Disgusting hard tube worms.

[REEFDAZED]

Does anybody have any experience with these unsightly tube worms that send out cobwebs all over my corals and rock. They have spread in every corner of my 180g bow front reef tank. They have even grown on the return nozzles and powerheads. They have even grown on some Turbo Snails. I'm almost deciding to break down the whole tank get rid of all rock and everything that has a worm on it and start all over with all new rock. To describe them; they look like small appendiges growing through everything, about 1/8" X 1" to 1-1/2" long, very hard and sharp. Everytime there's a disturbance in the tank they send out all these cobwebs disgusting!!. Please help, if anybody knows of some method to get rid of them, let me know. Thanks.

 

[chrismunn]

are they white or purple? thery're purple huh?

 

[Anemonebuff]

They are vermetid snails. A sedentary snail that sends out a mucous net to catch food(plankton, detrius, etc...). They are good for water quality and are pretty interesting IMHO. But, if you want them out you will need to break them off and remove them.

 

[REEFDAZED]

Thanks for your help. Very interesting. I have so many of them that I will take your advise and break them off.

 

[unclereefer]

I had vermetid snails infest my rock about a year ago. After reading about them in Julian Sprung's Reef Notes I decided to let them stay. Just be careful when cleaning or lifting any heavy rock with these guys on it, they hurt!

 

[reefshadow]

I also have a TON of these. I'm going to paste over some of them with kalk. They are harmless, but whenever I feed, the mucous gets all over my corals. Not just a little, a lot! Some of them don't seem to like it. I'm going to kill the largest, some are even imbedded in my sps.

 

[REEFDAZED]

Thanks Reefshadow,
This is my problem exactly. After some extensive research, I have a solution: a pair of frag snips, cut them at the bottom and a little squirt of muratic acid should get rid of the bulk of them. Thereafter maintaining that method should keep them under control.

 

[LivingTropicals]

I break them off, cover with epoxy or super glue. I have them starting to spread everyewhere too. Usually breaking them works but I think you need to get the base with it or they regrow.