Coral Boring Spionid Worms -- an ugly bane to SPS

[Biologic]

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 killing coral.

I read a thread sometime ago or maybe it was a YouTube video about an Aussie coral grower who raises their potassium to extremely high levels to eradicate AEFW's. KCl is an effective dip to kill nearly anything on a coral frag. I am willing to do this to my tank to get rid of these. I realize it will kill nearly anything else in the tank as well. I would remove snails, inverts, and fish. Perform a 100% water change and reintroduce animals back in the tank.

I don't know, what are your thoughts on how to handle these?

 

[KrisReef]

I believe some people use bumblebee snails to eat these? Not certain if that would work but it would be worth a try?

Available here? -No profit to me.

Edit: Oh, and please update your adventure as you go. Good luck! I've crushed these in the past but the are difficult to totally remove, ime. And they can put a hole in a digit really nicely, hurts like purgetory.

Another edit? Well that was the wrong link : There ya go.

 

[Biologic]

I believe some people use bumblebee snails to eat these? Not certain if that would work but it would be worth a try?

Available here? -No profit to me.

Edit: Oh, and please update your adventure as you go. Good luck! I've crushed these in the past but the are difficult to totally remove, ime. And they can put a hole in a digit really nicely, hurts like purgetory.

BRS chiller guide?

I am convinced that Bumblebee snails don't do diddly. I have a 50 gallon tank. I bought 13 of them. I have plenty of vermented snails to prove it. They are actually the only snails I have. I use urchins otherwise.

 

[Hairyteeth]

Curious and following

 

[Cell]

I've never seen so many in one spot. In my experience, they do not multiply like that. If they are indeed spionids, I don't think there is much you can do to eliminate them. I recall someone had tried ivermectin with positive results but that is not an approved or well vetted method whatsoever. Some will recommend gluing the holes, but spionid are not like vermetid. Vermetid live in the base of the shell on top of surfaces. Spionid tunnel into the coral itself. Glue a hole shut and it simply makes a new tunnel like an ant would.

 

[Biologic]

I've never seen so many in one spot. In my experience, they do not multiply like that. If they are indeed spionids, I don't think there is much you can do to eliminate them. I recall someone had tried ivermectin with positive results but that is not an approved or well vetted method whatsoever. Some will recommend gluing the holes, but spionid are not like vermetid. Vermetid live in the base of the shell on top of surfaces. Spionid tunnel into the coral itself. Glue a hole shut and it simply makes a new tunnel like an ant would.

I have an insulin syringe -- a very fine injection needle. I could purchase some Amazon in a liquid solution to inject them. It would be hard work to do though. I wonder if the entire tank could be treated? I would expect the rest of the polychaetes in the tank to die as well. There's no way to get rid of them it seems. They are awfully ugly.

They even are on the live rock itself inside of coralline algae.

 

[Cell]

Ivermectin for The Removal of Spionids

Summary: Ivermectin paste (1.87%) was successfully used to remove Spionid worms from an infested acro. Context: At the time of the trial, the acro was already so heavily infested with spionids that the likely hood of survival was already extremely low. The acro never showed any polyp...

www.reef2reef.com

If you search Ivermectin on this forum there are some other threads as well with people's experience/experiments with ivermectin.

 

[Hairyteeth]

I’ll wait and hear how the injections works… been avoiding the super glue method as I figured they would just dig a new hole?

 

[Biologic]

Ivermectin for The Removal of Spionids

Summary: Ivermectin paste (1.87%) was successfully used to remove Spionid worms from an infested acro. Context: At the time of the trial, the acro was already so heavily infested with spionids that the likely hood of survival was already extremely low. The acro never showed any polyp...

www.reef2reef.com

If you search Ivermectin on this forum there are some other threads as well with people's experience/experiments with ivermectin.

Wow that's incredible! Thank you for this post. Posts like these elevate the hobby.

I am going to try Potassium Chloride first because its accessible for most hobbyists and its mild for coral.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Wow that's incredible! Thank you for this post. Posts like these elevate the hobby.

I am going to try Potassium Chloride first because its accessible for most hobbyists and its mild for coral.

I’ve never tried it or noticed but wouldn’t the spionib just retract in their tubes as soon as being exposed to air?…..avoiding the potassium chloride spray? Never thought they bore into corals….more that corals encrust around their territory. The coral continues to encrust as the worms extend out to survive.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I’ve never tried it or noticed but wouldn’t the spionib just retract in their tubes as soon as being exposed to air?…..avoiding the potassium chloride spray? Never thought they bore into corals….more that corals encrust around their territory. The coral continues to encrust as the worms extend out to survive.

I'm sure encrusting around them happens occasionally too, but some of them do bore into the corals. Here are a couple of quotes from the paper linked below:
"Boring spionids are among the most common coral reef bioeroders, playing a substantial role in reef destruction (Hutchings, 1986), but are found most frequently in coral rock or non-living substrata."
"Spionids construct interconnected tunnel networks within the coral skeleton that project as mucus-lined openings on the surface (Lewis, 1998). These boreholes weaken the coral colonies and increase their susceptibility to breakage by wave surge (Hein and Risk, 1975; Scott and Risk, 1988)."

http://wp.auburn.edu/chadlab/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Weilgus-et-al-2006.pdf

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I'm sure encrusting around them happens occasionally too, but some of them do bore into the corals. Here are a couple of quotes from the paper linked below:
"Boring spionids are among the most common coral reef bioeroders, playing a substantial role in reef destruction (Hutchings, 1986), but are found most frequently in coral rock or non-living substrata."
"Spionids construct interconnected tunnel networks within the coral skeleton that project as mucus-lined openings on the surface (Lewis, 1998). These boreholes weaken the coral colonies and increase their susceptibility to breakage by wave surge (Hein and Risk, 1975; Scott and Risk, 1988)."

http://wp.auburn.edu/chadlab/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Weilgus-et-al-2006.pdf

I don’t trust any coral research before the year 2000 haha, jk. I’ve just never seen them on the original part of the frag. They’ve always been part of the encrusted/new basal growth areas. Doesn’t matter either way bc I don’t think the spray will do anything.

