bristleworms are your friends.

Sk8r · 06/22/2008, 08:34 AM

1. they have no jaws and cannot bite: they suck liquid, decaying waste and will 'clean' dying coral and dead fish in that way. In that sense, they can save your tank. They are extremely valuable cleaners who can get into places nothing else can reach. Every tank should have a handful. My 54g has supported about 50, plus 4 ten-incher oenones (so I am told they were). I have a very healthy clam, huge lps, sps, fish, you name it. They bother nothing. The ONLY precaution I take is to putty up the cut end of any lps coral I frag to deny them entry there, because they're always looking for homes, and corals just need their 'feet' protected from hassle.
2. yes, sometimes they give a fish a few bristles. These fall off after 2-3 days and the fish learns not to shove a bristleworm.
3. their bristles find the grooves on our fingers and stick in hard. This hurts. use latex gloves when handling your rock: do not accept repeated bristleworm stings as ok: you can get sensitized to them, and this is not good.
4. a tank without bristleworms is missing an essential member of its cleanup crew. If you want a resilent tank, have them; and if you must have a fish that eats them (wrasses, etc) establish a fuge where they can live and breed along with the copepods, etc, and they will help clean up whatever detritus gets to the fuge. A few will get loose and turn up in the tank, maybe taking up residence in the rocks where the fish can't get at them. At least you will have a breeding population of them.

parothead22 · 06/22/2008, 09:35 AM

Great post!
Just to add my two cents, if I may...
Their are two species of bristleworms that are detrimental to a reef or other marine captive environment. All fireworms are bristleworms, but not all bristleworms are fireworms. The hermodice and eurythoe species of worms, are venomous and will kill corals, clams and fish if they get the chance.
Bristleworms do in fact make great additions to a marine aquarium as you mentioned by feeding on detritus and other accumulated matter, however they can reach nuisance populations with the addition of too much food.
For the most part, bristleworms remain smaller than fireworms and fireworms have more densely clustered "bristles"!

06/22/2008, 08:34 AM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	bristleworms are your friends. 1. they have no jaws and cannot bite: they suck liquid, decaying waste and will 'clean' dying coral and dead fish in that way. In that sense, they can save your tank. They are extremely valuable cleaners who can get into places nothing else can reach. Every tank should have a handful. My 54g has supported about 50, plus 4 ten-incher oenones (so I am told they were). I have a very healthy clam, huge lps, sps, fish, you name it. They bother nothing. The ONLY precaution I take is to putty up the cut end of any lps coral I frag to deny them entry there, because they're always looking for homes, and corals just need their 'feet' protected from hassle. 2. yes, sometimes they give a fish a few bristles. These fall off after 2-3 days and the fish learns not to shove a bristleworm. 3. their bristles find the grooves on our fingers and stick in hard. This hurts. use latex gloves when handling your rock: do not accept repeated bristleworm stings as ok: you can get sensitized to them, and this is not good. 4. a tank without bristleworms is missing an essential member of its cleanup crew. If you want a resilent tank, have them; and if you must have a fish that eats them (wrasses, etc) establish a fuge where they can live and breed along with the copepods, etc, and they will help clean up whatever detritus gets to the fuge. A few will get loose and turn up in the tank, maybe taking up residence in the rocks where the fish can't get at them. At least you will have a breeding population of them. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

06/22/2008, 09:35 AM	#2
parothead22 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: connecticut Posts: 170	Great post! Just to add my two cents, if I may... Their are two species of bristleworms that are detrimental to a reef or other marine captive environment. All fireworms are bristleworms, but not all bristleworms are fireworms. The hermodice and eurythoe species of worms, are venomous and will kill corals, clams and fish if they get the chance. Bristleworms do in fact make great additions to a marine aquarium as you mentioned by feeding on detritus and other accumulated matter, however they can reach nuisance populations with the addition of too much food. For the most part, bristleworms remain smaller than fireworms and fireworms have more densely clustered "bristles"! __________________ 125g 250wattMH's 14000kHQI. 20gal.sump, dual megaflows AquaCEv180skim mag7,9.5 5gal. refug 35g 175w 10000kwactinic pc's, AquaC Remora skim75gal. Sealife skimAsst. LPS,SPS,Octocorals.inverts, reef fish Current Tank Info: 125gal and 35 gal. hex reef tanks, 75 gal fish only w/lr.