Bristle worm? fireworm? Time for all to die.

[vigilcode]

So I have a 8 gal. nano. I had a neon goby start looking sick and die over the course of 4 days. Everything tests fine in the water. I bought a Hector's goby. very small, about an inch long. He hid in the rocks all day. Over the weekend he disappeared. This was 3 weeks ago. Both fish when they "died" i can't find anywhere in the tank. No bones, nothing. Anytime I turn the tank pump off to feed I get worms coming out of every hole in my live rock and under it from the sand bed.

When I had the neon goby for a while I'd only see a handful of worms. 8 months later once the neon goby started dying I have the worms everywhere. Once I got the hectors goby he looked fully healthy and then literally disappeared overnight. I just saw a worm trying to pull a sand sifting snail under a rock.

 

My first searches led me to these being bristle worms and they are fine for a tank. At first I agreed but now with the quantity of them and I 100% believe they killed my hector's goby I need them eradicated.

 

There are a LOT of living things in my live rock so I'd rather buy something that eats these worms for breakfast even if I have to return it to the LFS cause it would grow too big for the 8 gallon.

 

There are no fish in here now so i'm not worried with getting something that will attack fish. i want something that will show these worms what it is to be prey.

Ideas?

[SH4GGY]

I still firmly believe that bristleworms are beneficial to our mini reefs. I frequently go to my LFS and ask for them. They are a key element of a good clean up crew, eating the garbage on the bottom. If your fish have died, the worms will devour the carcasses but they are not hunters. If your tank is full of bristleworms then this means that there is a food supply to support them - this is usually an indication of overfeeding. When that food supply goes away, the worms will die off. In the mean time, a six line wrasse will usually eat bristleworms.

[Mariaface]

Nope. The quantity of them just means that they've had a lot of food, and dying fish/snails will do that. Have you measured your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? Unless your fish sat there while the worms licked/sucked its flesh away, they didn't do the murdering. Have you entertained the idea of illness, or an actual predator hiding in the rocks?

 

If you want to bring their numbers down, that's fine. But they're in those numbers because there's food for them to eat. If you fed less, or found out why fish were dying (do you have a quarantine tank?) in order to stop it, their numbers would decrease.

[vigilcode]

yes and I've read as much. And i'll agree I probably did overfeed the tank which helped cause the population explosion. Now there is no fish and I haven't fed in a week and i see a worm trying to pull a snail under the rock it lives in. So I thought if i stopped feeding they would die down but it seems that won't be the case, they will eat everything else they can which I don't want to happen.

 

I was thinking six line wrasse but not sure they eat worms all the time. which maybe they don't have to eat so much as not get eaten by the worms. But I would like the population of worms to decrease so was also thinking coral banded shrimp. Maybe keep one for a month or two and see what happens then return to the LFS for a six line wrasse...

[SH4GGY]

I've heard that coral banded shrimp work, but I have no experience with these. Good luck.

[k4ndyk1ng]

maybe the fished died from bad acclimation and the brisle worms did their job and cleaned them up. The worms dont have teeth to kill a healthy fish

[Wiinberg]

Unless you have a badass eunice worm in your tank, those worms you got DO NOT eat alive and healthy fish. You said you haven't fed in a week. Those worms are hardy, it can take weeks, even months before the population declines enough to notice it. If they reach 8-10 inches, fair enough, remove them. Otherwise you should appreciate your free cleaning crew. It's part of having a reef tank.

[Builder Anthony]

Arrow crab.....eats other things like snails and featherdusters.fire worms bristle worms

[Tamberav]

Bristle worms are not the problem.

 

I keep lots of tiny gobies and I have some huge worms... in fact...they live in my pistol shrimps burrow with the shrimp/fish.

 

Your fish died because fish just die.... maybe your neon goby had a disease and infected the tank which passed to the hector's.

 

Hector's was a bad choice to begin with... they have a special diet and most will never eat prepared foods. He was probably doomed to die anyways. Do your research.

 

Think about it... you had a sick fish... okay the worms didn't make it sick... so it died NOT related to the worms. Then you added a fish that has poor survivability in a nano and... it died because it has... poor survivability.... You even said it hid in the rocks. It's not uncommon for a healthy looking fish to die from stress from the move from the LFS to your tank.

 

Sorry to be so blunt but I see nothing suspicious here.

