Vermetid worms, want to lose them

[Jan]

I have quite a few of these in my tank, putting out long strings of mucous into the water. I heard that 6-line wrasses will eat them...are there any other fish that will eat them or any other way to get rid of them?

thanks...

 

[SueT]

I've never heard of 6 line wrasses eating these as the actual vermitid hides in that curly shell{for lack of a better word}. I have these in my tank plus a 6 line and it's never shown any interest in them. Thankfully mine do not send out webs anywhere near my sps so I don't worry about them too much.

 

[Jan]

Is it bad for the mucous strings to touch SPS? Because the stuff in my tank does get on the SPS, a couple of different ones.

 

[Damsel13]

Have no idea about the corals but about the worms...... hehe seems like they come - they go. Kinda like the sponges. Hope I am not out of line chiming in .

 

[Jan]

of course you're not out of line! Have you had any of these that actually went? As opposed to staying?

 

[SueT]

never out of line, the more the merrier..

 

[Ellisz]

I have had issues with these too. I hate them. I had one that developed in the middle of a superman monti. I had to dig it out with a razor blade so the monti now has a scar

Would be nice to see something that will eat them...

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Can chop them off the rock with a bone cutter, wire cutters, or chisel

 

[Jan]

Ooh...that sounds satisfying!

 

[steven11]

Mike's got it! I just break them off when i see them. They also have never seemed to bother my sps. Just an eye sore.

 

[DonW]

You can just poke them through the shell or the opening with a needle. The shell will get overgrown by the coral or coraline.

Don

 

[BlennyBabe]

By the way, they arent worms, they are snails. They tend to "bloom" in nutrient rich water and thrive when there is particulate in the water column. They extend the mucus to catch food and then slowly reel it in. They will produce more mucus the more food is inthe water. They only way to really get rid of them is to reduce the food they get. Hard to do for sure when you are feeding other animals. Good luck! They are nasty little buggers.

 

[Jan]

Yeah, I watch them reeling in their slime strings. :lol:

I feed my fish twice a day...don't want my butterflyfish to waste away, ya know?

 

[KRMNAL1]

I feed my fish twice a day...don't want my butterflyfish to waste away, ya know?

Mine are lucky if they get fed once a day, usually only 5 or 6 times per week

 

[scytale]

I've heard that you can just break of their tubes and you'll often catch them inside with it (use pliers or wear gloves when doing this.)

I've got 2 (or 3?) v-snails in my tank now--I don't keep SPS--but my LPS/Softies don't seem to get bothered by the slime nets...

I did have 1 v-snail that was too close to my clam and keep irritating the heck out of him....when I tried to break off it's (very short) tube--only to find that it's hole was actually burrowed deep into a rock.

I covered up the hole w/ a wad of superglue 2 weeks ago--haven't seen that snail since...

 

[Damsel13]

Thanks Jan

mine v-snails seem to come and go....kinda like the moon :badgrin:

 

[Jan]

superglue! There's a creative use. :lol: