FireWorm Problem?

[SmileyFace1995]

Well today i was rearranging a xenia, and when i picked up the small rock i noticed 3 fireworms! They were hiding under this tiny rock, most likely for shelter, so if theres 3 in that small of a space i cant imagine how many are spread around my tank! Does anyone know a way to get rid of them??

- Thanks

 

[iroll253]

are you sure there fire worms and not regular bristle worms?

 

[Faciosity]

What's a fire worm? I have a million red or orange bristle worms that don't harm a thing.

 

[returnofsid]

Chances are that they're common Bristle worms, NOT Fire worms. Bristle worms are among the most beneficial members of our clean up crews.

 

[Bored4ever86]

Chances are that they're common Bristle worms, NOT Fire worms. Bristle worms are among the most beneficial members of our clean up crews.

true, but man are they uuuuugggggllllyyy!

 

[SmileyFace1995]

Pretty sure thats a fireworm!

 

[SmileyFace1995]

anyone? ?

 

[fishoutofwater]

looks like a fireworm to me.

 

[bigblue141]

Coral Banded Shrimp and Arrow Crabs have a reputation for eating them. Arrow Crabs also have a reputation for eating small fish every now and again.

 

[Faciosity]

I thought that's what a common bristle worm looked like. I have tons of those. Can they be harmful?

 

[Faciosity]

I just looked up a ton of images of fire worms, and they look a little different than what I have. The fireworms seemed more rounded at the tips with smaller bristles. Mine are long and thiner at the ends with pretty long bristles.

 

[SmileyFace1995]

mine are fireworms

 

[returnofsid]

In the bag, it's hard to say, from your pictures. Look like regular bristle worms to me. Fireworms are a variety of Bristleworms. They're rarely found in our tanks.

 

[joyretterer]

buy a sally light foot crab. It will make short of them. If you see a lot of them buy more crabs.

 

[abushr]

My coral banded shrimp make short work of any bristle worms that are dumb enough to venture out near them. It's great fun watching them chow down....lol...

My local fish guy told me that bristle worms can be very good at cleaning up...and to only consider them a problem if I see them venturing out durring the "daylight" hours. On the rare occassion that I find a large one (yes, I like to use a flashlight sometimes at night & peek around)....I pull them out & feed them to the Worminater (the giant white spotted hermit crab that I was given---only to discover he isn't reef safe---so he lives in the sump). The last time I bought some cheato....it had bristle worms in it...I let it hang out with him in the sump before moving it to the fuge....he munched them all!!!