Small wurms in my substrate. OK, or not OK?

[ewurm]

I am guessing bristle wurms, and I heard they are good at turning the substrate, but are they in any way harmul?

[tsnipe]

If you have bristle worms, watch out as they duplicate triplicate quadriplicate, etc., and the next thing you know you can never never ever get rid of them.....I was so invaded and I tried everything from removing the sand and replacing it but they lived in my live rock and just kept on keeping on, I then got me one of those arrow crabs and he was in hog heaven but still, too many worms to eat. I was sooooo mega fustrated I ended up drying out my live rock and stripping the tank in the end. Good luck. P.S. And some fish people say they are good to have in the tank, yea right!:nilly:

[Max]

The b.w. won't reproduce over availiable food supplies. They are one of the best scavengers that you can get imho. Once in a great while you'll run across one of the predatory ones that'll eat corals etc. or get 6 feet long and eat horses, small elephants etc. ;). In 99.5% of tanks though they aren't a problem unless they are allowed to become a problem by over feeding etc.
hth
Max

[ewurm]

So I just need to watch the feeding, and I should be good? I count about three right now, but those are just the ones I can see in the front of the tank, in the substrate.

[tsnipe]

trust me, there are soon gonna be tons of worms in your substrate to the point of millions and zillions and it's gonna be ugly so hold on for the ride.:popcorn:

[ewurm]

I hope you're wrong. Mine hitched a ride on live rock, I am betting others have dealt with these successfully.

[reefman]

there not bad they get were other scavengers can't get but if they bother you they sell worm traps but they don't hurt unless u get a preditory one i seen one in my friends tanks well he ask me if i can help him move his reef as we were pulling out live rock i seen this huge thing come out of the rock i ask him when did you get a eel he said i don't have a eel so we fished out it was a 6 foot bristle worm it was so fn ugly

[ewurm]

there not bad they get were other scavengers can't get but if they bother you they sell worm traps but they don't hurt unless u get a preditory one i seen one in my friends tanks well he ask me if i can help him move his reef as we were pulling out live rock i seen this huge thing come out of the rock i ask him when did you get a eel he said i don't have a eel so we fished out it was a 6 foot bristle worm it was so fn ugly

Six feet?! Man that Wurm is the same size as I am! LOL

[RedDevilDon2005]

Once in a great while you'll run across one of the predatory ones that'll eat corals etc. or get 6 feet long and eat horses, small elephants etc. ;). Max

:ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL: :grinno:

[ewurm]

I can't afford to feed horses. Would sirloin suffice?

[davo]

There will be loads and loads of them. Thing is there will be loads and loads of little things if you've used live rock, the diversity is just huge. A lot of the things aren't that bad though.

[ewurm]

There are a growing amount of things in the substrate. One bonus: I got a handful of baby snails in my last live rock purchase.

[ewurm]

I was wondering, will an Arrow crab get along with other hermit crabs and shrimp? Asked in another post, but want to be sure before I buy one.

[philliptobin]

I have never encountered a problem with the arrow crab messing with any of the shrimp or hermit crabs in my tank. Although I had a friend who's emerald crabs would tear the legs off of his arrow crab. The one thing to remember is that not all arrow crabs eat bristle worms, it is a hit or miss type deal.

[chrisdef15]

Alot of dottybacks and smaller wrasses will eat them too if you have problems.

[rayman45]

get like sand shifting stars or somehting to controle them..

[ewurm]

I haven't seen a wurm in my tank for days, I don't think the problem is that bad.