR, and Amphipods are seen. Seems if I want the Amphipods to eat, I'd almost have to over feed. cnfzd:

I would feed the refugium regularly, once a week at first should be fine considering there is algae in there for many to eat, and monitor population levels. Adding food on a regular basis should allow for all to get enough food to keep them alive, particularly the ones that aren't eating your algae. If the worm pop is building up too much, trap a few and pull the largest ones out. Getting rid of a few large worms won't harm that population and you will still have more then enough in the rocks that you don't see. Remember in the fuge, there isn't fish pop for them to eat, so feeding pellets once a week can add extra food for them.