bristle worm question

[marklugo23]

i just seen for the first time a tiny bristle worm, i dont know much about them, but i dont want to lose anything. i have coral fish and inverts..
should i get a 6 line wrasse
or anything?

fish:
fairy wrasse
starry blenny
3 clowns
2 damsels

shrimp
coral banded
2 fire shrimp
cleaner shrimp

 

[thirty6]

some will say that small bristles are not a bad thing for your system, (eat detrius) its when they get larger they can cause problems. I was told awhile back that my overfeeding caused them in the first place (not sure if that applies to your situation) i went through a similar list as you have and didnt notice anything really go after them per say. i went with a pair of coral banded shrimp and they looked good, but that was about it. I had two bw that i had observed in my tank, both about 3" and fat.

Six lines are said to be nasty little fish and for that reason I held off getting one. good luck, if they are small im sure something will make a meal of them. I thought about a sunrise dotty, but was told they were aggresive little fish too... arrow crab is an option but i dont believed they are reef safe.

 

[FlyTekk]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

Ive heard reefers, lfs, and even marine depot released an article telling how bad these worms are. I like to listen to Dr Ron when it comes to inverts as he is an Ecologist. Ive never had a prob with these worms and they are always first on the scene when something dies. Which is a good thing. When you see a bunch of worms comming out in broad daylight simultaneously..... something is decomposing somewhere.

 

[thirty6]

pretty good point FT

 

[marklugo23]

I have one coral banded but he's getting aggressive with my fire shrimp, I have 2 yellow tail damsels that the 6 line would bother, so I'm in the middle

 

[Imbarrie]

I had bristle worms until I bought a cleaner shrimp.

 

[KathyC]

Bristle worms will not harm any fish or corals in your system. They are very common and arrive in live rock or sometimes on corals you purchase.

They are one of the very best detritus eaters in your tank and your population will not get out of control unless you overfeed your tank.

Bristle worms (which are actually fire worms) come in a variety of sizes. Small ones do not necessarily turn into larger one - they are different types. Larger ones cause no more issues (not that they cause issues in the first place) than small ones. If the one you saw had 2 different colors on it - (half orange-ish) it will stay small. The bigger ones are a pinkish color.

A six line wrasse will cause you FAR more issues than a writhing mass of bristle worms will IMO. They are very nasty fish.

The worst thing about bristleworms is if you grab one inadvertently - the bristles hurt like hell.

 

[FlyTekk]

The single most important sand stirrers are these and other worms. They are the guys that make those tunnels that denitrifying gases travel through to get to top of sand bed and eventually out of tank. If i had one 1+ foot long id be so not happy its not even funny. But by the read in the article we usually have the smaller species.

I think problem is that they look so similar that babies of the large species may be confused for the small species adults. There fore the comment.... "when they get bigger"

The way i look at it i cant get rid of all of them even if i wanted to. So i just let em be. They've done nothing but help.

 

[FlyTekk]

Kathy C that was perfect.

Imbarrie, i wanted to mention the same thing. I notice i barely see any in my main tank anymore but my fuge is loaded with them!...... Ever since i got 2 cleaner shrimps.

Just to gauge my liking of the worms.... im thinking of getting rid of both shrimps for this same reason. They get to food before my fish do and the kill animals i feel are beneficial?

The other day the spawned and i had hundreds of little shrimps darting around! Awesome right? Free coral and fish food right? WRONG!!!!

THEY ATE THEIR CHILDREEEEEN!!!

 

[Imbarrie]

I lost my cleaner shrimp to a power outage, I have a lionfish now so I wont be adding one anytime soon. Starting to see the worms multiply again.

I dont mind them, I think they are beneficial. If you get something that eats bristle worms then it will probably eat everything else. You will be missing key components of the way your tank handles nutrient processing. It is key to remember these components came into being for a reason.
I like the food web I have in my tank, it keeps the tank clean. If you get a wrasse to eat the worms then it will eat all the other things that eat the debris. Eventually you will have nothing but fish and bacteria and you will have problems.