bristleworm-good or bad???

[Siiri]

Hey everybody,

I detected some bristleworms in my fish tank. My LFS told me I need to get some out with a bristelworm trap, however a friend told me to leave them in there because they eat fish waste, etc.Which one is the right answer???

Does anybody have any experience with bristleworm? can they harm fish or corals??

If I do need to get them out, what would be a good method? I dont like the traps too much... Is there a shrimp or a crab or anything that would eat them??

Thanks for the advice :)

[Fiddler]

i have a bunch, and one is fairly large, i have NEVER seen them attack or kill anything, i've seen them run into starfish, snails, hermits, but they never fight them or anything, as for corals i don't know caus ei don't have any. and as for fish, well, my fish don't ever go close enough to the rocks to come in contact with the worms but i highly doubt they would try to kill a fish,
IMO they do great work cleaning the left over meaty foods on the rocks and bottom
so i'd say leave them in

[carfac]

They be good- scarey maybe, but good guys.

[Siiri]

cool, thank you for the info. :D

[bertoni]

Well, most of them are good. I doubt the ones in your tank are harmful, but that's a possibility. Just keep a watch for any signs of trouble. This article might be worth reading:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

[sir_dudeguy]

the only ones that i've heard of to be a bit of trouble are the ones that get to like, 3+ feet long lol..and i'd think you'd know if it was doing something if it was that big lol.