Blasted bristle worms!

[corkyGramma]

:at_wits_end:I am sick of those darn things, thought I got rid of them all when I treated the rock last year.
~Does anyone know of a good way to get rid of them?....I know they arent always a problem-but when i see a half eaten polyp or lps with one of these under it, it becomes a problem.
~Does that worm exit-work?
Are their any fish that will prey on them that are reef safe?<I have a sixline already>
~Does dipping corals kill these worms?

[JimD]

Coral banded shrimp will eat them, they may eat other beneficials as well... Typicaly, bristles wont feed on live tissue, theyre mostly scavengers that feed on dead or dieing unless they get to be like huge.. Are you certain the polyps werent in the process of necrosis and the worms were just doing their job? Also, could the worms you have be fireworms and not bristles?

Bristleworm
http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/worms/faq_bristle.jpg/variant/medium

Fire Worm
http://marinediscovery.arizona.edu/alex%20tuttle%20webpage/fireworm.jpg

[pepper]

We bought one of the traps from Gabe and it has worked wonders in ridding us of a lot of the bristle worms in our nano. I think one night, we caught 30 at a time. We are still working on clearing them out, but have to pick up more "bait" for the trap! Good Luck!

[Europhyllia]

We bought one of the traps from Gabe and it has worked wonders in ridding us of a lot of the bristle worms in our nano. I think one night, we caught 30 at a time. We are still working on clearing them out, but have to pick up more "bait" for the trap! Good Luck!

I've never heard of this. I have some big bristle worms but I don't think I've ever seen them do any harm.
How do you bait the traps?

[corkyGramma]

definitely bristle and I found one feeding on a healthy clam

[dmweise]

I'd get a coral banded shrimp. Mine hunts them down and eats them.

[corkyGramma]

Thanks guys, I thought about getting or making a trap but I much rather get a shrimp.

[swiatrek]

Arrow crabs also hunt and kill the bristle worms. looks pretty cool when he has one in each claw

[mabel_photo6]

Hmm but will the Coral Banded shrimp pick on other shrimp like Peppermint and Cleaner shrimps?

[justahobby]

I had lots of bristle worms crawling around in broad daylight. Bought a CB shrimp and ZAP! no more getting stung when I reach my hand in the tank. I still see peanut worms etc. so I wouldn't say the CB has hurt any of my other populations. My blood shrimp will occasionally get a haircut, compliments of CB, but thats it. He's too fast to be caught by CB and those huge antennas act as a caution flag.

[medi]

I keep a CB shrimp and a Peppermint shrimp together in a 34G tank and so far not a single problem.

On the plus side I haven't seen an aiptasia or bristle worm in several months. :)

[Kristy]

Buyer beware on the CB shrimp: We had a great big coral banded shrimp that would go after our smaller, slower fish. I am POSITIVE that he is the one that jumped and beat up our small male mandarin that ultimately did not survive (but Mike thinks maybe it was a pistol shrimp). Plus, once he was in our big old reef, he was impossible to get out.

We once had an arrow crab in our small tank when it was over-run with bristleworms. Funniest thing you ever saw! He picks up the worms with his claws and enthusiastically chomps on them like a hot dog.