Predicament Bristle worms

[jcustance]

I need to rid my tank of Bristle Worms but my tank is stocked full. Two damsels a chromis and a mated pair of clowns. I need to rid my tank of these nuisances but I don't have the space for a Six-line. Any suggestions? These bristle worms are coming out at night and look like they're eating my corals. Pain in my butt.

[REEFER-RICK]

get an arrow crab Blu had one for sale think he lives in clayton park

[SATELLITE]

get some long tonges and take them out when you see them. if i see them and they are big they are going. don't mind the small ones. but again if they are too big i don't think anything will eat them

[Robin_Coggan]

if this was me i would just sell the damsels and chromis or give them away and buy the wrasse that u want if your tank is not big then i would not waste the space on damsels and chromis i would have two or even three nice little fish

[jcustance]

I agree anyone need a chromis or a staghorn damsel?

[afss]

why do you need to get rid of them so bad?

[jcustance]

I don't like them. I have a bunch and at night they are always all over my corals so I think they are the ones that eat corals.

[afss]

if your corals are living then likely they aren't the ones that eat corals. Bristle worms get a bad rep and for the most part they are good cleaners in your system... unless you actually see the corals they are on dying... and are sure that the worms aren't just cleaning up the dead parts, then i wouldn't worry about them.

Having said that if you really want to get rid of them i would say do as others have suggested and remove the damsels and put in a six line and or an arrow crab... even then you likely won't get rid of many of them.

You could also cut back on feeding and increase your mechanical filtering and skimming. An over abundance of bristles likely means an over abundance of food for them to eat.

once i get rid of my nitrate problem i will take all the bristles you can spare.. oh yah, apparently high nitrates kills them fast too, not so much good for your corals though

[jcustance]

Right on thanks for the input. I'll let them ride for now.

[LethargicCoder]

(01-31-2010 11:04 AM)afss Wrote:  apparently high nitrates kills them fast too, not so much good for your corals though

Scott, where did you get this information from? I ask because I have piles of them and my nitrates have been off the charts.

-Eric

[afss]

i have high nitrates and any of the ones i have tried to add have died... i discovered the high nitrates after i added a few. I had thought it might have been a copper problem but it tested 0. I added a couple of snails and they were dead with in an hour, probably more like 10 minutes. Maybe yours have slowly gotten used to the high nitrates?
I neglected my tank for a long time, i noticed when i started putting my attention back to it that there were no pods, worms nothing, just algae and fish so i am not sure when the worms dissapeared.

[Robin_Coggan]

that funny i had a fuge that was plumed in to my tank and i shut it down 5 months ago and i just left the water in it and no heat and the water was half evaporated and i had Bristle Worms living in it i want to see how long they would live

[afss]

fuge would likely have low nitrates, and even if not any changes would have been slow over time and they may be able to adjust... don't know???

[jcustance]

So if they were the coral eating ones I would notice my Corals diminishing rapidly?

[afss]

(02-01-2010 03:53 PM)jcustance Wrote:  So if they were the coral eating ones I would notice my Corals diminishing rapidly?

not really sure but there should be obvious signs that they are eating the coral. Take some pictures of the worms and the corals