huge infestation of fireworms

[stevefromga2000]

i have had a huge infestion of those little b words, but i was just curious of a couple of things....

does anybody else have a problem like mine?

why would this be happening?

how do i stop this from continuing?

every PWC that i do, i pull at least 4 or 5 of the fireworms out of my tank. they usually hide down in my CC, but sometimes they are inside my LR. is there some way to get rid of them? i thought that maybe if i got rid of the CC then they would have no place to live, but then wouldn't that also get rid of all of my beneficial critters that house there? any suggestions are appreciated. thanks in advance.

 

[austinsdad]

Sure they are fire and not bristle worms?

 

[roka64]

I have quite a few bristleworms. They don't seem to bother abything. They stir my sand nicely.

i thought that maybe if i got rid of the CC then they would have no place to live

They live in the sand as well.

but then wouldn't that also get rid of all of my beneficial critters that house there?

When I switched my substrate from CC to sand, I did it about 1/3 at a time. That gave the beneficial critters some time to move.

any suggestions are appreciated. thanks in advance.

I would leave them in there, unless you are having problems. Others are welcome to correct me.

 

[stevefromga2000]

i am positive that they are fireworms. i have done plenty of research on them and ways to identify them. i have actually taken pictures and posted them here and got answers confirming that they are fireworms. i don't think that they are hurting anything, but they just keep getting bigger and bigger. i have pulled some out that are about as thick as a mouse cable for a computer. i haven't had any fish die or anything, but i have lost a couple of snails for no apparent reason. nothing that worried me, but that's it.

 

[Fluff]

How often are you feeding? Are you vacumning the CC? They will reproduce rapidly only if there is a good food source. Try feeding less and removing any leftovers to see if that helps. It takes time though. There are also natural means of getting rid of them. I was gonna suggest an arrow crab but see you have a coral banded and I'm not sure how well he'd get on with it. I've also read that sixline wrasses will sometimes feed on them but, they are jumpers and there really is no guarantee. So, your best bet is prevention to see if you can slow them down. HTH

 

[stevefromga2000]

i am feeding two times a day. once in the morning and once at night. however, i have had a fear of feeding way too much. when i do my pwc, i always vacuum out my cc because there is what looks like waste at the bottom that has accumulated. would that be from leftover food that is sinking down to the bottom?

 

[roka64]

I would cut down the feedings to every other day.

would that be from leftover food that is sinking down to the bottom?

Yep and critter waste.

 

[stevefromga2000]

i've already cut them down to just once a day. after a week or so i will cut down to every other day and see how that goes. thanks for the help

 

[ntswift]

If all else fails try to pick them out at night. Just get a red light and look for them. It may take a while to get a good portion of them out, but it will take care of the big ones for right now.

 

[stevefromga2000]

usually when i do my PWC each week, they just start floating around. i think the vacuum pulls them out of the CC and then i just scoop them up with a net. it just amazes me how many i continue to find. hopefully the less feeding helps.