Hitchhiker ID - worm?

[ariellemermaid]

Hello, I have these little “cocoons” all over my tank - on my rock and corals. I’m also seeing cobweb-like strings all over the tank. Help - what is this? Some kind of worm?
I realize there’s a feather duster featured to the side in one of my pics, but it has a separate cocoon than these things. Thanks!

 

[Saltyreef]

Vermatid snails.
You can scrape them off as they will keep growing in large numbers. No fun.

 

[ariellemermaid]

Vermatid snails.
You can scrape them off as they will keep growing in large numbers. No fun.

Oh man, okay, thank you!

 

[RedFrog211]

Be sure to fully destroy their capsule. They’ll hide at the base once you start breaking it- if they survive, they’ll just rebuild it!

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Broadcast feeding makes them multiply too. If you cut back on broadcast and start feeding pellets/flakes to each fish you'll starve them too.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Get rid of those things. They're no fun. Left my leathers closed for over a month until I got rid of them all.

You could also buy bumblebee snails. They're supposedly vermatid eaters, but there's no 100% guarantee they'll do their job.

 

[ariellemermaid]

Broadcast feeding makes them multiply too. If you cut back on broadcast and start feeding pellets/flakes to each fish you'll starve them too.

There are no fish in this tank; it’s a crab & coral QT. I’m feeding seaweed on clips and sinking pellets. I do feed the corals sometimes too though.

 

[ariellemermaid]

Get rid of those things. They're no fun. Left my leathers closed for over a month until I got rid of them all.

You could also buy bumblebee snails. They're supposedly vermatid eaters, but there's no 100% guarantee they'll do their job.

Thanks! I’ll order some bumble bee snails when I place my next order.

 

[RedFrog211]

You can also use putty or glue to cover them, effectively starving them

 

[ariellemermaid]

Be sure to fully destroy their capsule. They’ll hide at the base once you start breaking it- if they survive, they’ll just rebuild it!

What about supergluing the opening? Bad idea?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Thanks! I’ll order some bumble bee snails when I place my next order.

Get a lot. One of them has to be a good egg. I bought three and not a single one did their job.

 

[Sharkbait19]

What about supergluing the opening? Bad idea?

You can use coral putty, that's your safest bet. About 6-10 bucks at the local pet store.

 

[RedFrog211]

You could try glue! I think as long as it adheres, it should work

 

[ariellemermaid]

What about this, same thing? There's a very long clear tube extending from the bottom of one frag over the top of another. As far as I can tell, nothing coming out of it and it's not bothering corals yet. This is like 10x longer than any of the other vermatids we have.

 

[RedFrog211]

I would remove it, just to be safe. In the event that it is beneficial, your tank won't suffer from its removal. Where as if it's a pest (more probable imo) you will have to deal with it eventually. I would like to point out that vermetid's aren't inherently dangerous; it's just vast numbers and burrowing into corals that causes issues. With that being said, dealing with 2 or 3 early on is much easier than controlling a whole population. :)

 

[ariellemermaid]

Just an update; the coral frag actually had 2 of those long hard tubes coming off plus one that looked like the original pictures (separate locations on the frag). I cut off the tubes with a razor blade and covered all with super glue. When I cut off the shorter of the long ones I definitely saw something squirming at the base, so looks like all the same thing.

This is a 20G invertebrate QT tank but it’s also a fully fledged long-term reef/crab tank. Rock, sand, flow/lighting, even some corals that left frags and are thriving on the rocks. The more I look the more of these things I see everywhere; frags, rocks, even had one growing on the HOB filter!

We’re basically just feeding nori and maybe twice a week some coral food but I guess that’s enough to do it. Oh, and phytoplankton to keep a copepod population going. I’ll try some bumblebees and glue or putty/glue but this is a pretty big infestation!

 

[RedFrog211]

Just an update; the coral frag actually had 2 of those long hard tubes coming off plus one that looked like the original pictures (separate locations on the frag). I cut off the tubes with a razor blade and covered all with super glue. When I cut off the shorter of the long ones I definitely saw something squirming at the base, so looks like all the same thing.

This is a 20G invertebrate QT tank but it’s also a fully fledged long-term reef/crab tank. Rock, sand, flow/lighting, even some corals that left frags and are thriving on the rocks. The more I look the more of these things I see everywhere; frags, rocks, even had one growing on the HOB filter!

We’re basically just feeding nori and maybe twice a week some coral food but I guess that’s enough to do it. Oh, and phytoplankton to keep a copepod population going. I’ll try some bumblebees and glue or putty/glue but this is a pretty big infestation!

Yikes- glad you’re noticing now, rather than months later. Do you broadcast or target feed? I’d recommend target feeding for a while to help rescue the amount of food the pests are getting! Good luck :)