bristleworms...

the lights were off in my tank
and i notice something sticking out of the rock and it looks like a worm
i FREAK out
quickly running through what it could be
it appears to be a bristleworm

my question is
should i worry about it rightnow at 2am?
or should i sleep and wake up and do something...

im sure il fall asleep before i do anything

but.. should i bother in general with it?:-[
i have corals
and a shrimp

i guess it will eat my shrimp if it gets big enough
from what i SAW it was 2cm long

and my shrimp is 2in long[give or take]


but i guess itl feed on dyeing or ailing coral
true?

should i worry about it? :/

*yawn*

il check back here in the morning... please someone give me feedback

for now, goodnight.

 

I would not worry, people get all worried about them but really they dont harm much unless they over run your tank! IME they are a good addition to any clean up crew. So go to sleep your tank will be okay

 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU




hahaha now i can sleep easy :thumb_up:

il keep an eye out for more popping up..
are they usually only out at night?









:zzzz: :zzzz:

 

Yup they are! but like i said nothing to really worry about!

 

There are only a couple of bad ones but these are rarely seen in the hobby. In general they are good to have in the tank

 

I have couple bristle worms and I have not noticed them doing anything to evil. If I do catch on nibbling where it should not be nibbling I will get rid of them all. I have heard that they can be bad but for the most part they are safe.

 

My tank is infested with bristleworms, never seen them eating coral or fish. Very beneficial little worms. They stir the sand bed as well. Don't touch them though, they can't cause some damage to a finger. Be a little more cautious lifting live rock and such.

 

Bristleworms are beneficial, not sure how they ever got the bad rep... They ARE however an indicator of your overall tank health... If you have an overabundance like mattheuw1 says he has it could be a sign that you A. are overfeeding.. more leftover food leaves more for the adults, which in turn have more young. B. More organics in the water column will provide more food for the young, which then gives them a better chance for survival. SO too many worms means clean the tank alittle, no worms means you are missing a valuable portion of your detritus cleaning/sand stirring crew.

 

Over abundance of food could be my case. I love watching the fish eat! But when I purchased about 30lbs of my rock, there were worms under every one, even some popping out of the rocks while the lights were on. I think I just inherited most of mine. But like I said, I do love feeding, so the worms are probably reproducing like mad.

 

I have a huge one, and he hasn't caused any trouble in the 2 years he's been in the tank.