Chaetopterid or Spionid worm question

Russ Braaten

New member
I have found very little information about Chaetopterid and Spionid worms. I have thousands of them in a 30 gallon cube. Since I have so many I hate for them to only be filters. I would love to find something that will eat them and keep their populations down. So far I have tried, 6 line wrasses, purple pseudochromis, crabs, snails and shrimp of all sorts and none of them eat them.

Does anyone have any ideas?
 
Rather than killing them have you considered giving or selling them to other reefers? Check out this link. Project DIBS. Also check this months RK mag for an article about Project DIBS, and a podcast.
 
Hi David,

I am very willing to sell some starter cultures I could load up many tanks with starter cultures and still have more than enough food for many fish, that is if I could find a fish that will help me control them some.

Scoops of sand from my tank will not only start the Chaetopterid / Spionid worms (I mention both because I don't know which I have or I may have both) but also red spaghetti worms.
 
Russ,

I think getting starting cultures to other reefers would be a better solution long term. These types of worms are very beneficial to functioning sandbeds and should be encouraged.

If you were to introduce a predator that could actually eat them, with a tank that size you would quickly go from a large population to nothing in a very short period of time. Manual control by export to other people that desire them will be a better method of population control.

Brian
 
these things are pests. with so many, they expel "webs" for feeding that irritate and harm/hinder my zoas and others have reported that they kill acros.

Have you tried peppermint shrimp? i've heard that MAYBE they eat spionid worms. also I heard of a report of a single zebra leg hermit keeping the population in check.
 
Goldmaniac -- I believe you're talking about vermetid snails. Neither spionids or chaetopterids create mucus feeding strings or kill acros.
 
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