Absolute infestation of spirobid worms.

[donutmanstan]

Hi, I’ve made a previous post about this tank and noted the outbreak of the little filter feeders. I absolutely hate the look of them and they’re taking over the rocks. What is the problem??
I feed reef rounds twice a week, and feed my 2 clowns twice a day. Am I over feeding the tank?
Also, even if I do get the worms to stop growing, is there anything to get their hard shells off of the rocks? Besides scrubbing them off.
Adding pictures.
Thanks!!

 

[donutmanstan]

That one horrible spot is where I can’t scrape the glass because of the scape.

 

[MTBake]

That is a lot of spirobid worms! Not sure what you can do besides manual scraping.

Maybe someone will have a better idea.

 

[brandon429]

For sure can be beaten without scratching:

you can drain your water out and catch it

exposing all of them

lay wet paper towel of vinegar, squeezed out, over them and press.

in a few mins they’ll all dissolve that is very reactive calcium carbonate they’re working with like a micro dot

it might even be twenty seconds to dissolve...reactive. Pre test a section of rock outside the tank, pre model

mist the reef portion with saltwater sprayer while working glass.

it can go probably an hour drained, corals misted. The time you take to dissolve dots of calcium carbonate isn’t long.
you’ll just have to exhaust them. I expect a repeat but stay on top of them

That’s the hitchhiker you got, another man gets amphidinium


after lifting off wet paper towel of vinegar, run a dry paper towel back across inner glass refill slowly, across the highest rock surface don’t kick up sandbed waste.

 

[steves]

ya they are just part of the hobby like coraline IMO

 

[Copingwithpods]

Everyone says it's an over abundance of nutrients or over feeding, and while yes these can cause them to bloom I don't think starving the tank is the ultimate fix. Think of how small these guys are and how incredibly tiny their stomachs must be. One pellet of food could probably feed them all for a week.

I have them too and I don't feed my tank much, my rear chambers are absolutely covered with them but for what ever reason they don't touch my rocks. If you can move your rocks away from the glass I would start there and just wait for coralline to cover the ones on the rocks.

 

[Hermie]

I was told in another thread that they are harmless and a sign of a healthy tank.

 

[Copingwithpods]

I was told in another thread that they are harmless and a sign of a healthy tank.

Harmless yes, a pest, absolutely lol

 

[brandon429]

I would take them, my tank selects against them over time. Little red red tufts look neat

truly have never seen that many, ever. Extremely adapted variant, above norm. Couldn’t imagine them harming corals, and all the little juvenile forms that transit the water to land next to a buddy is good coral feed, plankton, en route

 

[Hermie]

TBH if I were you I'd get an urchin and see if it scrapes them off, probably would

 

[Copingwithpods]

TBH if I were you I'd get an urchin and see if it scrapes them off, probably would

I've got a long spin and although he passes over them he doesn't harm them

Here's my return chamber

 

[Copingwithpods]

@op I found my notes!

Here's what is rumored to eat them.


Hermit crabs (no guarantee)

Sixline wrasse (no guarantee)

Vayssierea felis nudibranch (good success)

Ornate Leopard Wrasse (good success)

There are others just can't find the other half of my notes. Will report back if I find them.

 

[PilotOfSubmarines]

I have them but they are just all over my rocks. I have a six line wrasse and hermit crabs and they don't touch them.
I've grown to accept them. They are really noticeable when I turn up my white light...they don't look so bad on the rock during normal lighting.

 

[homer1475]

My leopard wrasse eats them en masse. Used to have quite a few on the rocks and in my overflow. Added a leopard years ago, now I barely see them. I've actually seen her pick at them.

 

[codenfx]

I have these all over my tank, sump and snail shells, they're an eyesore. My 2 leopard wrasse does not touch them sadly but they've only been in my tank for a week. There's also a bunch on my hammer base, is it okay to leave it or should I rub them off?

 

[kzenoni]

Bumble bee snails did the trick for my 350

 

[HB AL]

Bright lights, they won't grow in highly lit areas.

 

[RichReef]

Biodiversity.

You just don't have enough of other things to out compete them.

They will just keep coming back until you have more diversity.

Feather dusters. Micro stars. Sponges. Spaghetti worms, sand fauna. ect..........

 

[elysics]

OP is long gone, but in general the solution is to stop caring what your rock looks like. With time there will be no rock left to look at, it will be covered in coral. Spirorbid worms get covered by corraline over time too btw, and so will spots of glass that you can't clean, which is a much bigger problem.