Bristle worms and their predators

[Anonymous]

I have literally thousands of bristle worms which ooz out of every crevace during feedings. I've been planning on getting a six line wrass or green wrass to control them, but have recently read posts from some of you saying they are beneficial. I'm sure they eat detrious but they don't seem to cut down on the level of crap that settles on my rock. Does anyone know what difference it would make to add fish which would eat them versus letting them exist. My main beef with them is when cleaning algae from my glass, if my arm brushes against a rock I get welts that last for weeks.

 

[Brian5000]

Yes, they are benefitial, but if you really have that many, I think a predator wouldn't hurt your tank. I've had several different fish that eat brissleworms at various times. They never completely exterminated the brissleworms, but I didn't see them very often. Whether the population was decreased by the fish or they just "learned" not to come out while a given fish was out, I don't know.
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[mr_X]

i think it's because they eat the little ones when they see them. the larger ones, they don't bother with, and thus, the population decreases some. i have a massive bristle population too. i use a blade on a stick to clean my glass, or use surgical gloves when handling rock and refugium fauna.