Need help to ID a worm?

[the other tang]

I have what I believe is a "worm rock" worm. The reason i say that is first they are more heavily concentrated around an old worm rock. This rock has not had a living worm to my knowledge in about a year. The second is they look similar to what was in the rock before only much smaller. The old rock had worm holes approx. 1/8-1/4" and were apparently taken from the ocean due to the amount of calcium built up around each hole. The ones now have what appears to be a calcium tube the live in and have a filter feeder style web/net the stick out to grab food. I am not necessarily worried about having filter feeders, but these at this rate will reach epidemic proportions in a month. I had none a month ago and now a quick count approx. 100/150 in my 40g reef. I can't get a pic yet I am having camera issues. Please ask anyq's ya got, and thanks for any feedback.

 

[LeslieH]

Sounds like you have vermetid snails, AKA "worm snails". The only way to get rid of them is either by brute force (scraping, crushing, etc.) or by removing the rock. There are some fish that will eat them -- do a search for earlier posts to see what fish/methods people have used successfully.

 

[Chad Vossen]

these dont seem to be bad if they are the small kinds, though there is a thread somewhere about these guys and how much trouble they can cause if they over populate. i have a few as well and crush their shell when i see them, though they grow back. i think the only way to kill them is with crushing the shell, filling it with super glue, covering the area with marine epoxy, then finishing it off with a blow torch .

seems there are only a few kinds that can become a problem.

 

[the other tang]

I wonder if my kalk aptasia mix would have an effect on them. I mix it as strong as will draw up in a syringe and baste aptasia and they disapear instantly, I'll give that a shot. Thanks guys , i have never heard of these before.

 

[the other tang]

Vermetids, is what they are, thanks to you guys putting me on the right path. Anybody know what happens worst case if the continue to breed like rabbits? I can imagine but haven't seen it. I'll be searching for a fish to eat them , if anyone knows a good fish please let me know.

Thanks,

Rusty

 

[Chad Vossen]

nothing really bad happens, the mucus "nets" they have will irritate corals. it sounds as iff they can be a pain to kill though.

 

[Chad Vossen]

few links for more reading.

look here

another link

that should help you some

 

[the other tang]

Thanks guys, noy for the big question... Where do they come from. Other than that, I realize the come from the ocean. I mean did I buy something with these in it and then the infestation started, or are these present in most or all lr. The fore sounds more logical. For now I think i'll just crush the reachable ones and "as if I have a choice" let the others feed on the junk. What about bio-load? The addition of at least 100 new organisms that I can see and probably 1000 that I can't has to effect the entire system, right?

 

[the other tang]

I read in a post here, that" certain types of hermits" ea them. Unfortunately they made no ref as to what those types were. Does anyone have any info? I have a good mix of blues, some psychodelic black and white, and a couple small reds. I only have a few of each and haven't noticed any eating anywhere near these. I guess its possible I have the right one its just our numbered. I never thought i'd see the day i'd say' if I only had crabs my problems would be over.

 

[Chad Vossen]

these can come in on any hard surface you add to the tank, live rock most likly though they may come in on coral frags (attached to some kind of substrait such as a frag disk).

im not sure on the hermit crab speices needed, if you think of it, there are thousands of different hermitcrabs and we only keep 3-5 speices in our reef tanks.

 

[the other tang]

Right, my little blues nibbled off all my new zoo frags. If anyone has a safe suggestion please let me know. I was to at least manage them but not at the risk of losing my corals.