High Tide Aquatics

What marine worm is living in my sand?

rdriggett

rdriggett

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Hi all! Recently I’ve noticed worms in my sand. Could anyone ID these worms for me? Sorry for the bad pictures. I’m praying they’re not bristle worms…

Previously:
Hi all!
What's the best method of bristle worm control that can live in my tank? Stocking is: clown, perchlet, blenny, gramma, firefish, cleaner shrimp, urchin, and a mix of snails.

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thesassyindian said:
Polychaete Epitoke - or simply Baby bristleworms.
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Nooooooooooo.

Any 40Gal compatible fish or inverts to eat them? I know Mike has an arrow crab but he’s got 168G. I've also read they go after small fish and are incompatible with my cleaner srhimp.

Options:
Coral banded shrimp: might eat my fish
Arrow Crab: might eat my fish
6 line wrasse: I still regret my last one
dottyback: seems too aggressive
Bristle worm trap: probably going to do this
 
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What's so bad about bristle worms? If you are overrun by them sure but a few is not a problem imo.

Orchid dottyback might eat them and is not as mean as other dotties. Pink streak wrasse or longnose hawk may also. Pink streak is rare to find but a cool fish even if it doesn't control pests
 
CaptainB said:
What's so bad about bristle worms? If you are overrun by them sure but a few is not a problem imo.

Orchid dottyback might eat them and is not as mean as other dotties. Pink streak wrasse or longnose hawk may also. Pink streak is rare to find but a cool fish even if it doesn't control pests
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Gloves lower my dexterity when placing corals and I dont want to get stabbed. I enjoyed being able to flip a coral out of my sand bed without worrying about pain.

I've had a pink streak on order for 3 months at my LFS but they cant get one in. Live Aquaria occasionally gets them but I'd rather shop local and avoid a shipping charge for 1 fish. I'll keep an eye out for them, thank you.
 
Freaks me out too but I don't glove and never got stabbed. All mine are like the 1" or less pink/tan ones tho.

Might ask aquatic collection also about a fish order, they seem like they can get fish other shops can't
 
could be bristleworms... could be spaghetti worms... could also be a spionid (sp) worms... look at it at night and see with a flash light. if you need to know, take a turkey baster and try to suck one out into a cup and look at it. either way, i believe they are all good cuc.
 
I’m not convinced those are bristleworms from the pics given. Catch one and take a good pic outside the tank. Baby bristleworms look like a small mass of tiny wriggly smooth worms. Juveniles and adults have the standard appearance.

Bristleworms suck. I get stung almost every time I work around the sand/rocks and I don’t wear gloves. I know people like to argue about this but they are definitely a pest in my mind.

Those traps don’t work very well in my experience.
 
JVU said:
I’m not convinced those are bristleworms from the pics given. Catch one and take a good pic outside the tank. Baby bristleworms look like a small mass of tiny wriggly smooth worms. Juveniles and adults have the standard appearance.

Bristleworms suck. I get stung almost every time I work around the sand/rocks and I don’t wear gloves. I know people like to argue about this but they are definitely a pest in my mind.

Those traps don’t work very well in my experience.
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My SW fb group agrees that they aren't bristle worms. Thanks for the heads up on the trap!
 
Those could be Spionid worms, spaghetti worm, peanut worms, etc. way to many worms out there to list. You need to get the worm to ID the worm, not just the tube. What comes out of the tubes? If you really want to ID them, look up DSB and Worm ID as worms were more common with DSBs. Ron Shimek use to have a DSB critter ID guide. I am sure they are fine and the population will self stabilize, like worms in your garden. If your sand is just full of them there is food to support that population. Spaghetti worms are very useful and will be redish brown. Give me some. Aggressive eaters normally wipe these buggers out, like a wrasse etc.

Bristle Worms don't create tunnels, but they will use tunnels that exist. I am in the Bristleworks are fine camp but I do remove them as nutrient and finger damage control. If there are tons of them, there is also food supporting that population.


 
I used to run dsb back in the days before Dr Tim with live, live rock and we would get all kinds of neat stuff in the sandbed. I miss the stomatellas but most of the others not so much.

Some amphipods make burrows too. I thought they were worm tunnels for the longest time.
 
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