What is the best method to trap brittle worms ?

[reef93]

I think I have more than a hundred of them in my tank and they are HUGE and BOLD. They come out catching the mysis shrimp when I feed the fish. I tried to bait them with cooked shrimp put in a small container, but it looked like they never got in my trap. What can I do to get them ? :twised:

[spit.fire]

calcium hydroxide works pretty good for killing them haha

but if you're not careful you can nuke a tank with it, theres a few fish and inverts that will eat them but they wont come close to eliminating a population unfortunately.

[mark]

stop feeding your tank so much and the numbers will drop

[lastlight]

I was trying to catch my cleaner shrimp before I did a red bugs treatment. Inverted pop bottle which it sounds like you've tried. Just make sure it is wedged in a way that it slopes into and touches the rockwork. The worms will need to be able to go right from rock to bottle I think. I caught one of my massive ones but no shrimp.

For some reason I decided to toss it back in... I'm sure they cleanup well for a tank. My only regret was aimlessly tossing it back in. Landed on my favia and left a bunhc of bristles in its tissue for a few days.

Good luck!

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Use Krill, it works the best for me.

Make a trap out of a 2oz plastic container and lid like you would get for condiments from a fast food restraunt. Cut the lid with an "X" like the lid of a beverage cup for the straw. Push it in lightly so the "X" is pointing inwards. The night before you insert the trap, spot feed the fish, this way the worms will come out more cuz they are hungry.

Worked for me... Second choice is a coral banded shrimp, an Melenarous wrasses, and arrow crabs.

Ken - BWA

[Madreefer]

Put a peice of UNCOOKED shrimp in a nylon. The bristtle worms go in and cant get out.
http://www.aquariumlighting.com/retail/product_info.php?cPath=1_185_182&products_id=564&osCsid=b62b95fd0751bd8419faf640ab20d29f
These work as well, i just put dry fish food in it as bait

[HL649]

If you catch any, I'll take them all.

[dsaundry]

stop feeding your tank so much and the numbers will drop


+++++++1

[reef93]

WOW ... I should have asked you guys a long time ago, tonight I am going to try every single tip from your advice and let's see how many of them I can harvest in the next couple days :biggrin: And I am going to chop them into a thousand pieces, not by toilet flushing :twised: ... so to HL649, don't even think that I will send any of them to you.

[msjboy]

isn't there a cheap Coralife Trap'Em. Supposedly works.. read the reviews at Marinedepot.com site on the item. i believe it's available locally...

msjboy

[reef93]

isn't there a cheap Coralife Trap'Em. Supposedly works.. read the reviews at Marinedepot.com site on the item. i believe it's available locally...

msjboy


I have had one but it never worked for me. They ate the food and were gone before I checked in the morning. I bought it at King Ed, you can check there.

[RuGlu6]

Why are you trying to get rid of them?
They are good cleaners for your tank. Especially when food get trapped under rocks and pollute your water these guys are great help.
When i set up new tanks i always get these guys to help keep water clean.
Bristle worms are least of your worries, they don't touch corals or fish unless its dead, but then hey, you want them to eat the dead fish if you don't know about it it will pollute your water.

[reef93]

I wish I don't have any of them in my tank. Lots of different cleaning crew will do the same job for cleaning your tank, without having what looks like these creepy worms. l hope someone in the future can invent something that can kill them instantly inside your reef tank instead of baiting them out one by one.

[RuGlu6]

I wish I don't have any of them in my tank. Lots of different cleaning crew will do the same job for cleaning your tank, without having what looks like these creepy worms. l hope someone in the future can invent something that can kill them instantly inside your reef tank instead of baiting them out one by one.
Oh come on ! if something looks creepy does that mean we shuld kill it?
I think they are magnificent creatures ! when light hits them at right angle the show very nice colors !
Besides crabs and snails die off quickly when there is not enough debris and pollute even more. But worms are tough enough to survive hunger strikes.
http://www.bonaireinsider.com/images/gallery/20090821_DrSylviaEarle_0211.jpg
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http://www.frierworks.com/annelidsechinoderms/images/Bristle%20Worm.jpg
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http://lh6.ggpht.com/_pLMxhm76Dqw/RPPW13mjABI/AAAAAAAAAAU/-YGb6lQCYl8/P1010023.jpg

[reef93]

Aaaah ... don't worry, I just like to talk nasty that way to relieve my anger ... All my neighbors and friends thought I am going to kill my boss like that too, I can chop her into thousand pieces in my daydreams :wink:

[Gripenfelter]

Coral Banded Shrimp will eat them. Get 2 of them.

[reef93]

From what I have read, lots of people on the other forum said they are not reef safe. They will eat corals and everything else like shrimps, snails, crabs ... in your tank, they will eat even your small fish at night.

[reef93]

Use Krill, it works the best for me.

Make a trap out of a 2oz plastic container and lid like you would get for condiments from a fast food restraunt. Cut the lid with an "X" like the lid of a beverage cup for the straw. Push it in lightly so the "X" is pointing inwards. The night before you insert the trap, spot feed the fish, this way the worms will come out more cuz they are hungry.

Worked for me... Second choice is a coral banded shrimp, an Melenarous wrasses, and arrow crabs.

Ken - BWA


I actually started to make a container trap last night because I couln't find the right one the night before. And guess what I got this morning ... a worm almost 10 inches long with a half inch width, plus another 4 fatty ones 6 inches long inside my trap :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen: A total of 5 from my harvesting. I caught the 10 inch that was themostwantedbiggestbugger living inside my rock right in front of the tank. It really makes my day, Ken :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen: Thank you so much, thank you ... I will continue to do that until all of them are gone. The next step is I am going to find a nylon material to add more traps for some small places too.

