These things are really starting to annoy me...

[Reefguide]

I have posted about them before They have a very hard tube with a hard "foot" like base and in some spots curl up into a spiral. They are definatly hollow but have never produced feathers from their ends and are spreading very quick. They are on the base of alveopora, torch, basically anything with a hard base. They are even growing on snail shells, the glass, ect. I havent seen any on the sand. They also appear to have 2 very small mandible like appendages at their end. What the hell are they? I have started to spend quick a bit of time snaping them off... The pictures dont look like its much of a problem but trust me they are everywhere and they look horrible...

Thanks...

 

[NaH2Ofreak]

They are Vermitid (sp?) snails. They send out that long mucus "net" when debris gets stirred up, then real it back in to eat the goodies off of it that stuck.

Did you recently introduce some new liverock that had them on it? It has been my experience that they usually die back considerably as time goes on.

Good Luck!
Dennis

 

[Reefguide]

Nope, I've added almost nothing to my tank in a pretty long time... No new rock, corals or anything...

Will look into the "Vermitid (sp?) snails" !! Thanks for the reply !

 

[Reefguide]

You nailed it... just did some reading up on them... Read a bit on their forms of reproduction, their "mucus strands", ect. But didnt really find out if they could be harmfull in a reef tank with the exception of one comment about the mucus maybe overcoming small fish species...

Should I be ok? And what can I do besides snaping them off one by one...

Thanks

 

[CAT]

I've got these guys all over my tank. Snapping off the tube will not get rid of them. Not much will except a predator, though I haven't found one yet. I had them on wet l.r. in a garbage bag with no water for a week when I moved once and they still came back, even through the cycle.

They're filter feeders. Don't harm anything but they're sharp so can damage fish that charge into the rock too fast. :roll:

 

[NMreefer]

I've got them also. If any one knows a good predator please let me know. I once had a Half Black Angel that ate things like this. Maybe?

Phillip

 

[Modo]

I had a plaque once, but they kinda vanished for the most part. I still had a huge colony in a hang-on filter that I ran carbon in. I guess that they ate well in there or liked the lower light level.

I really don't think they are anything to worry about. Natural reef critters that eat ditritus can't be too bad.

 

[Anonymous]

Why are you guys so bent on getting rid of these things? They're not harmful, no more so than out on the reef. They usually catch detritus and whatnot with their feeding methods. They release no known toxins. So, what gives? Isn't part of reefkeeping fun the fact that you're not going to know about everything you discover in your system?

Also, a small reminder, remembe Brobak, all he did was squish a nudi and he ended up in E.R. So be careful with the squishing and snapping.

 

[wombat1]

My thoughts exactly, SM. These things reproduce really well all over my tank, especially in high flow areas like the surge bucket. They filter the water and I think they're pretty interesting to watch. No sense in killing them...

 

[CAT]

Guys, every square inch of my rock is covered with these things. They're even growing right through some softies. Very sharp and they've scratched up several of my fish (and my hands) because the tube can get to about 1/2 inch in length. They may be harmless but... a plague is a plague is a plague. :roll: Wouldn't mind them if they had some manners...

 

[Reefguide]

I'm with CAT !! I hate the look of them and mine are also reching plague proportions...

 

[Anonymous]

My tank, including the back wall, is totally covered with them. I like em though. Consider tham part of the clean up crew!

 

[Anonymous]

I've always had them, and they don't bother me, or anything in my tank.

Jim

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
My opinion is that if you really worry about these harmless critters, your tank must be in top-knock condition and you are running out of things to do.

 

[Reefguide]

Actually my tank is running pretty damn good... Why do you clean and or scrape algea from the glass? Blocks your view? looks like crap? How about bubble algea? Ever had it? If so why did you remove it?

Well, that's exactly my point with these. I hate the way they look period. Why is that so hard for you guys to understand?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, to each his own I suppose. I think part of the fun of a reef tank is watching all the odd little things grow out of the rock and I see them as an added value. I guess I don't subject them to much aesthetic scrutiny. Bubble algae can cause real problems in a tank and is a different situation, IMO.

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
I understand you, but just feel that it is not something that you want to invest too much efford into. As Dan mentioned already, unlike nasties that can hurt your coral/fish, these worm is harmless AFAIK. Think of them as something that will exist in any matured tank with certain amount of suspended food in the water column.

If they really bother you, just ply them off the rock, and remove/kill them.

PS: BTW, I am one of a few people who never can get any coralline algea to grow on the glass... don't know why.

 

[Anonymous]

In all honesty, if you're going to get bent about a critter such as this growing on your rocks, you might want to turn your attention to another hobby. In a healthy reef system, critters such as this tend to multiply and prosper.
I feel bad whenever I accidentaly break one off... :roll:


Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting, beyond CAT's point (perfectly valid) it seems that it's an act of reefkeeping as art, to suit one's sense of aesthetics, yeah? Interesting, though, I suppose that's why anyone would choose any biotope.

So, seeing as what these creatures do (yeah, I've had bubble algae, but never in any proportions that caused me any grief), being detrivores and all, I wonder if this isn't similar to another person's problem with bristleworms. He was getting them literally in plague numbers, which lead me to consider that he had some considerable nutrient export issues. The other maladies mentioned tend to point to the same thing as well.

After having worked in the trade, with I had my own tanks I hardly even topped them off, let alone scraped some algae (for which all residents always appeared much happier). But I've also had to care for public displays, so of course I understand the analogy. It's my been my own experience that the systems where I've let everything alone tend to have the healthiest specimens/conditions, and are the least pleasing for any but the truest of geeks to enjoy looking at.

In any event, I believe someone pointed out that breaking off their little shells does nothing, so hopefully it's something as easy to fix as nutrient export or similar. And of course, be careful not to cut yourself, some infections are really a pain.