I used to have them everywhere at the bases of my acros but rarely see them since doing regular interceptor bombs. Hope that helps

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Any point in fragging off infested sections? I have them in two corals and am about set to just amputate.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

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 killing coral.

I read a thread sometime ago or maybe it was a YouTube video about an Aussie coral grower who raises their potassium to extremely high levels to eradicate AEFW's. KCl is an effective dip to kill nearly anything on a coral frag. I am willing to do this to my tank to get rid of these. I realize it will kill nearly anything else in the tank as well. I would remove snails, inverts, and fish. Perform a 100% water change and reintroduce animals back in the tank.

I don't know, what are your thoughts on how to handle these?

The method/thread you’re describing sounds like the bill Morgan aefw treatment. The tank has to be drained and the corals are sprayed with an elevated potassium chloride solution and left on for 15 minutes. You’ll kill everything in your tank if you elevate K levels this high

Acro eating Flatworm treatment potassium chloride spray

m.youtube.com

 

[Biologic]

Any point in fragging off infested sections? I have them in two corals and am about set to just amputate.

I would suggest to do this first. It started with three, and quickly turned into 60 over a year.

Here are my results of the potassium chloride dip. They appear lifeless after the dip 1 tablespoon per gallon for 20 minutes. I had to pry off the encrusting coral off the live rock. I scraped off the rest of the surrounding coral tissue from the rock. I had a peppermint shrimp play "Safety" and went through the rubble. I sucked up the remaining coral rubble and discarded it.

I re-glued the montipora on a frag disk. I am optimistic of the results.

Here is the back side of the coral.

The method/thread you’re describing sounds like the bill Morgan aefw treatment. The tank has to be drained and the corals are sprayed with an elevated potassium chloride solution and left on for 15 minutes. You’ll kill everything in your tank if you elevate K levels this high

No this is complete dip of the entire coral flat system. 1 tablespoon per gallon. Not sprayed on. They elevated the potassium, ran the system, then exchanged out water don't quote me exactly. Totally it would certainly kill every invertebrate in the tank. It would stress the corals for sure but better than AEFW.


I also find aptasia detach and can be knocked back by KCl dips as well. I wish I discovered it sooner!

 

[Biologic]

I'm sure encrusting around them happens occasionally too, but some of them do bore into the corals. Here are a couple of quotes from the paper linked below:
"Boring spionids are among the most common coral reef bioeroders, playing a substantial role in reef destruction (Hutchings, 1986), but are found most frequently in coral rock or non-living substrata."
"Spionids construct interconnected tunnel networks within the coral skeleton that project as mucus-lined openings on the surface (Lewis, 1998). These boreholes weaken the coral colonies and increase their susceptibility to breakage by wave surge (Hein and Risk, 1975; Scott and Risk, 1988)."

http://wp.auburn.edu/chadlab/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Weilgus-et-al-2006.pdf

You can definitely see that in my pictures. They don't do them justice but it was very clear they were all playing footsie with each other in their interconnected tunnels.

I don’t trust any coral research before the year 2000 haha, jk. I’ve just never seen them on the original part of the frag. They’ve always been part of the encrusted/new basal growth areas. Doesn’t matter either way bc I don’t think the spray will do anything.

I used to have them everywhere at the bases of my acros but rarely see them since doing regular interceptor bombs. Hope that helps

I was thinking that -- interceptor. How does it work for you? I never personally used it. I just got back into the hobby. I knew about it in the early 2000's. Do you have other polychaete worms in your tank with your regular treatments?

Also, what happens do your other beneficial pod population with that treatment? How about other inverts? I never really looked into it. Curious to here an experienced user's thoughts.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

You can definitely see that in my pictures. They don't do them justice but it was very clear they were all playing footsie with each other in their interconnected tunnels.


I was thinking that -- interceptor. How does it work for you? I never personally used it. I just got back into the hobby. I knew about it in the early 2000's. Do you have other polychaete worms in your tank with your regular treatments?

Also, what happens do your other beneficial pod population with that treatment? How about other inverts? I never really looked into it. Curious to here an experienced user's thoughts.

It will kill off a lot of the pods and worms but I don’t care. I’m looking at my tank right now and don’t see any of those spionids anymore. Maybe it does kill those too

 

[Biologic]

It will kill off a lot of the pods and worms but I don’t care. I’m looking at my tank right now and don’t see any of those spionids anymore. Maybe it does kill those too

Someone needs to write a book on pests treatment. A lot of that knowledge is locked away. This pest isn't common like the rest, so I am really glad to have a resource like R2R to come to. It's nice to also contribute to curing corals of pests.

I will definitely try interceptor if I can get my hands on it.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Someone needs to write a book on pests treatment. A lot of that knowledge is locked away. This pest isn't common like the rest, so I am really glad to have a resource like R2R to come to. It's nice to also contribute to curing corals of pests.

I will definitely try interceptor if I can get my hands on it.

I also added an army of bumble bee snails for vermatid snails. They might of hunted down the spionids as well

 

[Biologic]

I also added an army of bumble bee snails for vermatid snails. They might of hunted down the spionids as well

Does intercepter hurt any other inverts like snails and urchins? I actually have no snails other than maybe a few bumble bees and some random trochus babies. My urchins are the GOAT.