[Bloodasp]

Meh! I can't see any of them doing any harm whatsoever. I just won't bother wasting time lifting a finger getting rid of them because somebody somewhere said they do something harmful with no backup whatsoever to their claim when I don't even have a first hand account that they do what is being said.

[RuGlu6]

From what I have read, lots of people on the other forum said they are not reef safe. They will eat corals and everything else like shrimps, snails, crabs ... in your tank, they will eat even your small fish at night.
This is true about bobbit eunice worms. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMvvgc09-vk&feature=related)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMvvgc09-vk&feature=related


Oh yeah and you are very lucky if you will be able to catch it ! they are so smart and grow so fast.
This one worm had me convinced that next time when i will set up a new tank it will be only dry rock, NOT the live rock.
And yes i had to kill it even though i think it is magnificent creature. I would have kept it in the sump or even in small tank but i could not get it out in one piece unfortunately and also i was so mad at it for wiping out the live stock and corals.
They do eat EVERYTHING ! small fish, soft corals, LPS corals, algae and detritus. The only way i could catch one in my tank is to quickly take the rock out and use a long screw driver.
It was almost 0.5 inch in diameter and about 15" inch long! some pple seen 4 feet long!

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo251/RuGlu6/th_MVI_0616.jpg (http://s381.photobucket.com/albums/oo251/RuGlu6/?action=view&current=MVI_0616.mp4)
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http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo251/RuGlu6/IMG_0611.jpg
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http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo251/RuGlu6/IMG_0608.jpg
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http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo251/RuGlu6/IMG_0614.jpg

[Bblinks]

BARF :shocked!: That guy looks like he can do some serious damage, so evil looking.:evilbat:.

[isaac1]

i bought a mantis trap from big als and baited it with shrimp and garlic suppliment no matnis but there was a bunch of worms in it lol

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Damn, that thing is ugly.

Glad I could help.

Ken - BWA

[reef93]

RuGlu6, that was exactly the same nasty one like yours I caught this morning ... I was so happy I got the bugger :mrgreen: ... but I didn't have a good taste for breakfast after I saw it in full length ... yuuckk ...

[RuGlu6]

RuGlu6, that was exactly the same nasty one like yours I caught this morning ... I was so happy I got the bugger :mrgreen: ... but I didn't have a good taste for breakfast after I saw it in full length ... yuuckk ...

I brought mine to J&L in a zip lock bag... they didn't have a good taste ether LOL :mrgreen:

[whatcaneyedo]

I have a lot more than a hundred at the moment and they've been a part of my tank's ecosystem since 2004. The only issue I've ever had with them is that I've been stung a few times which for me has been about as bad as a mosquito bite. Because of the bristle worms, mini brittle stars, stomatella snails and other varieties of smaller snail I nearly have tank that manages without a store-bought cleanup crew. In fact all I have that was store bought is a cucumber, two abalone, a limpet and an astrea in a 230gal system.

[Hawkaholic]

I agree with the feeding...cut down on how much you feed. The more you feed, the more the reproduce. I would even go as far as feeding every second day until the numbers decrease. A couple of coral banded shrimps are a good idea too. I've had them in my reef tank and didn't have problems with them.
Good luck Reef93

[Lampshade]

I never had a problem with them until this week, i found a near 1 foot long giant in my refugium. They don't eat macro algae.... so he's eating my pods! or well, the dead ones at least. I'd set up a crab trab before in my DT with just a coffee cup with a shrimp in it, ended up with a big crab... and 5-6 bristle worms. So I've just put that in the refugium, lets see what i get :S

[MKLKT]

Actually, looking at the title do you mean bristle worms or brittle stars? Because the micro brittle stars can look a lot like worms (their tiny arms will wave out of the rocks.)

[RuGlu6]

I have a lot more than a hundred at the moment and they've been a part of my tank's ecosystem since 2004. The only issue I've ever had with them is that I've been stung a few times which for me has been about as bad as a mosquito bite. Because of the bristle worms, mini brittle stars, stomatella snails and other varieties of smaller snail I nearly have tank that manages without a store-bought cleanup crew. In fact all I have that was store bought is a cucumber, two abalone, a limpet and an astrea in a 230gal system.

+1 on all what you say. I employ same crew in my tank.
Comments
bristle worms = GOOD
Unice/Bobbit worms = BAD

[reef93]

I agree with the feeding...cut down on how much you feed. The more you feed, the more the reproduce. I would even go as far as feeding every second day until the numbers decrease. A couple of coral banded shrimps are a good idea too. I've had them in my reef tank and didn't have problems with them.
Good luck Reef93


I know feeding is a proplem but I like to spoil my fish. They can have food 2, 3 times a day, because fish are my priority not corals. Since I followed Ken' instruction for a trap container, I have caught quite a few worms last night ... ranging from 5 inch grandparents, 3 inch parents, some kids ... to a half inch of their great great grandchildren worms :razz: ... Had been learning from my first lesson, this time I decided to have breakfast first before checking the trap. But that was a big mistake, when I opened it up and looked inside, it was almost 1/3 full of worms wiggling in there with all multicolor ... from orange, tan, gray .... to brown. I didn't dare to count how many, I just dumped the whole thing in the toilet. I almost wanted to throw up whatever I had eaten for breakfast this morning. What a terrible looking creature ! I think I had better look to get 2 coral banded shrimp to help take care of some more for me.

[reef93]

Actually, looking at the title do you mean bristle worms or brittle stars? Because the micro brittle stars can look a lot like worms (their tiny arms will wave out of the rocks.)


They are bristle worms, MKLKT. I have hundreds of brittle stars too but I love them.