Bristle War!

[beezerv]

I have been hunting a huge bristle worm which has been in my tank for as long as I can remember. I am so frustrated and need help with his removal. Please noone say "leave him alone they are good cleaners" as he has killed my entire snail population. He lives in the bottom of a huge rock which makes up the whole right side of my aquarium so I cant remove the rock he lives in. I suck the little ones out of the tank with tubing when cleaning but this guy is too big and wont come out when he sees something moving around. I tried the coralife trap but the worm is too long and so never goes all the way into the trap. I added tubing to lengthen the trap to as long as could fit in the tank and the worm still didnt make it completely out of the rock. There were about 10 inches of him exposed and he still wasnt out of the rock. Then I tried placing tongs at the opening to the trap and when he was way in there I would close the tongs trying to grab him with them. Unfortunately the second he felt something move he was back in the rock faster than I could see move. I do not know how he survives as I do not feed my tank cause I havent had fish in it for about 6 months and I stopped replacing snails when I saw he was attacking them. I did search the forums for a way to remove him but couldnt find any suggestions for a worm this big. Please give me any suggestions you may have. My fiance says I am like Elmer Fudd hunting Bugs Bunny!!! The worm is just laughing at me.

[benzou]

Borrow someone's ridiculously oversized arrow crab for a week.

[paOol]

get the rock hes hiding in, take it out , place in freezing water until it comes out or dies.

win

[beezerv]

get the rock hes hiding in, take it out , place in freezing water until it comes out or dies.

win

 

I am trying to avoid removing the rock from the water as it is very large and has several corals attached to it. I may have to use that as a last resort though. Thanks for the suggestion.

[drgndrums]

I wonder if he's killing snails like you say (instead of scavenging) because you're not feeding the tank...

 

I've had a worm that is pretty dang huge in my 55g and I figure I'd have the same trouble if I tried to remove it. Never seen it fully removed from the rock. Fortunately, I've had more trouble with my hermits in a year than I have with the worm.

 

I've heard about making pantyhose traps but I don't know how successful you'd be with a worm that size. Nonetheless, I really doubt you'll be able to move quick enough to snag the guy and even if you did, I doubt you could yank him out of the rock... he'd just split in half. If you can't trap the bugger, I really think removing the rock is the only option.

[beezerv]

It isn't sounding very good so far.

The only methods I've heard of for trapping them are the tube trap and the pantyhose both of which arent for worms this long. Has anyone heard of any traps or trapping methods I might be able to modify for a bigger worm?

[Matty1124]

go hunting at night with a red flash light...

[beezerv]

go hunting at night with a red flash light...

 

Any suggestions on what to grab him with when he comes out. I tried kitchen tongs and couldnt get a grip of him.

[Kimberly63]

I'm a noob and don't know much, but if I was you, I'd take a turkey baster or syringe and fill it with boiling hot water and inject into the hole it's in. he might fly out of there or you'll cook him. Maybe this isn't a good idea but at least you aren't using anything harmful like chemicals or anything.

[constantocean]

Blue banded coral shrimp will hunt them.

 

http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp...Code=02-2332-10

 

Get one, leave it in there for a few weeks, then you can send it to me when you're done =)

[beezerv]

Blue banded coral shrimp will hunt them.

 

http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp...Code=02-2332-10

 

Get one, leave it in there for a few weeks, then you can send it to me when you're done =)

 

I live in the middle of nowhere in New England so any livestock I order will likely freeze on the porch before I get home. haha. Unfortunately the somewhat local fish store doesnt have anything that kills worms besides six lines and this worm is too big for one of them to take down. I was considering offering a reward to any information leading to the worms capture but the Mrs. says worm bounties are not in the budget.

[coolwaters]

i say crush it on sight....

 

if hes in a hole i would get a stick and shove it in there a hope i get him

its mean but it gets the job done...

[beezerv]

i say crush it on sight....

 

if hes in a hole i would get a stick and shove it in there a hope i get him

its mean but it gets the job done...

 

Unfortunately he lives inside a rock which he appears to enter through the sand so I cant get at his hiding place. I tried spearing him with a small nail on the end of a stick and he is too fast or I am too slow to get him.

 

I now have a trap set up and cant take it anymore. If he goes half way in the trap I am taking the exacto knife and cutting off whatever part of him is in the trap. If the other half of him survives I figure I will be fighting a smaller worm at least. Hopefully he wont escape and make two big worms.

[gator2683]

Unfortunately he lives inside a rock which he appears to enter through the sand so I cant get at his hiding place. I tried spearing him with a small nail on the end of a stick and he is too fast or I am too slow to get him.

 

I now have a trap set up and cant take it anymore. If he goes half way in the trap I am taking the exacto knife and cutting off whatever part of him is in the trap. If the other half of him survives I figure I will be fighting a smaller worm at least. Hopefully he wont escape and make two big worms.

 

I had the same problem with a much smaller crab that managed to kill a fish, 2 hermits, and a peppermint shrimp. I tried the trap...and the skewer...and squirting crap into his cave. In the end the easiest solution was to remove the rock and smash it. I also had corals attached, but with 2 people i was able to smash the rock and extract the crab with needle nose pliers all in about 60 seconds.

 

I think if you prepare to do it quick (might need a chisel to make it easy with a big rock) you will save a lot of effort in the long run and the coral will be fine. do it on a kitchen floor though, it's quite messy

 

the other option i considered was sealing the sucker in with some epoxy, but you never know how many openings/connections a cave has in a large rock

[DogfoodEnforcer]

i can say one thing that worked for me (completely by accident).

 

one day i found a small aptasia in my tank. i got out the syringe and lime juice and took the rock out of the tank. i injected the aptasia,but i must have gone right through the side of it into the rock, and unloaded a bit of lime juice into it...well a BRIGHT red bristleworm dropped out immediately and went nuts.

 

so maybe try spraying a little bit of concentrated lime juice somewhere around it's hole. hopefully it spooks it out and you can somehow grab it.

 

it's worth a shot!!

 

I'm a noob and don't know much, but if I was you, I'd take a turkey baster or syringe and fill it with boiling hot water and inject into the hole it's in. he might fly out of there or you'll cook him. Maybe this isn't a good idea but at least you aren't using anything harmful like chemicals or anything.

 

sorry. hadnt read the whole thread. didnt notice similar thing had already been said my bad!