bristle worm?

I have several of what I think are bristle worms. When I described them to my LFS guy he said that bristle worms are red in color and what I was describing was grey. I've included to pics below. For the first time I found one of these guys with a reddish tint too him but I've also included a picture of one of the larger grey ones.

On one of the images I've also circled what I think is a baby trochus snail. Although it seams kinda big for the amount of shell its got so far. Anyone else get these guys?

 

here is the image with the snail adjusted so you can see it better.

 

yea its a bristleworm. most people say theyre good guys but i would worry if you start to see alot of them. ive seen them eat some of my lps that were doing fine until i started getting an outbreak of bristleworms.

 

Bristleworms are a valuable member of your clean up crew. Leave them be.

 

good cleaners, start wearing gloves if you have your hands in the tank..Sting from them sucks...

 

But... buttt they are so furry and friendly!!!!!! :mrgreen:

 

and they tickle your tongue if you pop one in your mouth:^:...trust me do not touch one..

 

Yeah... have you met Waddi? If it can hurt him, it has.

 

Hahahahaha, yeeeaa, just a little. I try and avoid the things that have a potential to hurt... Doesn't work.

 

Bristleworms can come in pink, gray, red, tan, orange...

 

ok well so far they haven't done any damage to corals. So not too worried about that but i am getting some rather large ones and I'm definantly noticing an increase. I'm not sure I want a bunch of these guys in my tank. Is there anything that munches one em?

 

And to answer your second question, that isn't a baby trochus snail, it is a stomatella. A great addition to the tank. They are little eaters of fishooh:

If you start getting tons and tons of bristle worms, it usually means you are over feeding your tank. There is a lot of left over food and fish poop that they are consuming. I have never had them eat anything that wasn't already dying either.

 

The other day I watch one of my Emerald crabs drag one into a cavern. ... .. .. I had no idea they could sting... glad I now know.. wow.. I almost grabbed one.

I hope my two Emeralds are molting.. haven't seen either for a few days.

 

Ok this was a very good post for me because I came here looking for that answer but, here is my problem. I have these in my new 75 gallon tank and there are many of them I mean a lot. Now this tank at moment is fish only so should I do anything or let it go? Also while we are talking 75 gallon I am also being over run by starfish like things that are white small body but long skinny tentacle like legs. There are literally hundreds throughout tank.

 

I'll let someone with more experience answer, but they aren't all that hard to trap.

 

Get some pantyhose put some table shrimp in. Overnight, and be careful when you take the out. I have been stung a few times. It aint nice.

 

They could be astrena

 

I know this thread is old but ...are there any 'bad' species of bristle worms? LFS guy said if it was a solid one color red/pink they were bad for your reef?