Bristleworm?

[Hara]

Lat night I did some swapping around in my freshwater tanks and ended up clearing my 30 gallon. I moved the contents of the 10 gallon crab, copopod tank to the 30.

After lights out, I went in and was looking with the flashlight. I saw what I think is a bristleworm, crawling across the top of the sand bed. It was at least 6 inches long. Do they get that big?

[Anemoneman]

There are several species. They can get much larger. Normally they are beneficial detrivores. If larger ones make you nervous remove them, it won't hurt.

Mark

[EMS503]

I have what I think is a bristle worm in my 75gal. never saw it on top only from the bottom of the tank. Its approx. half the length of my tank.
Other then moving sand around on the bottom I have never seen it come out of the sand.

[Hara]

If it isn't going to hurt anything, I will leave it alone.

Why do some people try to remove them all if they are a good detrivore?
What is the down side to them?

In a few months, I hope to have this 30 gallon be a seahorse tank.
Will they be an issue then?

[Bang Guy]

There are a few predatory Bristleworms. They are fairly rare though.

The myth of the killer Bristleworm might have come from the fact that they are extremely efficient detrivores. They can detect when an animal has died almost immediatly. This places them at a carcass usually before the aquarist realizes they have a dead animal.

A very common story is with Maxima Clams. Maxima's look pretty good right up until they are totally dead. So, an aquarist goes to bed after seeing their clam looking pretty good. They wake up to an empty shell ful of Bristleworms. Of course they would blame the worms... they didn't do anything wrong

Keep yourBristleworms unless you see them eating something that's still alive.

[fishfreek]

I have some pics of my bristleworms in the 20 as a sticky in this forum. They are also in the Photo Gallery under their own gallery for common to be identified items.