coral boring spinobid worms. . . HELP?

MoshJosh · May 5, 2023

Noticed my blue ridge coral not extending it's polyps. . . upon further inspection it has spinobid worms. . . I have a bunch of acros I don't want to get infected. . . might be too late though. . . what should I do?

Update: I did try dipping the coral in Coral Revive (only dip I have ATM) and nothing. I have read some old threads and can't seem to find anything that was effective. I read maybe a leopard wrasse would eat them (not sure how the wrasse could get to them), but would that or another wrasse be worth a try?

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · May 5, 2023

Please post a photo of what you're asking about.
There are SPIRORBID worms and SPIONID worms, but no "spinobids".

ISpeakForTheSeas · May 5, 2023

MoshJosh said:
Noticed my blue ridge coral not extending it's polyps. . . upon further inspection it has spinobid worms. . . I have a bunch of acros I don't want to get infected. . . might be too late though. . . what should I do?

Update: I did try dipping the coral in Coral Revive (only dip I have ATM) and nothing. I have read some old threads and can't seem to find anything that was effective. I read maybe a leopard wrasse would eat them (not sure how the wrasse could get to them), but would that or another wrasse be worth a try?

If you have a Coral Boring Spionid Worm infestation, then no, a wrasse won’t help (and dips won’t either):

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
I’d imagine you would need something that could follow them into their burrows for the predation to be effective though, as these guys have been shown to be partially eaten by things like killifish only to regenerate without issue on a regular basis in the wild (with specimens typically losing ~13-24% of their bodies and regenerating completely within ~2 weeks). I’d guess there are some predatory worms that might be effective against these guys, but (like the nudibranch mentioned above) you’d have a tough time finding one even if you knew which species to look for.

Sometimes these worms spread, and sometimes they don’t - it probably depends on the species and tank conditions. So, they may or may not be a problem for you:

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
The only times I've heard of these stressing/damaging corals is when they grow to plague proportions in a tank (i.e. when there are more worms than polyps sticking out of a coral, you may have problems). Below that insanely high population level, they don't do any real harm.

Some relevant threads with good info:

Coral Boring Spionid Worms -- an ugly bane to SPS

This is not something I've ever seen before. They are extremely ugly. Mar the appearance of SPS. This is on a "Beach Bum" encrusting montipora. I would take aphasia or even montipora eating nudibranchs over this crap. I've beat those with hard work. Not sure how to eliminate these without...

www.reef2reef.com

Coral Boring Spionid Worms- Anybody Killed them?

These turds have survived Bayer, Coral RX Pro, KCI, and Exodus dip. They apparently retract into their tubes, and back into the coral skeleton where they apparently are safe from the medications. Below I will post some pictures for reference. The first pic is mine, but the others are just...

www.reef2reef.com

mfollen · May 5, 2023

I’d get rid of them out of the tank
Coral and all rock
Not worth risk of spreading

Hurricane Aquatics · May 5, 2023

He's speaking of spionid worms. I have a few in my maricultured Acros. I am going to cut them out as it won't hurt the colony much. That's the only way I know of getting rid of them. No dip or anything will work and if you superglue their hole shut, they will bore through the other side.

mfollen · May 5, 2023

You don’t want spionid worms. Throw them out before they spread through your rockwork
Or be prepared to dose some heavy medication

MoshJosh · May 6, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
Please post a photo of what you're asking about.
There are SPIRORBID worms and SPIONID worms, but no "spinobids".

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
If you have a Coral Boring Spionid Worm infestation, then no, a wrasse won’t help (and dips won’t either):

Sometimes these worms spread, and sometimes they don’t - it probably depends on the species and tank conditions. So, they may or may not be a problem for you:

Some relevant threads with good info:

Coral Boring Spionid Worms -- an ugly bane to SPS

This is not something I've ever seen before. They are extremely ugly. Mar the appearance of SPS. This is on a "Beach Bum" encrusting montipora. I would take aphasia or even montipora eating nudibranchs over this crap. I've beat those with hard work. Not sure how to eliminate these without...

www.reef2reef.com

Coral Boring Spionid Worms- Anybody Killed them?

These turds have survived Bayer, Coral RX Pro, KCI, and Exodus dip. They apparently retract into their tubes, and back into the coral skeleton where they apparently are safe from the medications. Below I will post some pictures for reference. The first pic is mine, but the others are just...

www.reef2reef.com

mfollen said:
I’d get rid of them out of the tank
Coral and all rock
Not worth risk of spreading

Hurricane Aquatics said:
He's speaking of spionid worms. I have a few in my maricultured Acros. I am going to cut them out as it won't hurt the colony much. That's the only way I know of getting rid of them. No dip or anything will work and if you superglue their hole shut, they will bore through the other side.

mfollen said:
You don’t want spionid worms. Throw them out before they spread through your rockwork
Or be prepared to dose some heavy medication

Yes I meant spionid worms, the ones the drill into your stony corals and rock. . . sorry. . . you can see the tiny tube sticking out of where a polyp once was and 2 long "antenna" sticking out. Look exactly like the pictures I could find online.

Thanks everyone, I did remove the coral (it's sitting in a cup ATM). . . I will keep an eye on the rest of the corals (can't afford to get all new rock and corals haha). I can try to cut them out but a number of these corals, while encrusting, are small, and not sure if they could survive um. . . bone surgery?

I will keep an eye out!!!