Bristle Worms

[Coral Commander]

I have what I believe to be bristle worms. The one that I have seen is suspected to be quite large and embedded in a rock. I'd assume it's in the area of 12 inches but I am not sure because I have only seen part of it. I would like to get rid of it but I am not sure how. I have done some research online and found one person say that the traps that you can buy in the aquarium store aren't very effective. How would you guys recommend that I get rid of a bristle worm?

 

[Bifferwine]

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Bristleworms are great members of your clean up crew. If you are set on getting him out, Yote claims that using a piece of panty hose with some food inside it will work -- their bristles will get trapped in the nylon.

 

[Coral Commander]

from what I have read, they are harmful to anemones and especially hard coral.

 

[Ogaawd]

they are detritus eaters basically, if you grab it make syre you have crazy glue to pull the stickers out lol, mines about 8 or 10 inches and has never done anything

 

[Bifferwine]

Nah they are harmless... Great cleaners though of rock and sand.

 

[Coral Commander]

Is it easy to misidentify these bristle worms? I want to make sure that I am not misidentifying it as something else that may be harmful to my tank.

 

[rdahlke1105]

See if you can get a picture of it. Best way for them to identify it.

 

[janet]

I have a huge bristleworm in my tank. It is totally fine. It comes out at night (I wait for the light to go ff and shine a torch in there) It cleans up very nicely and hasn't harmed any of the other things in my tank. It came as a hitch hiker on some live rock about a year ago. There are a couple of different types though. One of them is called a coral eating fireworm. Quite hard to distinguish.