Please help me help my tank. Please!

[fishface]

I would so appreciate help with 2 problems I am facing.

1. My tank is infested with worms. I believe that they are bristleworms (I have compared them to pictures and they look similar). I have read more than once that they are beneficial, and I don't have a problem with that. However, I now have so many that it's actually gross. They are crawling all over the place and seem to be overpowering the tank (75 gallon). I have done my best not to overfeed, however they seem to keep multiplying. Could anyone tell me some natural predators that I could introduce to my tank which would help reduce them?

2. I have aiptaisa - lots of them all of a sudden. I originally only had two, and I never took got rid of them. Big mistake, because now I have lots of them. Once again, could anyone reccommend predators for these things? I've heard that peppermint shrimp might do a good job on these. Perhaps a copperband? Is there anything else? I have one good-size blue hermit crab that I fear may get the shrimp.

[reefcam]

I feel for you on the britsle worms... I have read that a 6-line wrasse will eat the worms, but my never did. I'll see who else had luck with them. I would try removing rocks with worms and remove them that way. Atleast you can reduce the population.

For the aiptasia, 3 peppermint shrimps should do the trick. The larger aiptasia may require your help to rid of them.

[karlas]

as far as the bristle worms wrasses are supposed to eat them like reefcam said. there are several wrasses you can check out.

the aptasia problem peppermint shrimp may work. i had one that didnt go after my aptasia but did go after my feather dusters. he may have just been an odd one. lots of people have had luck with them though. one definite way to deal with them are bergia nudibranches their only diet is aptasia. the only thing is when the aptasia is gone it is a good idea to sell or trade them to someone else with aptasia. because they will starve to death w/o them. people that do keep them raise aptasia sepertly to provide a food source for them.

heres is info on them

bergia info

you could look around different sites sell them quite often

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Getting rid of aiptasia:
1. peppermint shrimp(best solution).
2. nudibranchs(you need very little water current for these or they will get sucked up into your powerheads)
3. Copperband butterfly(Hard to get them to feed other that the aiptasia)
4. Kalk paste and a syringe and nuke them(great for the big ones!)
5. Aiptasia Away(product on the market but would not use in my opinion).

[Brooke]

Your bristleworm population should even out soon. I wouldn't really suggest getting a fish to eat them. I would just wait it out. I wonder if pet warehouse still sells bristle worm traps...they used to. That might be an option.

Making a kalk paste and using a syringe to kill the aiptasia works well. I would try that and get about 5 peppermint shrimp. Copperbands should only be used as a very last resort and only in a mature established tank. (at least a year old). The hermit should not bother the peppermints.

HTH-
Brooke

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Hey Brooke! My copperband is doing a great job on my aiptasia and getting quite fat! I watched the copperband tear and eat a couple of medium sized ones last night. I am concerned after the aiptasia are all gone what to try to feed the copperband. I know you have had success with yours and forgot what you used for food. Johnny

[Geoff]

I have had some good luck with arrowhead crabs. It would also eat the tube worms if there was not a bristle worm within reach though. It was not a problem in my tank though, with an insane amount of tube worms in it.

G~

[fishface]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have gone out and purchased a bicolor pseudochromis which I have been told might eat some bristleworms for me. I hope so, but if not, it is still a welcome addition to my tank. As far as the aiptasia, I will go out and get 3 or 4 peppermint shrimp.

Once again, thanks for your advice.

[Allyson]

Sorry to say but you may have inadvertantly "screwed" yourself by getting a bicolor if you're going to use peppermints to fight the aptasia.

I bought a bicolor about 5 months ago & he has killed every peppermint I've bought (including the rather large one that was in the tank when I introduced him). Ever since I've been attempting to catch the #)$&*% bicolor but haven't been able to.

Sooo....in the next few weeks I'm going to be partially tearing down my tank to catch the guy. Meanwhile my aptasia is going crazy & my poor banggais are forever stuck in the corner.

Maybe you'll have better luck!

[R1Bill]

you sure you have bristleworms and not flatorms? never seen a population explosion of bristleworms. if they are bristleworms, an arrowcrab will do the trick. just get a little one! in a few months/molts, he will get big and eat your polyps, shrimp, and even fish. arrow crabs are nasty! they are also insatiable eaters. mine got evicted after getting my powder blue and eating two cleaner shrimp.

good luck,

bill

[skilter]

saing good bye to your worms...

im sure someone said this already but i just didnt want to read all those posts...

dude i was in the same exact spot u are in a month ago... i had worms everywhere - and it was getting nasty...

get an arrow crab - he'll take care of your baby worms

then get a 6 line wrasse - he can do the rest

one day though if u see the mack daddy worm running around just trap him... i cornered mine and cut him in half to say the least i was tired of seeing him... plus those nasty things killed one of my cleaner shrimp...

hope i could be of assistance...

take care.

[Big Dave]

Somebody had psoted about a homemade bristle worm trap the made. They took a 20 oz soda bottle, filled it with tank water, dropped in a hunk of shrimp. Then at night he would place it lying flat along the sand so that the top of the bottle was at sand level so the worms could crawl in. When he would get up in the morning he had a string attached to the neck and would pull up the bottle and check the catch. Throw back the snails or any wanted critters and discard the worms. Never tried this myself but heard it works ok.

If not, I wouldn't worry. Your system will work itself out and the population should decrease on it's own. If you haven't gotten your bicolor yet, I wouldn't. Sometimes those guys can be nasty! And hard to catch too! Just ask Allyson!

Goodluck!
-Big Dave

[OodleyBoodely]

I've noticed that my peppermint shrimp have a real taste for bristle worms, among other things Just adding a herd of pepps for aiptasia control may also be adaquate to keep the bristle worms in check as well, especially if there are no shrimp predators in the tank to inhibit them from freely roaming about the tank at night (pj cardinals, psuedochromids, wrasses, ect). I also noticed that when I had my scooter blenny (died recently after 2 1/2 yrs ) I seldom saw bristleworms, but, after Scooter died, they are everywhere. I know Scooter ate them, because, occassionally I would see him wrestling a worm from its hole. HTH

[Alice]

I had a Bristle Worm explosion in my nano maybe a year and a half back. Personally, I didn't mind them other than I had to be very careful sticking my hands in the tank but I had a co-worker that just hated the sight of them and as we are a small office.....

I bought a six line wrasse that really did a good job on bristle worm patrol. It ate the smaller ones leaving the larger ones to clean up the tank. When the B worm population was to acceptable levels, the sixline went on to his next job of cleaning up the flatworms in my friend's nano. Not all sixlines will eat B worms or flatworms but this guy was a hard worker

Bristle worm trap: take a piece of clean nylon stocking and wad it up around a rock (you may need to rubber band it loosely in place) place some shrimp or other smelly food in with the rock and place it in the tank at lights out. The B worms will be attracted to the bait and get entangled in the nylon. Wear gloves when you take it out

Nasty little fish trap: I know a few people who have done this and had great success. Use a trap with a two sided chamber; put bait on one side and leave it open. Put a live fish of the same type you are trying to catch in the other chamber and leave it closed. For small fish that are extremely aggressive to conspecifics this works like a charm. You'll have to construct your own double sided trap as I have not seen any available commercially, or you might be able to secure the back of a single trap with something siliconed in place. You can also put a mirror on the back of a single sided trap with bait inside.

HTH,

Alice