 

Worms are fish food for gutsy gobies

 

 

[vigilcode]

ok ok.... I agree i didn't realize hectors goby was a plant eater. He wouldn't eat any pellets. I was trying to get a blenny and this was I thought the next best the LFS had.

 

maybe i'll try a small clown again.

[Tamberav]

ok ok.... I agree i didn't realize hectors goby was a plant eater. He wouldn't eat any pellets. I was trying to get a blenny and this was I thought the next best the LFS had.

 

maybe i'll try a small clown again.

 

What did your goby die from? If it had a disease like ich/velvet/brook. Any fish you add to the tank will get it.

 

Tank needs to sit without fish for 8 weeks to starve the parsite if it was something like that.

[Mariaface]

Fallow period! 8D

[vigilcode]

Bristle worms are not the problem.

 

I keep lots of tiny gobies and I have some huge worms... in fact...they live in my pistol shrimps burrow with the shrimp/fish.

 

Your fish died because fish just die.... maybe your neon goby had a disease and infected the tank which passed to the hector's.

 

Hector's was a bad choice to begin with... they have a special diet and most will never eat prepared foods. He was probably doomed to die anyways. Do your research.

 

Think about it... you had a sick fish... okay the worms didn't make it sick... so it died NOT related to the worms. Then you added a fish that has poor survivability in a nano and... it died because it has... poor survivability.... You even said it hid in the rocks. It's not uncommon for a healthy looking fish to die from stress from the move from the LFS to your tank.

 

Sorry to be so blunt but I see nothing suspicious here.

 

Worms are fish food for gutsy gobies

What kind of gobies are those? Its been 3 weeks I think i'm ready for a fish again. tank is crystal clear, I haven't fed anything so I think there are less worms...

I'd love a tailspot blenny but no LFS seems to stock. So maybe since the neon goby lived in there for a year another goby is a good choice. They are typically small enough for a 8gal. I'm used to feeding pellets but could do frozen mysis if the fish needed (clown goby?).

This tank is in the office so i'm only here M-F. I was feeding every weekday with no food weekends. Maybe I should just feed MWF.

[Tamberav]

What kind of gobies are those? Its been 3 weeks I think i'm ready for a fish again. tank is crystal clear, I haven't fed anything so I think there are less worms...

I'd love a tailspot blenny but no LFS seems to stock. So maybe since the neon goby lived in there for a year another goby is a good choice. They are typically small enough for a 8gal. I'm used to feeding pellets but could do frozen mysis if the fish needed (clown goby?).

This tank is in the office so i'm only here M-F. I was feeding every weekday with no food weekends. Maybe I should just feed MWF.

 

Orange spotted goby and yellow watchmen goby, randall's goby is also similar.

 

I have a long tweezers/tongs and I pick out the big worms when I see them. I figure this makes room for new small ones which are less unsightly.

 

If there is a disease in the tank, 3 weeks won't take care of it. Generally 8-12 is what is recommended.

[Halo_003]

Worms are just nasty things. I keep them out of my tank completely, the only worms I have are a ton of feather dusters and a few hair worms. I only tolerate them because I don't see them really. Bristleworms though.... NO WAY.

 

I drought be able to stomach all the worms coming out at night. Nope.gif

[mystersyster]

Prime example of why so many people are starting their tanks with dead rock and sand. Nasty hitchhikers.

[Mariaface]

I dunno, man, I like to think of bristleworms as free CUC that I just shouldn't pick up with my bare hands. And a snack for the more daring fish/inverts.

[joy13]

My coral banded shrimp wiped out bristle worms in 2 of my tanks. I like bristle worms since I over feed and they keep the tank clean.

[ninjamyst]

i kill all worms on sight. not that they are bad but i just cant stand the sight of them crawling in my tank and when i am doing tank maintenance. how easy is it for you to take out your rock for a dip?

[hypostatic]

Bristleworms are the most efficient cleanup crew in my tank. Food barely touches the water column and they're out trying to get to it. My only issue with the bastards is that they hide EVERYWHERE, and they'll sting me if I'm not looking when I'm messing around in the tank, and I'll spend 20 minutes trying to get their barbs out of my hands.

 

 

 

Worms are fish food for gutsy gobies

 

 

 

Waaaaaaaat. I had a diamond goby, but I don't think he ever ate a bristleworm!