Bristle worm infestation

W

Warren

New Member
My tank is now just over a week old, all my live rock came from a large tank that had been running for many years. Stock consists of two turbo snails, one red leg and one blue leg hermit crab cleaner shrimp and banded coral shrimp. Hitch hikers consist of one seemingly very large brittle star, lots of blue stars very small and bristle worms not the bad type.
My question is this last night I noticed after the light went out a couple of bristle worms no problem but my daughter look about hour later and counted 17, I think this may be a bit excessive in a 130 litre tank or is it? they made a brilliant job of cleaning all my sand of algae.
 
molsen187

molsen187

Member
the population of bristle worms will rise and fall depending on the amount of food they have to eat. if you think you have too many just feed a little less and the problem will take care of itself.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Just be careful if you put your hands in the tank. They are no fun to run into.
Other than that, they are good cleaners and a good snack for a wrasse if you have one.
 
Jeremy0322

Jeremy0322

Active Member
yea, they are actually something I went looking for as a part of my clean up crew at one point because I didnt think I had enough. That is a high number but nothing too intense, most people have more than they notice, and like its been said they will rise and fall as your tank matures.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Just for comparison at one point in my 12g tank I was able to count no less than 20 at a time right after I fed the tank. That was a long time ago when the tank was still fairly young and Allen was over-feeding. Now I see one every few weeks or if I move something in the tank and that's it.

As noted above they are good for the tank but they do have those nasty "Bristles" to consider.
 
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