What’s this on my hammer? A brown circle?

Anak’s Reef · Aug 30, 2020

Hi everyone, I noticed a brown looking circle on the skeleton of my hammer. Does anyone know what this is? Anything to help this and what it is and if I need to remove it. Thanks in advance!

Acros · Aug 30, 2020

Looks like a Vermitid snail.

Anak’s Reef · Aug 30, 2020

Oh ok. What do we have to do to remove and is it bad for my tank? Thanks so much for replying.

Acros · Aug 30, 2020

They are considered generally harmless by most reefers. They are quite common on torches.

I want some experienced reefers to comment on this. I use bumblebee snails to keep them in check. The only way to 'get rid of them' is to physically scrape them off.

Anak’s Reef · Aug 30, 2020

Oh alright. Thanks so much for the advice, I’m thinking of scraping it off soon. I’ll keep an eye out for more updates on it. Thank you so much.

shamin · Aug 31, 2020

As long its not to close to the flesh, i usually just scrape them off with coral cutters.

Anak’s Reef · Aug 31, 2020

alright, thank you so much. Just wondering if they can reproduce or something because there was one before next to it, but it got scraped off. do you think this could be another one from the other vermidit snail? thank you1

flsalty · Aug 31, 2020

Mandarinfish20 said:
alright, thank you so much. Just wondering if they can reproduce or something because there was one before next to it, but it got scraped off. do you think this could be another one from the other vermidit snail? thank you1

Yes, they do reproduce. The larvae grow inside the tube. Once they get old enough they crawl out like little snails. Then they find a spot to settle and start growing their tubes, which are essentially their shells.