Bristle worm, good or bad?

[laureniron31]

Have noticed a few bristle worm in my tank, just wondering if i should try to get rid of them, or if they are beneficial for my tank

 

[m013y]

Personally i just leave them but Normally they disapear... think fish tend to eat them. Im pretty sure they nothing to worry about but im no pro. I think it would b quite a task to take them out.

 

[laureniron31]

I saw a cleaner shrimp eating one yesterday wasn't nice hahaha

 

[m013y]

Ye they dont last long. All part of nature. I think its fasinating. I watch my cleaner shrimp pick away at a dead anemone crab.. i love cleaner shrimp especially when the run upside down on the suface, its awsome!

 

[Reefer 22]

IMO I get ride of them mainly because I hate when I put my hand in the tank for what ever I may be doing and then ZZAAAPPP I get a really bad stinging pain in my finger. The kind I have in my tank just feels like a bee sting but some kinds I've heard can swell your whole hand up. In other cases people don't even feel them it is just like a pinch in some cases. In tank terms they are helpful they are like a tank garbage can. I eradicated them from my tank becuse my kind is pretty painful. It help to run it over hot water if you ever get stung.

 

[Saratj1]

IMO I get ride of them mainly because I hate when I put my hand in the tank for what ever I may be doing and then ZZAAAPPP I get a really bad stinging pain in my finger. The kind I have in my tank just feels like a bee sting but some kinds I've heard can swell your whole hand up. In other cases people don't even feel them it is just like a pinch in some cases. In tank terms they are helpful they are like a tank garbage can. I eradicated them from my tank becuse my kind is pretty painful. It help to run it over hot water if you ever get stung.

I agree with this, leave them be unless you get stung, I have a few in my tank, and if you see one chances are there are five more that you don't see, but I have not got stung by one yet, but I worry about it every time I touch some rock, and if I did get stung I would probably start killing them, but other than that they are part of your clean up crew and do good for your tank by eating all the leftovers and dead/rotting/fish poo that accumulates in your tank.

 

[Reefer 22]

Yep a tank garbage can eat all your unwanted thing.

 

[melosu58]

I have several in my tank. They are great janitors.

 

[danbstrong]

I have several in my tank. They are great janitors.

Yep no worries if you want to get rid of them tho they do make a small trap for them

 

[RedLeggedHermit]

a couple of my live rocks came infested with them. now i can see some in my sand bed too. they just keep it clean. i havent tried to avoid them and ive never been stung so far. maybe just lucky but i just find them to be a good addition to a tank. plus as the others have mentioned some fish like to munch on them.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I have several in my tank. They are great janitors.

Agreed. I had them in multiple tanks for years and years. Never had a problem with them stinging or anything else. They're creepy... but great for the tank. They're the janitors people love to hate. As long as you don't overfeed your tank they'll never get out of hand.

 

[Reefer 22]

Yah I still have a ton of them in my 180 gal but I was talking about my 100 gal that I eradicated them from and I'm just starting to notice them in my new 55 gal.