oh my gosh........worms........

[starmom]

I fed my plate coral tonite because it was extended and mouth was open while the lights were still on, when I released the frozen food into the tank and for some reason broke out the magnifying glass i started to freak out...

i had only seen one the the past at a time but a bunch of bristle worms came out of the rock as well as some tiny white brittle stars, some sort of translucent worms and one kind i only saw a forked looking end............

how bad is this?????????????????????????????????????

what do i do now????????????

is there something that eats bristleworms when they are small, at best they are only maybe 1/2" long at this point.........

HELP

sue

 

[hammerandy]

They are not as bad as people push. When I was a Newbie I worried about bristle worms and even went out and bought a psuedo Chromis. Meaniest little fish in the world.

Anyway bristle worms help turn up your substrate and clean up your subtrate. Only when they get to the size of a small pencil do I remove them.

 

[OrionGirl]

A healthy population of detrivores is a good thing. Keep in mind that when you feed the tank, you are feeding these critters as well--overfeeding is typically the only way they will get out of control. I wouldn't worry about it, but if you do, take care when feeding so there aren't as many leftovers.