bristle worm ?

Hi I think I have a bristle worm in my tank? :-/ it is about 1 1/2" long white to off white in color it is about 1/16" wide and kind of looks like a centipede! My question is will they hurt anything in my tank or are they a welcome addition? :-/

 

Bristle worms tend to be scavengers, so they will eat any bits that make their way to the bottom or on the rock surfaces. They will also help clean up any inhabitant that may have died. This is why a lot of hobbyists claim that a bristle worm killed their snail, etc. They are a welcome addition. There is one type of bristle worm (Eunicid) that does get quite large, but I've only read of a couple of people that have encountered this group. I will add that you don't want to try and pick these guys up with your bare hands....OUCH! You'll end up with little bristles in your fingers!

Here is a good read Potentially Dangerous Errant Polychaetes

 

Thank You Nikki There is a lot of good info on that sight. One good thing is I didn't see the worm that is in my tank on that sight.
So I am hoping it is a good guy? :-/
One thing I didn't mention was that I saw it crawling on my glass when my Actinics were on but not long after my daylights turned on it let go of the glass floated in the tank and landed on a rock and then I didn't see it any more.

John

 

If like my tank the start to over run it I created a cool worm trap that you can use.
They bother some of my corals some times.

 

I Only seen the one but I am not so sure that I want them in the tank? :-/ I just started putting some Xenia Corals in my tank and I had 3 crabs run right over to them and started eating the polyps  [smiley=furious3.gif] I had to take all my LR out and pull the little B##%* out of the rock with tweezers. I took them to my LFS and he told me they were a type of soft shell crab and they get pretty big and they defiantly are not reef safe. One also got one of my fire fish and took a nice chunk out of it and killed it. So we gave them to his Trigger fish  They wont be bothering anything any more ;D

 

I wouldn't worry too much about bristle worms. They will only multiply enough to be a problem if you overfeed your tank. Like Nah20 wrote they are scavengers and will help clean up.

John

 

Thank you John After the problem with the crabs killing my fish and eating my polyps I am getting a little nervous as to what is in my tank and if it is good or bad

John