Bristle Worms = Sand Sifters

[NanoTopia]

Did a little cleaning today and uncovered a small family of Bristle Worms. I decided to remove them, especially the big one since it was getting quite big (3-4"). Okay, maybe not that big as far as Bristle Worms are concerned but remember, these came out of a 20 gallon tank, now 3.5 years old.

I wanted to share these photographs because they prove that Bristle Worms are sand sifters, thus very beneficial to our reefs. As long as they don't get to be 3 feet in length that is.

Photo One: Just after being removed from the tank.

Photo Two: Light spots discovered inside the worm.

Photo Three: Turns out it is aragonite sand, clean aragonite sand I may add.

So you may wish to reconsider removing this so called pest next time you encounter it. Harmless, unless like I said earlier, it is 3 feet long

[Nano sapiens]

Nice photos of these guys. The ones that I have show an irridescent rainbow effect when the light hits them just right.

 

For a time I was feeding heavily and I had a huge population of maybe 200 - 300, with one or two over 8" long in my little 12g. It was like watching Sandworms from the movie Dune in miniature once the lights went out

[amphipod]

I always think bristle worms are kinda cute lol

[jedimasterben]

Good lord! That's insane!

 

I actually wish that I had not lost all of mine when I was trying to get rid of dinos a while back. Freshwater dips work almost TOO well.

 

 

 

I hope that in my next shipment of some fresh rock I get some more!

[amphipod]

Good thing they seem to be on all very porus live rock

[Dylan.N]

Ugh. I always get so grossed out by these things. Beneficial? Sure. Freaky? Definitely.

[RollaJase]

I probably have 1.5 billion of these in my tank right now. My rocks look like spaghetti at feeding time. Cool pics though.