Discus snail type worm on live rock, please help me ID it

[afroze]

I bought live rock from LFS I got these discus shaped snail kind of worms, no clue what they are and if they are beneficial at all, for now, I pinged LFS about it but I don't really want to trust him out if they just offloading it on me

any guesses here?

 

[afroze]

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I bought live rock from LFS I got these discus shaped snail kind of worms, no clue what they are and if they are beneficial at all, for now, I pinged LFS about it but I don't really want to trust him out if they just offloading it on me

any guesses here?

It looks like it may be vermetid snails - they're generally considered pests, as they reportedly sometimes irritate corals. However, it likely depends on the coral and the vermetid species, as some people have pics of their corals growing over the vermetids and doing just fine.

Most people would tell you to get rid of them, but - given that you're in India and probably not keeping corals - they shouldn't cause problems for you. So, if you're okay with them spreading, you could keep them. If you don't want them spreading (they can sometimes spread really quickly), then I'd get rid of them now.

Edit: forgot to add, welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[afroze]

It looks like it may be vermetid snails - they're generally considered pests, as they reportedly sometimes irritate corals. However, it likely depends on the coral and the vermetid species, as some people have pics of their corals growing over the vermetids and doing just fine.

Most people would tell you to get rid of them, but - given that you're in India and probably not keeping corals - they shouldn't cause problems for you. So, if you're okay with them spreading, you could keep them. If you don't want them spreading (they can sometimes spread really quickly), then I'd get rid of them now.

Edit: forgot to add, welcome to Reef2Reef!

Thanks for welcoming and reply

Thanks for guessing the 1972 Coral protection act, but I kinda have LPS for now

I just go this rock today, what do you think do I super glue over it to starve it out?

I started with 3ft tank for now thinking to upgrade it 6ft once I see things being stable in next 6 months

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thanks for welcoming and reply

Thanks for guessing the 1972 Coral protection act, but I kinda have LPS for now

I just go this rock today, what do you think do I super glue over it to starve it out?

I started with 3ft tank for now thinking to upgrade it 6ft once I see things being stable in next 6 months

I’ve heard mixed reviews on the super glue method (but, most methods get mixed reviews with Vermetids).

For the vermetids, some people report success with emerald crabs, bumblebee snails, coral snow (there's a DIY recipe on here somewhere for this that's super cheap - I believe it's made from chalk), etc.

Probably the best results I’ve seen with small numbers of vermetids come from crushing the tube and setting a predator (like an emerald crab or a bumblebee snail) by the crushed tube immediately after.

The following may be helpful too:

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Some people swear by bumblebee snails for vermetids, others say they’re useless, and still more say they’re effective but only over long periods of time (like 8+ months long). It may depend of the species of vermetid you have.

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
The only things that I've read about which confirmedly prey on Vermetid snails are Carpilius convexus (a crab), Mancinella armigera (a muricid - A.K.A. murex snail), and Menathais tuberosa (another muricid snail). For hopefully obvious reasons, none of these are fully reef safe, as there's a very good chance they'll eat CUC and any bivalves you may have (and with the crab, pretty much any other invert they can reach may be in danger as well). It's presumed in the report I've read that other Carpilius spp. will eat them as well, and there are likely a number of other muricid snails that would eat them too. I have no idea if these would be coral safe or not though.

So, while they're not common in the hobby, you might be able to get some Carpilius crabs, or you could try getting some predatory snails and see if those help. Some of the smaller predatory snails may be able to reach places where fish would struggle to, but there's no guarantees. I've heard some people have luck with bumblebee snails, some with emerald crabs, and some with wrasse or butterflyfish (possibly pufferfish too) - those might work, but from what I've heard it's very hit and miss - as you've seen (it may depend on the species of vermetid). To my knowledge, though, none of the likely to succeed possible predators are totally reef safe. Either way, biological controls may help to limit the population, but I wouldn't expect a complete eradication.

 

[afroze]

I got rid of that rock for now, maybe it's best to keep it away for now will try any of the above methods in the coming days, thanks a ton @ISpeakForTheSeas you did saved my tank today

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I got rid of that rock for now, maybe it's best to keep it away for now will try any of the above methods in the coming days, thanks a ton @ISpeakForTheSeas you did saved my tank today

Happy to help!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

It looks like it may be vermetid snails - they're generally considered pests, as they reportedly sometimes irritate corals. However, it likely depends on the coral and the vermetid species, as some people have pics of their corals growing over the vermetids and doing just fine.

Most people would tell you to get rid of them, but - given that you're in India and probably not keeping corals - they shouldn't cause problems for you. So, if you're okay with them spreading, you could keep them. If you don't want them spreading (they can sometimes spread really quickly), then I'd get rid of them now.

Edit: forgot to add, welcome to Reef2Reef!

Those look to be a type of feather duster worm. The shells are different from vermetids. The ones I have are like larger spirorbids but they have a red duster.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

You can even see a red duster poking its head out in the first pic...

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Those look to be a type of feather duster worm. The shells are different from vermetids. The ones I have are like larger spirorbids but they have a red duster.

Interesting - I don’t know if I’ve seen feather dusters (other than spirorbids) with curled tubes before, but (after a quick Google search), I think you may well beright.

You can even see a red duster poking its head out in the first pic...

Not going to lie, I couldn’t see any feathery appendages on it, so I just assumed that was an operculcum.

Easy way to tell for sure so you can feel confident with the answer either way, OP - if it sends out a little circular feather crown, it’s a feather duster; if it sends out a mucus web/net/string, then it’s a vermetid.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Not going to lie, I couldn’t see any feathery appendages on it, so I just assumed that was an operculcum.

If I didn't have them in my tank, I wouldn't have thought the blurry thing at the end of the tube was a duster either.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I wish I could get a pic of mine but there are just a few and they are in crevasses. I probably would never have noticed them if i didn't sometimes spend hours with a flashlight and magnifying glass, in the middle of the night, screwing up my eyes, lol. Usually only see the tip of the duster, haven't caught one fully extended (probably cuz I'm shining a light at them).

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

The best ID I can find is the Serpula genus.

Serpula columbiana

Sechelt Inlet, British Columbia.

www.marinespecies.org

Serpula vermicularis - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Serpula vermicularis, known by common names including the calcareous tubeworm, fan worm, plume worm or red tube worm, is a species of segmented marine polychaete worm in the family Serpulidae. It is the type species of the genus Serpula and was first described by Linnaeus in 1767. It lives in a tube

alchetron.com