Bristle worms

Are bristle worms good or bad? Are they ok in a reef tank with soft corals?

 

some people dont mind them while others cant stand them.they are a good clean up crew ive never had a problem with them and my corals.when one gets too big i usually pull em out.

 

They're fine. They're pretty much harmless, and are actually good for the reef. They eat detritus and small stuff, so it's like having free clean up crew members. Although no one's really sure about what the big ones CAN do...so we always took out the big ones we saw. You'll know a big one when you see it. Otherwise we just leave them in there.

However ever since we got our 6 line wrasse, we haven't seen a bristle worm anywhere in the tank. So don't waste your energy trying to catch them if you really want them gone. Just get a fish that will eat them. Otherwise grab the big ones if you want to, and leave the rest alone. They're fine.

 

Most people have this view It's a good one. Get rid of the big ones just to be safe, otherwise leave them be.

Most people that don't like them simply don't like them because they look so weird. People who are royally creeped out by bugs or worms or creepy crawlies general try to find an excuse to give bristle worms a bad rap. Same with mantis shrimp.

 

I have seen a few smaller ones in my tank but I haven't seen any bad side effects ie: corals declining or anything unhealthy.

 

I had a bad experience where they killed my clam (at least that is my theory considering how many were in the shell). I definitely had a outbreak and ended up getting rid of most of them by putting a piece of shrimp in panty hose, weighing to the bottom and by the next day I had 25-30 caught in the hose. Some were quite large and looked like they could do some damage . Other then the claim I have not had any issues with them.

 

they were probably in the clam shell to clean up the dead remains. I doubt that bristle worms killed your clam. from what i've read and observed they don't go after "the living" but focus on dead and decaying matter

 

They are some of the best cleaners of left over food and detritus, you likely won't ever be able to get rid of them all so IMO it's pretty futile to try, they reproduce so readily it's going to be a neverending battle unless you get a predator for them and then that will only be limiting the population, not eliminating it and sometimes the predators decide they like frozen food or something else better and leave the worms alone.

There are some species that are predatory but most are beneficial detritivores.

 

wow....thanks....so much information about them...I guess they will stay for now.

I was asking because I went to clean the glass with my magnavore magent and saw like 4 in the magnet.

Thanks all..!!!