I think I have a serious problem
My long established (many years) 55 reef has been taken over by hundreds (thousands?) of 1/8th-3/8th inch long, mechanical pencil lead thickness or maybe a little thicker in diameter, what looks like some kind of worm. There is a filter feeding end of these guys which is very tiny and maybe protrudes a 1/16th of an inch or so. I have all kinds of various little worms and dusters, etc...but this is a plague which has spread everywhere....I'm assuming it's some very miniature worm. The working end which protudes from the tiny tube is not much bigger than a pin head.. They are rigid and can be fairly easily broken off. They have spread like wildfire throughout my tank. They are all over every piece of rock and coral in the tank. Not the coral itself but all over the supporting rock... I also worry about my Bali LTA which I've had for a few years now which has to lay against many of these things.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/100569Invasion_pics_22.jpg
I'm looking for an id or any links which could help me get on the path to figure this out. I have a 330gal custom acrylic which I'm preparing to set up. I bought a few hundred pounds of base rock which I'm using to dry aquascape my new tank. This rock was layed out and dried for several months when I decided to take a couple of pieces and add them to my old 55. These pieces of base rock from a reputable supplier were obviously the source of my invasion which began a few months later. Maybe this is more common than I think like bristle worms or something but I've never heard anyone talk about them or seen pictures of them here on reef central....not that I've ever even scratched the surface of reef central....
Thanks,
Jack
My long established (many years) 55 reef has been taken over by hundreds (thousands?) of 1/8th-3/8th inch long, mechanical pencil lead thickness or maybe a little thicker in diameter, what looks like some kind of worm. There is a filter feeding end of these guys which is very tiny and maybe protrudes a 1/16th of an inch or so. I have all kinds of various little worms and dusters, etc...but this is a plague which has spread everywhere....I'm assuming it's some very miniature worm. The working end which protudes from the tiny tube is not much bigger than a pin head.. They are rigid and can be fairly easily broken off. They have spread like wildfire throughout my tank. They are all over every piece of rock and coral in the tank. Not the coral itself but all over the supporting rock... I also worry about my Bali LTA which I've had for a few years now which has to lay against many of these things.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/100569Invasion_pics_22.jpg
I'm looking for an id or any links which could help me get on the path to figure this out. I have a 330gal custom acrylic which I'm preparing to set up. I bought a few hundred pounds of base rock which I'm using to dry aquascape my new tank. This rock was layed out and dried for several months when I decided to take a couple of pieces and add them to my old 55. These pieces of base rock from a reputable supplier were obviously the source of my invasion which began a few months later. Maybe this is more common than I think like bristle worms or something but I've never heard anyone talk about them or seen pictures of them here on reef central....not that I've ever even scratched the surface of reef central....
Thanks,
Jack
