Uh, oh.

**Drumachine09** · 04-14-2007, 10:17 PM

Well, i took the plunge and went out and got a mushroom coral. on the ride back, i noticed a small red worm on my peice of LR that it is attatched to. I googled it, and turns out, i have bristle worms. i am still drip acclimating, so they arent in my tank yet, and i KNOW they are bad. I have posted this on a reef forum, but it is not frequented as often. The only thing i have found is that the traps in the stores dont work. Are they safe to touch? or do i need tweezers? how do i kill them?

**Drumachine09** · 04-14-2007, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by Drumachine09

Well, i took the plunge and went out and got a mushroom coral. on the ride back, i noticed a small red worm on my peice of LR that it is attatched to. I googled it, and turns out, i have bristle worms. i am still drip acclimating, so they arent in my tank yet, and i KNOW they are bad. I have posted this on a reef forum, but it is not frequented as often. The only thing i have found is that the traps in the stores dont work. Are they safe to touch? or do i need tweezers? how do i kill them?

Well, i called the lady at the LFS and she said it will actually help you tank. I have so many conflicting opions, its stressing me out. REPTILE GUY! COME SAVE ME!

**Rue** · 04-14-2007, 10:55 PM

...don't know whether to offer congrats or condolences...

**Drumachine09** · 04-14-2007, 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by Rue

...don't know whether to offer congrats or condolences...

Well, i figured that if someone said they were bad, and they make traps to remove them, i might as well get rid of it. I thought i had one. I had 5. I put the LR chunk in a tupperware full of tank water, and used a pair of tweezers to pull them off of the rock, and a razor blade to cut them in half lateraly, and then i trashed them. my coral iis now sitting on my dead rock that i bout today, and it is still closed. Hopefully it will open soon, because i want to see it!

**unleashed** · 04-15-2007, 02:11 AM

Don't worry about bristle worms. They clean up fish waste etc and just add to the biodiversity to the tank. However, you may want to remove larger ones as they can look unsightly and have been known to attack corals. I currently have some in my tank which are nearly a foot long.

As for removing them, if they are small, you can buy special bristle worm traps from your lfs.

When it comes to larger ones, all you need is an old soda bottle without the lid. Submerge it and make sure it sits on the bottem with the open nozzel on (preferably) or near a piece of LR. put in some bait (mussel, clam, shrimp etc) just before you turn out the lights. Come back a few hours after the light has been turned off and voila! trapped bristle worms.

**Drumachine09** · 04-15-2007, 04:08 AM

Well, i got it all figured out. Heres a pic of shamus (my damsel) and his shroom. Its the purply blob on the end of the grey blob...lol

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t...dhisshroom.jpg

**Rue** · 04-15-2007, 04:16 AM

Shamus is adorable...and so is the blob, er I mean the 'shroom...

**Drumachine09** · 04-15-2007, 04:20 AM

Originally Posted by Rue

Shamus is adorable...and so is the blob, er I mean the 'shroom...

ShHHHH, the blob is insecure!

**2manyfish** · 04-15-2007, 04:41 AM

Shamus is adorable and your mushroom will be nice looking too when it stops being so shy!

Bristleworms are good. The only worms you don't want are fireworms and euchnids (sp? it's late, I'm tired and I can't spell and not going to look it up either!) which are different from the bristleworms. Those will eat corals and the euchnids will get friggin huge!!! So don't kill the regular bristleworms next time. And just so you know if you touch them you can get the bristles stuck in your hand. They won't harm you but they are irritating, much like the very small needles on a cactus. To remove them you can either carefully dry the area and use duct tape to take them out or you can use vinegar to dissolve them (like in a bowl or on a cloth to soak the area). But they won't bite you or anything...

**Drumachine09** · 04-15-2007, 04:43 AM

Originally Posted by 2manyfish

Shamus is adorable and your mushroom will be nice looking too when it stops being so shy!

Bristleworms are good. The only worms you don't want are fireworms and euchnids (sp? it's late, I'm tired and I can't spell and not going to look it up either!) which are different from the bristleworms. Those will eat corals and the euchnids will get friggin huge!!! So don't kill the regular bristleworms next time. And just so you know if you touch them you can get the bristles stuck in your hand. They won't harm you but they are irritating, much like the very small needles on a cactus. To remove them you can either carefully dry the area and use duct tape to take them out or you can use vinegar to dissolve them (like in a bowl or on a cloth to soak the area). But they won't bite you or anything...

Its hard to tell. I get so much conflicting info, i dont know who to trust. i just (by accident) started a war on another forum as to " are bristle worms good or not". Thanks for the help. I think i saw another one of the little buggers in the tank, so hes still hanging around.