Target Feeding A...bristleworm?!?

[crazyelece]

donya, they make bristle worm traps that you add food to and the bristle worm gets caught when trying to get it. I'd suggest one of these for your tank as your worms seem to be out of control. If your tank is large enough you can also make your own trap by cutting off the top of a 20 oz pop bottle, turning it around, and stuffing it back in the bottom
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If you can understand the rudementary drawings. Just add food to the trap and submerge it in the tank. You may also catch fish in your trap but you can always release what you want and throw away what you don't.

 

[Donya]

The big ones I can pretty much shoe into a net, but the smaller ones may need a trap (could rig that so the goby couldn't get in actually). I'm not sure what to do with what I catch though since I hate killing stuff. I guess I could always set up a 1 gallon worm tank and just throw 'em in there I'm wondering if I need to build up my non-worm cleanup crew more...some crabs or something. I thought what I had was plenty with a big detritivore clomping around, but maybe stuff is still slipping past somehow.

I read that yellow coral banded shrimp eat small bristleworms but don't have the coral-eating tendency of the red & white species. Sounds too good to be possible...is it?

 

[crazyelece]

This is the trap I have seen for sale locally specifically for bristle worms.

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

I'm not sure on the shrimp, I have no experience with that particular one. I have heard some wrasses eat some worms but I'm not sure which ones eat bristle worms or if they'd fit in your tank.

 

[Donya]

The trapping session has begun...the worms are just starting to get too aggressive since the food cutting back. Tonight I caught them trying to climb into the shell of my young conches...first thought the snail was dead, but it wasn't, so the worms don't have that excuse. I've set up a "bristleworm tub" to hold some of the larger ones that I would like to keep sort of like "pets" I guess, and the LFS is looking into ordering in some sort of beastie that will keep the population in check after I dig out the larger worms. I know they're supposed to just be scavengers...but what I'm seeing in the way they're acting (aggressive, out and about 24/7, etc.) really looks like its heading in a bad direction that I don't want in my tank.

 

[Navarre]

The only effective predator i have found for bristleworms is a wrasse. they will take out brislteworms or at least keep them hidden. The best i have seen is a silty wrasse. Probably too big for your system though

 

[Donya]

Wrasses got ruled out for various reasons. But...CBS species seem to be an effective alternative. Don't shoot me yet--this is an experiment and may be temporary depending on the outcomes this week. Didn't find the yellow variety, but decided to try a different one (I think I might have the small "blue" species, but not sure yet since it's fairly small and strangely colored). Still trying to get one really big worm out that is persisting in causing problems.

I am looking into possible causes of the worm population explosion so I can fix the problem at the source instead of just "treating the symptoms" so to speak. I suspect my cleanup crew is badly balanced, or I don't have enough competetors in the substrate (I am only finding one Cerith snail...). For the moment at least, I've had a couple normal feeding sessions and the worms are appearing less and going back to being nocturnal since the CBS.

 

[Donya]

HAH!!! I win! I suppose its sad to be competing with invertebrates, but after repeatedly having the biggest worm (8" fully contracted) evade and escape my traps, I finally caught it and have him in isolation with the others I took out. The CBS is keeping the smaller ones (3" and under) in check during the day.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Hehehe. Glad to hear your getting them all. I have seen one of my gorrilla crabs eat a bristle worm I replaced back into the tank when I found him in my powerhead filter media. He grabbed it and torn it up and ate it, LOL. The circle of life I guess! Any pics?

 

[Donya]

I have seen one of my gorrilla crabs eat a bristle worm I replaced back into the tank when I found him in my powerhead filter media. He grabbed it and torn it up and ate it, LOL. The circle of life I guess!

Wow that's a little more feisty than my CBS. It just stalks and nips. Havn't seen it rip anything apart (yet anyway lol).

Any pics?

Working on finding a new digicam, so hopefully soon. Once I get a new cam my plan is to get some tank snapshots that are actually decent quality, instead of the usual washed out yellow I've gotten before


Oh....one downside to the CBS. They hoard excess food and other crud like there's no tomorrow I found an empty shell stuffed brim full with food and other random things like bits of macro algae. Good for keeping the bristleworms in check by preventing overfeeding, but bad for water quality. No off params so far, but I'll have to keep an eye on that behavior to make sure the shrimp eats what it grabs and doesn't just run off behind a rock with it and return a couple seconds later to stash more.

 

[Donya]

Just my luck...my CBS is evidently a she, as it is getting ready to lay eggs and doing the routine of "I'm about to lay eggs and I am ticked as heck!". I used to keep amano shrimp and saw similar behavior during breeding episodes. I hope I didn't break up a mated pair with this shrimp

 

[13thmonkey]

i got a neon dottyback for my worm problem. there are at least two other cousins to the neon as well that will not stop untill your worms are gone.