I NEED to get rid of a lot of bristleworms

[Jan]

This topic comes up so often and i've never had to pay attention to it until now. BW have taken over my seahorse tank. I have a huge pretty pink paly colony in the center of my tank and they're all closed because of the rock is infested with BW. I need to get rid of some of them. The problem is that I have to be careful about what I put into this tank because of the seahorses. I need the BW gone because seahorses aren't too smart. they pic at whatevre moves during feeding. One of them had a BW in it's mouth yesterday. From what i've read BW are irritating to seahorses when they pick at them and try to eat them. What has worked for you?

[TonyD]

Arrow crab

[gwweber]

banded coral shrimp are supposed to eat them?

[Jan]

it appears the arrowcrabs are safe around medium size seahorse. thanks!

Arrow crab

 

These guys are too aggressive for seahorses. Thanks, Gary.

banded coral shrimp are supposed to eat them?

[davelin315]

Opposite in my experience, the arrow crabs are far more aggressive than the banded coral shrimp, although that has to be tempered by individual experiences and demeanors. I would worry about an arrow crab reaching into the gills of a seahorse and ripping them out, regardless of their size (I've had them kill fish before that were at rest and since seahorses sit around a lot...).

 

If they are that big an issue then I'd look into removing the substrate or at least rinsing it out to kill some of them. Also, I'd take the rock out and put it on a wet towel. The bristleworms will crawl down to stay moist and then you can just put the rock back in. Sounds like if they are reaching plague proportions then the seahorses are leaving too much food behind to be consumed by them. You can also just bait a trap and let them crawl in.

[Jan]

There is no substrate in this set up. It's bare bottom. I'll try taking the rock out and see if some of them will come out. I'll also get a BW trap. I forgot about those traps. I don't feed to much at all. The horses are trained to come right up to me when I feed. They take the mysis right out of the dropper one piece at a time. There may be 1 or 2 that float away. I haven't set up a feeding station because of the BW problem. Thank you.

 

Opposite in my experience, the arrow crabs are far more aggressive than the banded coral shrimp, although that has to be tempered by individual experiences and demeanors. I would worry about an arrow crab reaching into the gills of a seahorse and ripping them out, regardless of their size (I've had them kill fish before that were at rest and since seahorses sit around a lot...).

 

If they are that big an issue then I'd look into removing the substrate or at least rinsing it out to kill some of them. Also, I'd take the rock out and put it on a wet towel. The bristleworms will crawl down to stay moist and then you can just put the rock back in. Sounds like if they are reaching plague proportions then the seahorses are leaving too much food behind to be consumed by them. You can also just bait a trap and let them crawl in.

Edited November 2, 2010 by Jan

[Coral Hind]

Several gobies like the watchman with eat them. The arrowcrab will also eat any hermits you have. Instead of adding another creature to the tank you could make or buy a bristle worm trap.

[tecsavi]

+1 on the trap. See if you can reduce the population this way before adding something else to the tank. That way you can keep your bioload to a minimum. I had a friend with a problem much like yours with a particular piece of rock being infested. He made a trap by rinsing out a plastic coke bottle and cutting off the top where it starts to narrow. Then you invert the top and put it inside the bottom of the bottle. Place a piece of shrimp inside the bottle and place it somewhere they can crawl into it. It helps if you keep the bottle slightly tilted up against a rock. They can easily climb in but cant climb out.

 

I always liked a bristle worm or two as they are great detritus feeders. Sounds like yours are in plague proportions though.

[Jan]

Thank you David. I just looked up bristle worm traps. I have 3 of them. I never knew what they were. Wayne gave me a bunch of supplies when I purchased some items from him and in those supplies were 3 green tubes in a baggy. I put them away thinking i'll figure out what they are when i need them :-)...I need them!

 

Several gobies like the watchman with eat them. The arrowcrab will also eat any hermits you have. Instead of adding another creature to the tank you could make or buy a bristle worm trap.

[Chad]

Jan,

 

I would try the watchman goby. I do not trust crabs or large shrimp with SHs at all... slow moving SHs are all too easy of a target for an opportunistic predator.

 

Watchman's usually seem to be "locally aggressive" only, but mostly just open mouth "yell" at nearby things. Bottom dwelling gobies are usually ok with SHs. Plus, you have the advantage of having a different tank/sump to move the goby too if it turns out to be aggressive at all.

 

I put up with some minor aggression at feeding time between my diamond goby and my SHs for white sand... it is always a tradeoff.

[Jan]

I have a beautiful highfin in my 75 that i can put in my 35. He's very cute and very peaceful. Will he eat them? I also have a watchmen but there's no way I'll be able to catch him.

 

I just placed 3 traps baited with pieces of krill. OMG, the worms are coming out from all over. I've got my fingers crossed. Thanks everyone!!!

Edited November 2, 2010 by Jan

[Jan]

Wow, I've caught 4 already.

[Chad]

For reference if you dont have it already, btw, here is a pretty good tankmate compatibility list for SHs. It lists both coral banded shrimp and arrow crabs as a threat level 4 (or having no business in a SH tank).

 

The org...

[Jan]

Thanks. I have that. I go to that site for everything. Pete Giwojna wrote a couple of responses on www.seahorse.com about arrowcrabs in seahorse tanks to keep BW in check and said that they are okay if they are small. then he cautioned that crabs in general are not a good idea but then said again that they would be alright....you know how he writes...

 

For reference if you dont have it already, btw, here is a pretty good tankmate compatibility list for SHs. It lists both coral banded shrimp and arrow crabs as a threat level 4 (or having no business in a SH tank).

 

The org...

[hypertech]

Take the rock out and put it in a bucket of freshwater. They will come out of the rock.

[Coral Hind]

Take the rock out and put it in a bucket of freshwater. They will come out of the rock.

 

I would fear that some may die in the rock along with other things. Then your tank needs to handle that added ammonia when the rock is put back in.

[davelin315]

I didn't know that watchman gobies ate them. I have not witnessed that in my system before, interesting tidbit. I'll try and catch some bristleworms tonight to feed to them to see how they like them. Since it's barebottom, just put a piece of tile in there on the bottom and they'll congregate under it and you can scoop them out by simply lifting the tile and collecting them.

[TonyD]

I didn't know arrow crabs might be harmful to seahorses. Sorry for that bit of misinformation. I know that when I had arrow crabs in my tank, I would see it eating bristle worms all the time and kept them under control. It didn't bother any of my other hermit crabs, snails or fish. They worked for me in my tank. But that's good to know about their interactions with seahorses for one day when I might keep some.

[hypertech]

I would fear that some may die in the rock along with other things. Then your tank needs to handle that added ammonia when the rock is put back in.

 

Maybe but it doesn't take long for them to crawl out. Even just letting it sit dry for a few minutes working at fragging (like zoas) is enough for them to start coming out.

 

If you do it one rock at a time I'd think the tank could handle it and you'd slowly cut back the population.