# :( bristle attack! :(



## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

God... Just when I thought things are going well for my new aquarium... all fishes and corals are doing fine and I got myself a new clown goby... so what ya know?! after four days of my new goby... he vanished!!! and the next day I've found a skull of a fish... the next thing ya know... i've found a bristle worm that's as big as my middle finger! 

i've tried to fish it out... but as ya all know... it's tough... my friend told me traps are useless... and I could take my rock outta the tank and leave it until the bristle comes out... but i've got corals on it... any other good ways to get rid of this stupid worm?

Thanks ya all!


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## arash53 (Aug 13, 2011)

bristle worms eat dead fish, they cant kill clown gobeis, clown gobeis are really tough ,big fish in small body.
but if you want to catch that worm the best time is night, they will come out in dark. put some food in small bottle and put it in the tank.
or put some food on the sand in front of tank and catch it with a forceps. they are fast and pretty much impossible to catch when they are on the rocks.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

If you take out the rock the worm is in, hang (suspend) it in a bucket of sw and leave some bait in the bottom. Hopefully the worm will come out to eat and fall to the bottom of the bucket.


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## ACBerb (Mar 18, 2012)

I have used trap's in the past and they do work (I thought quite well) my only knock is the trap I had seemed to catch mostly smaller bristle worms, but I did get a few bigger ones as well. Traps are cheap I'd give one a try, not like you'd be throwing away loads of cash if it didn't work to your liking.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

You can use a dim red light at night too so you can see them


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Thanks all for your advices  I'll try to get the bristle out this weekend again... I heard from a friend that he's has been battling to get his bristle out for three months!


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

I just leave them, they make an awesome cleanup crew


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

I agree with spit.fire. I will just leave them. I think they are fairly harmless - tinkering with the tank trying the impossible task of eliminating all worms likely will 

I actually remember reading that they keep the pore of the live rocks clear.


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

hum... true true i did see them scouring around the rock pores... but... i just found a new small bristle worm... i'm afraid it's multiplying happy... maybe i'll just get the large one out? how fast do they multiply? the largest one i've seen is the size of my middle finger and i've saw two other smaller ones... my tank is only 14G... i hope my tank won't turn into a bristle tank... my tank IS pretty clean thou...


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## TankGirl (May 14, 2010)

haven't been around in a while, and low and behold this thread has been extremely helpful.. i was just thinking that my bristleworm population was getting out of control.. but i guess if there's food for them, they will keep multiplying??


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

I would think so... I've been noticing missing corals and polys being chewed on... might this be the work of my bristles? or is the polys dieing? i have three bristles i'm seeing so far.. all decent sizes... i think it's time to remove at least the biggest two... and leave the little one in there... the biggest one i have has the width of my pinky!


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## scherzo (Apr 24, 2010)

Are you sure it is a bristle worm? Can you get a pic? If you see 3 then there are probably 10 in your tank. They are good hiders. 

I left them in my tank and eventually the population died down. I did not lose any fish during that time.


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Here's one of them...










This big fat guy sure is not shy!


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## scherzo (Apr 24, 2010)

That looks like a fireworm. If it is, they are not reef safe. 

Bristle worms are more pink throughout and do not have red edges. 

I'll see if I have some pics of mine.


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