Bristle worm take over....

How to get rid of bristle worms? I know they are harmless but I have too many.. And they look nasty.

I also have an aipstasia problem I will be addressing by buying some peppermint shrimps.

 

I had a bristle worm problem as well, I just cut back on my feeding and that took care of most of them. Good luck!

 

feed less... the population will take care of itself...

they are normally the first detrivore in a tank to thrive, so in my experience, in the first few months, there will be a ton of them until the CUC and other detrivores catch up...

If you feed a lot, it's adding fuel to the fire, but I wouldn't worry too much about them, they are good for your tank's longterm health, and there is no easy way to get rid of them, so just learn to be ok with them...

 

I cut back on my feedings, I lost the one bristle worm I had. I like him.

 

Yea I like them.. But there are way to many.
I bought a coral banded shrimp in hopes of reducing the population.
I will also cut back on feedings and see what happens

 

Just a phase, cut back a little on the feedings and the population with decline.

 

an arrow crab will pick them 1 by 1. then the question is how many is too many? imho if you have 100 of them in a 50 gallon its not too many

 

+1 on the arrow crab, but thats a really slow process and I swear they reproduce faster than the crabs can kill them.

I would use a 16 oz plastic pop or water bottle with a piece of string on it, and a little sand in it. Bury it in the sand up to the mouth with a piece of shrimp in it. Leave it there for a day or two then wait till the lights have been off for a while then pull it out of the water. Last time I did this it came out with about 30 of them in there.

 

might want to check your nitrate and phospate levels (if you havent). i had a huge outbreak in my tank when my nutrient levels got high. Never really worried about them directly, just worked on getting my nitrate down. after i got the rest of my tank under control the bristle worms pretty much went away. i still see them once and a while, not very often.

just to be clear: i am not saying bristle worms thrive on nitrate, just that both are signs of high level of nutrients.


also heard that a section of PVC tube with some meaty bait like shrimp sandwhiched between to chuncks of filter floss works well as a trap. placed in at night. never tried it though, sounds like it would work