[blacktipfl]

i bought about 9 pounds of live rock and 5 pounds of live base rock yesterday and now tonight I've been watching and on one piece of the live base rock especially there are bunches of like spiky pinkish worms some with some black on them that come out from time to time. do i need 2 get rid of them or are the good 2 have? the only other things in my tank are 3 scarlet hermits 2 small blackish hermits that came on the rock a banded brittle star that i havent seen since last night and 2 snails.... gonan get more rock and maybe some gobys this weekend

[DMNCLNR]

Personally I cannot stand the site of bristle worms. I have heard that if you dont get rid of them, then they will take over your tank. I had one in my tank that I would see from time to time. Then when my hermit crabs died, the worms were everywhere. babies, full grown, medium.. I consider them a complete pest, harmful, and an eyesore!
There are several ways to get rid of them. Arrow crabs, Coral Bandid shrimp, (Cb shrimp) and they even make worm traps that most local fish stores carry. I have also seen where members use nylons to catch them. Not sure how that works exactly though...
Also do not put an arrow crab in with a CB shrimp. they do not get along.

[ry77]

I just posted a new thread ( http://www.reefbuilders.com/forums/i...know-what.html) in the identification forum about worms that sound similar to the ones your describing, there are a few pictures of them. are they the same as yours?

[passinetti2007]

I'd say keep em. I've heard that they take over too, but there are ways to rid yourself of them in the future for now let them live.

[reefaddict]

The bristle worms do serve some good. If kept in check they shouldn't take over and should be fine. I have had some (see one or two from time to time in my 120g reef)and I haven't seen any ill affects from them being there. I have read that they help clean up detritus.

[wldtime]

i read this thread over the weekend. I too have bristle worms and hate em. Saturday i was at the pet store and low and behold- they had a bristle worm trap. So i bought it. followed the directions and that night i had a 4 inch worm trapped. Pretty cool. At this point, i'm more excited about catching the worms than i am about my tank haha. Cost was only $7. But it seems that you need to check the trap often and not just let it sit overnight like the directions say. Maybe i have smart worms???? i don't know. But i'll check it before i hit the sack and there will be worms in there and in the morning they are gone. They are nocturnal so they will usually come out and feed once your lights go off. So i have changed the timers on my lights to go out earlier so that i can empty the trap before i hit the sack and then drop it back in overnight just for the hell of it.

Bill

[DMNCLNR]

That will teach them to mess with your tank Bill... Get rid of those things!

[blacktipfl]

i bought one of those traps today also put it in ill check it b4 i go 2 bed i decided i had to do something about the worms last night because i had baught frozen formula 2 food for my recent purchase of a royal gramma and then 3 damsels. a small piece of the food feel against one of the rocks and i looked and a big worm came outta the rock and started eating about 3 inches of hte worm was out in the open and there was more worm in between the rocks... hope this thing works

[jvharding]

I had bad problem with them and I found the best way to get them fast is to remove the rock form the tank and place in bucket with very little salt water in bottom so that the rock stays damp but the worms want to be in the water so they tend to leave the rock so long as your rock stays damp it is ok. I have left rocks out for hours and find the worms dead hanging in the rock easy to pull out.