Beneficial Bristleworms

[LittleBitObsessed]

Good morning everyone,

I've received some liverock from a friend and noticed red and grey bristleworms on it. I'm a bit skittish to place this in the aquarium given that there are some undesirable types.

Could anyone provide information on what to look out for?

I'll try to take some pictures tonight when they come out again.

 

[viper357]

You basically get two common types that we see regularly, bristleworm and fireworm. They're generally harmless in your aquarium (but don't touch them with your hands) and do a lot of good cleaning and eating anything that dies in your tank, however if you tend to overfeed then they can become a nuisance as they will breed profusely if there is enough food. If there is nothing else on the rock you could soak it in RO water overnight, this will kill anything on the rock, including the beneficial bacteria. But if you already have liverock in your system then the new rock will soon become live again. If you do soak the rock in RO water then make sue you give it a good scrub and clean and shake it around in the water to get rid of any dead stuff that could cause a mini cycle in your tank if it's a small tank.

 

[LittleBitObsessed]

Thank you @viper357, I've read that fireworms aren't great since they are carnivorous. Have you had any issues with those?

 

[viper357]

I've never had a fireworm in my tanks, yet, *touchwood, lol.

 

[LittleBitObsessed]

Haha, you see what I want to avoid

 

[LittleBitObsessed]

But it seems like fireworms are the most common bad one we want to avoid in our tanks.