Bristle Worms - good or bad??

[Mabu]

I have several tanks. In one tank, I had two clams die - when they were on the substrate; when up on rocks they seemed to do well.. I suspect that maybe bristle worms were to blame. I don't have clams anymore so not an issue in that tank.

I have another tank that now seems to have an explosion of bristle worms. It looks like they are in the process of completely consuming a hawaiian feather duster that was previously doing well in the tank.

My questions are:

Bristle Worms.. good or bad?

What do they generally eat? What will they start to go after if their preferred food disappears?

What can they co-exist with? And what should never be in the same tank with them?

What good do they do? What problems can they create and how do you deal with them?

 

[esmithiii]

My experience: They are good. They eat detritus.

E

 

[Anemone]

Very few of the worms that we get in our tanks are problematic (there's one that's a bit more common than the rest that smothers snails in a mucus blanket, then drills into the shell for dinner, but even that one is very rare).

Basically, they're the clean up crew you always dreamed of - anything dies, leftover fish food, partially processed fish poop, they eat it. Want more - feed more. Want less - feed less - the population will stabilize over time.

Kevin

 

[Mabu]

I seem to have an "infestation" of these guys.. I have started a small 10g tank and there must be 20-30 of these guys that I've seen, including some that are 2-3" long. I do not know what they're feeding on, but they're systematically destroying the casing for my feather duster. Is this right?

 

[Anonymous]

I would guess that I have 100 in my 10 gallon. One I saw was 8-10" long, very pretty worm! Feed a little. I doubt they have anything to do with the problem.

 

[Lynn]

According to my book, they are unproblematic...but in the ocean feed upon soft corals?????

 

[dragon0121]

What we as a hobbiest call a bristleworm really encompasses hundreds if not thousands of different types of creatures. There are worms that eat clams, eat fish, eat snails, yada, yada, yada... A generalized statement says over 90% of all bristleworms found in our systems are detrivores and completely harmless. If you suspect you have a detrimental bristleworm, capture it and contact Dr. Shimek on Reef Central, he will give you simple mailing instructions and be perfectly willing to identify the critter for you. He does this for the hobbiest on just about a daily basis. I think he likes it

, besides it increases the hobby's knowledge about what creatures end up in our systems, this is a good thing!!

If your good with a camera you can take pictures of the bristleworm, including very good close ups of the mouth and head, sometimes Dr Shimek can identify from the pictures posted.

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: dragon0121 ]</p>