It Won't Die! I need help!!

[porkfish7767]

I am in the procss of setting up a 75 gallon reef tank. I originally bought an established system from someone. Big mistake, his problems bacame mine. Bubble algae and some kind of crazy worms. I took down the tank in November, took out all the live rock and put it outside in a stream in my backyard (freshwater). Well, after two months out in the winter weather I took the rock out of the stream, scraped off all the "dead" worm shells, soaked it in bleach for a couple days, followed by a couple days in freshwater, them put it in my tank. Now, all the suddn, five weeks later I have these little baby worms everywhere in my tank,
The worms are all spiral in form and have a hard shell on the outside. When they get larged they create a hard, white, calcium-like tube that stick out from the rock everywhere. They got in my sump, on my powerhead, and pumps, everywhere... Very thin, smaller than spagetti.
Here's a pic of what the "babies" look like on a peice of live rock I got from a buddie's tank. (not the rock I bleached).
Any idea what this is and how I can get rid of them?
Thanks for any help!

 

[BLKTANG]

Ummmmmmm you forgot the pic.

 

[Cope]

I believe there some type of snail. They did not come from the rock you dealt with.(not after that treatment) They survived in the tank, sump or skimmer,heater, powerheads,plumbing Ect......Over time they can clog pipes and cause over flows. When I grab rock I have been stabbed by them, They are tough.
Not sure how to kill them, there in my tank as well?

 

[BLKTANG]

I think you are talking about a spaghetti worm.Harmless.

 

[Cope]

I dont think thats what it is. The "worms" in your tank do not move correct? They build a hard shell in the "pile of poo" shape? They are clear and/or white?

I have been wrong before tho.

 

[sunfish11]

That is a vermatid snail you are describing . They are not a problem usually and the population will increase if there is sufficient food.

Lisa

 

[TellyFish]

Those are great. Hardy filter feeders.

 

[Cope]

Vermatid snail...... I agree 100% That is the name I was thinking of.

 

[Twz]

Uhh.
im not quite sure what yours look like but i had these coily looking white things in my tank (still do) i let a few of them get big and they turned out to be feather dusters!
Post the pic?

 

[Cope]

One way to be sure it's not a feather duster is to poke your self on it. A feather duster will crush under light pressure, these suckers are like stone. I would not recommend this, but I believe these are snails, description is just to close to the vermatid snails in my tank.
JMO

 

[Twz]

Opps,
went back and read it, missed were it said hard...

 

[porkfish7767]

Yeah, Cope that's exactly what I'm talking about. There appears to be two forms or stages. One looks like a small pile of poo on the rocks, kind of a brownish hard shell. The other is a white hard, sharp thing that sticks out of the rocks and will stab or cut you. Very hard and tough stuff. Seems to be the vermatid snail. Now that I've ID'd it I've gotta figure out what to do. The good news is the only fish in the tank are three damsels. (And a few hundred vermatid snails) So, I could take it all down and start over. But I really don't want to have to throw away all the rock I've got. I swear I think this stuff survived in the rock somehow. I think the little piles of poo are some type of cocoon and they stayed dormant until I put it back in the tank. I cleaned the tank thoroughly before I set it up. I built a new sump with all new plumbing and new pump. The only thing I re-used was the heater and some bio-balls. Come to think of it, maybe that's where they were hiding. I tried cleaning the bio-balls but maybe I missed something. Either way they were out of the water for a couple months.
Now I'm afraid that even if I take everything out, clean it and start over I'll have them hiding somwhre and have this problem again. Any ideas? Sorry no pic. I'm new at this...

 

[porkfish7767]

Any Ideas on how to get rid of this stuff?

 

[Cope]

I, I got nothing mate.......
Some say there due to over feeding, and cutting back on food will thin them. As far as complete removal? Let me know if you find something.
I will say I had a massive out break of these a while ago, almost covering entire rocks. I took the rock out and broke all the tubes(wearing thick gloves) And sprayed the rock with super hot fresh watter. The rock that I treaded in this fashion seems to be ok now. I just know they will come back at some point.
Good luck, and let me know if you find a solution.
Cope

 

[Cope]

Why reuse the bio balls, just get rid of them all together?
If your tank is new I dont think it will hurt you? Well not to much, you will see a cycle, not that the cycle will kill the snails.

 

[sw1tched]

I used to have these grow everywhere in my tank.. but now that I have a blue line puffer... he loves to snack on them. they still grow under rocks & such, but I dont notice them as much as I used to.

 

[porkfish7767]

I did a Google search and didn't find a blue line puffer. I found a blue spot puffer. Either way, I assume it's not reef safe?
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[IndyReefMan]

I used to have them a couple of years ago... they were everywhere. Then one day, they just started disappearing on their own. They're all gone now. I don't know what killed them off and I never saw anything feeding on them. I think a lot of these plague animals (like hydroids) often just crash on their own after reaching a limit of something.

 

[JimKelly12203]

I have been stabbed by these while helping to renovate my friend's aquarium. Aside from making LR difficult to handle, i don't think they're bad at all. I mean, you're not going to want them to infest your overflow etc... but they shouldn't harm anything IMO.

 

[MrSquid]

sw1tched - you beat me to it. I was gonna say to "borrow" a puffer or a couple of triggers.