Stuck on a Bristle Worm?

[Europhyllia]

I just fed dinner to the reef tank and noticed the mandarin struggling with something.
There's a small bristle worm stuck to it!
I am not sure if the mandarin tried to eat the bristle worm or if the bristle worm tried to eat the same bloodworm at the same time.
Anyway can a bristlworm get stuck to fish? Can it harm my fish? The mandarin is trying to shake it off but it's still on...
12879

[justahobby]

Hm, makes sense since they have all those tiny spikes and mandarins are scaleless. As painful as it is for us, I'm sure it is bothering the little guy. Hope he gets it off soon.

[Kristy]

Oh wow, will the mandarin let you get close enough to help remove it? No answers here, but YIKES!

[Europhyllia]

I came back from feeding the horses (equine not hippocampus lol) and the worm was off. Stupid bristle worms. What eats bristle worms?

[Big_Pun]

my yellow wrasse does and I think arrow crabs. also had a neon dotty back that ate bristle worms.

[justahobby]

Coral banded shrimp and arrow crabs.

Both have unusually long claws specifially for reaching into crevices and grabbing bristle worms. No experince with arrows, but cb's can harass small, passive fish like mandarins by snipping small pieces of fins off as they swim by.

[Kristy]

We had some serious bristle worms. We got an arrow crab, which was fun to watch. He would pick them up in his pincers and eat them like hot dogs. We thought the bristle worms were gone, so we traded the arrow crab in and they came back. UNTIL we added a lantern basslet to the tank. He ate bristle worms like no tomorrow and was the fattest fish we'd ever seen. So maybe your new chalk basslets will start to graze on them?

[Europhyllia]

chalk basslets are supposed to eat crustaceans. In fact I've already caught one staring down my anemone shrimp.
Arrow Crabs... are they dangerous to anything?

[justahobby]

I feel like there is a reason I never got one (ie. not reef safe)....could just have been because they are too ugly though.

[Europhyllia]

I just read they can turn on small fish as well... :(

[kkiel02]

I had an arrow crab in my 180. He was fun to watch. Kinda makes me want one again. I would say they are way too slow to catch a fish from my experience, plus their claws are super tiny.

[Europhyllia]

oh yikes - that's because they spear them! :o
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1540550

[dipan]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt6/dipanlokenpatel/brisleinj007.jpg

Your fish may fare better, but this one did not make it, granted his injury is probably worse and the bristleworm was bigger, bigger than the fish!

[justahobby]

Wow, that was a pretty compellinging thread. Coral banded then?


Crazy photo Dipan!

[Europhyllia]

holy cow.

you just said the cbs attack fish too!

[justahobby]

Not attack, pester lol. They pick a home and will raise up their claws if a fish gets too close and then take a snip if they don't head the warning. I kept mandarins and cb together without even a fin snip, but I would be extra careful with the horses. Bob fenner also suggest the cleaner shrimps like skunks and fires.

[justahobby]

Hm, a saron shrimp might work. They are reclusive, nocturnal

[justahobby]

Just remembered there are gold and blue coral banded shrimp too. Not sure of max size but I've never seen either come close to max size as the regulars ones. Typically 1.5" including claws.

[kkiel02]

What about wrasses? There are quite a few that eat bristle worms I think???

[alton]

I had a purple Pseudochromis that ate them in my 200. My boss had a long nose hawk that ate them in his tank. Both fish got over fat and died after a couple of years, my pseudo was rounder than long and my bosses hawk was 8" long and super fat. I guess since both had a unlimited supply of food they just kept eating and eating until they had a heart attack?