What is this taking over my sump?

[sassmastawillis]

Can someone help me identify what these white things are growing all over my sump? Not sure if they're growing in the display, I have these white dots on the back wall.

 

[stE26wy14]

Pretty sure first pic is vermatids, and second is algae

Edit: I am wrong

 

[JonoH]

The white dots are spirorbid worms.

In the Fuge - could be the back of pineapple sponges, hard to tell.

 

[stE26wy14]

The white dots are spirorbid worms.

In the Fuge - could be the back of pineapple sponges, hard to tell.

Always get spirorbid and vermatids mixed up! +1 to this!

 

[bubbledouble]

In the second picture I have these same white worms/parasite looking creatures, they are hard to the touch almost as if they are calcified, spread like crazy in my sump and display, need to break them off with something metal.

Anyone know what they are / how to remove / avoid them from spreading? Even starting to clog up my return pump filter inlet

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Spirorbid worms, sponges, and Serpulid feather duster worms

In the second picture I have these same white worms/parasite looking creatures, they are hard to the touch almost as if they are calcified, spread like crazy in my sump and display, need to break them off with something metal.

Anyone know what they are / how to remove / avoid them from spreading? Even starting to clog up my return pump filter inlet

These are the Serpulid feather dusters, and their tubes are calcified.

All three should be harmless (unless they're growing in and blocking equipment), but with the worms, you should be able to scrape them off. They're not easy to control otherwise that I remember offhand, but they usually self-regulate their populations so they don't get too out of hand.

 

[bubbledouble]

Spirorbid worms, sponges, and Serpulid feather duster worms

These are the Serpulid feather dusters, and their tubes are calcified.

All three should be harmless (unless they're growing in and blocking equipment), but with the worms, you should be able to scrape them off. They're not easy to control otherwise that I remember offhand, but they usually self-regulate their populations so they don't get too out of hand.

With a quick google search, these don’t really look like serpulid feather dusters, wondering if there is another name for them? They seem to be harmless, had them for about 3 years now but a pain to scrape off. Wondering if there is any predators for them as they started appearing in my display as well on the rocks.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

With a quick google search, these don’t really look like serpulid feather dusters, wondering if there is another name for them? They seem to be harmless, had them for about 3 years now but a pain to scrape off. Wondering if there is any predators for them as they started appearing in my display as well on the rocks.

They're definitely Serpulids - you can even see some of the branchial crowns (the "feather dusters" of the worms) in the second pic on the thread, so they're definitely feather dusters (taxonomic order Sabellida). From there, Serpulid Feather Duster Worms (from the taxonomic family Serpulidae) are the only ones that build calcified tubes like these.

That said, there are a ton of different genera and species in the family, and narrowing down the ID beyond the family level basically requires a microscope (usually with a sacrificial worm to use it on), so I don't typically go beyond that level.

You might be able to find some predators for them, but unfortunately I don't currently know any confirmed predators that would go for smaller species of Serpulids (exception for Spirorbid worms, which are a subfamily - Spirorbinae - of Serpulids), and the ones I know that might aren't generally reef-safe:

I've heard that most FOWLR/Reef Safe With Caution fish might eat feather dusters - looking at multiple sources (including an article from 2017 here on R2R which I've quoted below) wrasse and butterflyfish seem to be particularly dangerous to feather dusters: