I recently picked up some live rock and live sand. I have a 29 gallon Biocube I have been trying to sell and thought I might have better results if I sold it already set up. I put some gravel in it mixed with crushed coral and then put the live rock in. After a couple of days, I decided the gravel mixture just didn't look "saltwaterish", so I planned to remove it and put the live sand in there. As I looked into the bucket of sand, I noticed a few bristleworms had come to the surface. I couldn't find anything else alive in my "live" sand, so I took drastic action. I cleaned the sand in hot water a little at a time. That killed all of the bristleworms in the sand. Then it occurred to me that the live rock might have some bristleworms also... since it came from the same tank. I found out that they are nocturnal, so I went night searching with a flashlight. Sure enough... they are all over the live rocks. There is not a lot of life on the live rocks, but some... tube worms, one medium feather duster and some smaller ones. So, I came up with a couple of solutions. I could soak the rocks in hot water, which would definitely kill the bristleworms, but would probably kill all of the other stuff too. Then I found out that the bristleworms die if I drop them in fresh water even at room temperature. I don't know how long the other life could survive in the freshwater. Can anyone shed some light about that? Any better ideas about how to eradicate the bristleworms? Don't suggest the traps. That is a slow never ending process designed to control the bristleworm population. I want them GONE! Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Dont worry about the brissle worms.. They are a good part of the cleanup crew. Until they get a foot or so long there is really not need to worry about them...they have to be really big to harm anything.

I had bristle worms too and got a six line wrasse that ate them all up. I know your trying to sell it and prob don't want to add fish, but that is what helped me.

As to you FW dip question;

A quick FW dip shouldn't hurt the live rock, I've done it w/out loss. Not sure it will get all the worms but worth a shot.

I have heard stories of people who don't mind the bristle worms and those totally against them. From the number I found in about 15 pounds of live sand, I would say they multiply pretty rapidly. I also read that they can produce a nasty sting. I hate to sell the live rock, knowing they are in there. I like the Wrasse idea... is that a reef-safe fish? As for the FW dip, I am going to do some more experimenting to see how long it take for the BW's to die.

Thanks for all the comments. I guess it is decision time.

Fresh water dip them and dont worry about the other life. They and the bristle worms will come back eventually. I fresh water dip or dip in Coral RX and kill everything before I put it in my tank.

Well, I captured a bristle worm and put him in fresh water the same temp as my tank. He didn't last ten minutes. So, I am going to put all the live rock in a tub of fresh water while I change out the gravel mix for live sand in the tank. That should kill off the bristle worms and hopefully won't kill everything else before I get them back in the saltwater.

You will want to get as much of the die off, off of the rock before putting it back in the tank. You may have an ammonia spike from any die off that is left in the rock. You will want to watch for that. Do you have livestock in the tank?

No livestock yet. I am going to add some from my other tank when I am sure everything is stable.

Well, the feather dusters and tube worms made it through a half hour fresh water soak. I hope the bristleworms didn't. (I'll find out as soon as I turn the lights out) I wanted to add some livestock but my specific gravity is lower than the tank they are coming from. The tank they are in is at 1.020-1.021 while the new reef tank is at 1.018. I didn't think I got that much fresh water in the tank with all the changes. I don't have any salt mix left and don't want to buy any more. Am I stuck waiting for enough water to evaporate to bring it up to the level of the other tank, or is there some other way to change it? I use real filtered, UV sterilized seawater for my tank setups and water changes now. It is at 1.020 at a temperature of 78 degrees and works way better than that mixed stuff. I want to add a Red-tipped Hermit Crab, a Turbo Snail, some Micro Brittle Stars, some Copepods and two Blue Damsels. I am hoping that will give me a quick sale on the BioCube tank. It has 25 lbs. of Live Rock and about an inch of live sand.

[later]
Sigh! At least one Bristle Worm made it. I suspect, if I see one, there are more I don't see. Oh well, at least I have diminished their numbers greatly. Time for a Wrasse!

[next day]
I broke down and bought some more salt mix. Brought my SG up where it belongs and added most of the livestock. Now I am ready to list the tank on Craigslist.