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Worms in octopus tank

saldanag

Hatchling
Registered
Joined
May 6, 2019
Messages
4
Location
Michigan
Hi I have three tank 50 gallons each individual filtration system with a bimac males (3, one per tank) I found some worms, I attach a picture ,one died the other is ok, one more is eating less. I give to eat fiddle crabs, mercenaria clams and sometimes gosht shrimp. My question is is any product I can add to the tank to kill or control the worms. Please let me know.

GBimac
 

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the first pics is a bristle worm, there are traps for them available or you can make your own. They are scavengers so no real reason to remove them unless you are being overrun by them. They do not eat live octopus unless the octopus is in senescence. The other pics are hard for me to see to ID, but likely they likely don't need to be removed either.
 
the first pics is a bristle worm, there are traps for them available or you can make your own. They are scavengers so no real reason to remove them unless you are being overrun by them. They do not eat live octopus unless the octopus is in senescence. The other pics are hard for me to see to ID, but likely they likely don't need to be removed either.
all the pictures are the same worms the first was taken with a microscope camera 4x the others with a Ipod camera in the octopus tank or the container where I collect them

Thank you for let me know.
 
the first pics is a bristle worm, there are traps for them available or you can make your own. They are scavengers so no real reason to remove them unless you are being overrun by them. They do not eat live octopus unless the octopus is in senescence. The other pics are hard for me to see to ID, but likely they likely don't need to be removed either.
What traps you can recommend or how I can made the traps. Could you help me
 
A simple DIY "trap" would be to put a small piece of shrimp (any dead meat will do but keep it to something that is found in the ocean) inside a small piece of dead, unloved, coral remove it after a couple of days and soak it in freshwater and shake out the dead worms then sort of rinse and repeat.
 
Are the bristle worms in all of your systems or is it just one tank? They were likely introduced by hiding inside a piece of coral or rock you added to the tank, but without seeing your setup it's hard to know for sure. If the worms are only in one tank that is likely the case, but if they are in all your tanks then they could have been introduced through the crabs or other prey items you are adding to the tank, tough to tell! I hope the trap suggestion other users posted works out for you.
 
I hope the trap suggestion other users posted works out for you.
LOL, they "work" to keep the population down (and require on going maintenance) but nothing short of killing the live rock, removing the other substrate and starting over will eliminate them (and then they are still likely to be reintroduced).
 

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