How to Get of Spirorbid Worms Infestation?

[kristinarenee]

Same for me. None on the front glass

I have an infestation also. I got busy and didn't clean the front glass for a couple weeks and they showed up on the front glass. I think people are so used to cleaning the front and sides of the tank more often than the back that they don't think it grows on the front. I am dosing vodka and my nitrates are down to two. I am hoping when I drop to my maintenance dose they will go away.

 

[SereneAquatic]

I am having a similar issue. They first appeared on a set of live rock that sat in a brute trash can with a couple snails, a heater and a powerhead. I feed the bucket occasionally for about 5 months... Never did a water change, just topped off evap, so the nitrates were through the roof.

Those rocks are in a tank now but soooo covered in these snails you almost can't see the surface of the rocks. It looks terrible. I had thought they would die back outside of the bucket. I don't believe I over feed the tank, but I do feed frozen food mixtures, Selcon and reef chili.

Like others, they seem to like the back glass more than the front, though they do try to spread there in bursts. It seems like any time I scrape a bunch off the glass, they explode in numbers.

They are making me bonkers. [emoji15]

 

[Sebastian300blkout]

Has anyone tried flatworm exit?

 

[Sebastian300blkout]

They are a little pricey, but bumblebee snails might clear them out. They are carnivorous, and eat all sorts of worms.

So far my bumblebee snails haven't touched the spirorbids. I'm wondering if Flat worm exit with get rid of them.

 

[Ready4Launch]

Anyone successfully get rid of them? I've got em, and would like my rocks to return to normal.

 

[Sebastian300blkout]

Anyone successfully get rid of them? I've got em, and would like my rocks to return to normal.

Nothing yet I even went as far as contacting Bulk Reef Supply and they said they don't believe flatworm exit will work and they referred me to this thread lol

 

[adritank]

following

 

[bigcheese]

Like @Karie, I've had great luck with a yellow coris wrasse. Knocked my spirorbids back by 90% in like three days.
In most places, she did a tag team with my Tomini tang that cleaned off the hard shell/tube once the worm was eaten. (Weird, I know- but hey, every fish is an individual.)

The only time she "bothered" my inverts was to get the spiros off their shells.

 

[gmneil]

I had a ton of those, I added a copper band butterfly to tackle a couple aptasia I seen popping up, I noticed all of them and the aptasia disappeared the copper band wouldn't eat frozen and ended up passing but they have been gone ever since.

 

[SilverCityReef]

Not a solution but just stumbled upon this and wanted to share something i experienced. I did a 3 day blackout to rid my tank of some kind of brown dust-like algae and a huge portion of these moved down into my sump. My sump was spotless at the start of blackout but is now covered in these. The sump was only part of my system exposed to light during this blackout period as I left my sump door off.

If you can do a blackout and get the majority down to the sump, you can then clean the sump to rid a huge amount. Hopefully this helps some of you but I would also like to know if this is a repeatable result so keep me posted.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Not a solution but just stumbled upon this and wanted to share something i experienced. I did a 3 day blackout to rid my tank of some kind of brown dust-like algae and a huge portion of these moved down into my sump. My sump was spotless at the start of blackout but is now covered in these. The sump was only part of my system exposed to light during this blackout period as I left my sump door off.

If you can do a blackout and get the majority down to the sump, you can then clean the sump to rid a huge amount. Hopefully this helps some of you but I would also like to know if this is a repeatable result so keep me posted.

Mine have taken over the sump, that gets very little light, as well as my back glass. I’d say they prefer darkness.

I need a solution to these things. Reduced feeding will hurt my corals. There’s got to be something that kills them. My tank is too small for a butterfly fish.

 

[Salty Lemon]

Bump -- I've got them too.

 

[DSC reef]

I think they are beneficial to a tanks biodiversity. They typicall get a stronghold in the sump due to dissolved organic matter, they filter feed. I noticed they would come and go and I welcomed the extra filtration.

 

[Salty Lemon]

I think they are beneficial to a tanks biodiversity. They typicall get a stronghold in the sump due to dissolved organic matter, they filter feed. I noticed they would come and go and I welcomed the extra filtration.

I wouldn't mind if they hid in my sump, but my display aquarium back is covered with them. I've scraped them twice and they came back almost immediately. I may have to buy a leopard wrasse to help control the population. I just hope he plays well with others.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

I agree, they add to the biodiversity of the tank and I feel they are beneficial IMO. I don't know Why people want to take away stuff that is a healthy part of the tank just because they don't like the look.

 

[Salty Lemon]

I agree, they add to the biodiversity of the tank and I feel they are beneficial IMO. I don't know Why people want to take away stuff that is a healthy part of the tank just because they don't like the look.

I'll have to ponder on that one.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I agree, they add to the biodiversity of the tank and I feel they are beneficial IMO. I don't know Why people want to take away stuff that is a healthy part of the tank just because they don't like the look.

Same reason we scrape glass and pull algae from rocks?

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Same reason we scrape glass and pull algae from rocks?

So you can see you corals I get, but not going out of your way to take away something beneficial.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

So you can see you corals I get, but not going out of your way to take away something beneficial.

These things grow on everything, sensors included, except coral tissue. They will grow into the thousands and compete with corals for food.

They are impossible to control, so I chose therapy instead.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

These things grow on everything, sensors included, except coral tissue. They will grow into the thousands and compete with corals for food.

They are impossible to control, so I chose therapy instead.

I will have to disagree. Their numbers are determined by the amount of available food source. We had quite a bit all over our reef and they would come and go. We had "thousands" and had a lot of corals and they never suffered in any way. Removing them from equipment and the glass so you can see you tank is fine but there is no need to go to great lengths to remove a beneficial filter feeder. We can agree to disagree. Happy reefing.