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thank you all four the info it was very useful,i managed to get two of the big bristleworms out last night with tweezers nealy got three but the tweezers cut the worm in half as that has happened quite a lot i was wondering if that will do any harm to my tank also if the bristleworm will survive like land worms do ……thank you….
Dear Amanda:
Good work! It’s only the larger bristleworms in excess of 2-3 inches that are likely to be troublemakers, so removing the largest of these prickly pests is very appropriate and the next best thing to removing them intact is to break them in two with your tweezers. So cutting one of the bristleworm in two won’t be harmful to your tank. They bisected worm will not grow into two new worms, although sometimes the head end can grow a new tail. Most likely it will die, to furnish a welcome meal for its fellow bristleworms and your other aquarium janitors, such as the Nassarius snails and micro-hermit crabs in your cleanup crew. No problem. Good riddance.
If you would like to learn about bristleworms and when they may be harmful in the aquarium, please contact me off list at [email protected] and I will e-mail you a copy of Michael Noreen’s excellent Bristleworm FactSheet and FAQs.
Best of luck getting out your bristleworm population, Amanda!
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojnathanks peter i will defiantly be interested in the facts on bristleworms.since then i have managed to get six more worms out that were all living luckily in the same rock,so i took the rock out and submerged it under normal tape water for a couple of seconds which made the worms come out just enough for me to get them ,as the rock was only small and had nothing off importance on it i thought it would be safe to do this
Dear Amanda:
Okay, that should be fine. As long as it was a only small rock and it was only immersed in tap water for just be couple of seconds, it should be good is new now that you have debugged it. The beneficial bacteria that populate the porous interior of the live rock and carry out nitrification and denitrification in the aquarium probably weren’t affected to any significant degree by a quick rinse like that.
The Bristleworm FactSheet & FAQs is on its way to you right now.
Best of luck thinning out your population of prickly pests, Amanda!
Happy Trails!
Pete GiwojnaAmanda,
If I may make a suggestion. NExt time try a HYper salinity dip. I often use water change water for this, put 2-3 gal. of water in a 5 gal. bucket. Add an air stone and approxamately 1/2 cup salt, Instant ocean/Kent, water ever salt you use to make SW. Submerge rock in bucket and leve it for half an hour or so. Due to the higher salt levels the bristle worms will crawl out trying to get away from it, and you won’t risk losing any beneficail bacteria. this can also be done when adding any new LR to a new tank or an established system.
Regards
Kris
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