Does anything eat Spionid worms?

sooz

sooz

Member
I have an infestation of spionid worms in my 50-gallon hex FOWLR tank.
Now let me say I KNOW they are harmless, and I KNOW they eat detritus, and I know that one way to try and keep the population under control is to cut back my feeding. Knowing all of this, I still want to know if something will eat them, because I don't have a few; I have hundreds of them. Whenever I feed, hundreds of tentacles emerge from the substrate and from the LR, and frankly, it's gross. Even when I am not feeding, there are dozens of these tentacles visible all of the time. I am not trying to eradicate the things, I would just like them a little more controlled. My mom's tank has ZERO of these worms, is very healthy, and I simply do not believe they are essential to the health of my tank. When people admire her tank, they notice the fish and the coral... when people admire my tank they always notice these worms and are "ewww - what's that?"
I have a sixline wrasse - I have never seen him eat the worms, peck at the rock etc. and the worm population does not seem to have been impacted in the month I have had him, so apparently he does not find them a delightful culinary treat. Also in my tank I have a diamond watchman goby, a lawnmower blennie, some blue-green chromis, some orbicular cardinals, a purple lobster, a chocolate chip starfish, and the usual assortment of hermits and snails.
Does anyone know what I could add to my tank that might munch on these disgusting little buggers?
 
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tizzo

Guest
A coral banded shrimp will also eat them, but even then they will prolly reproduce way faster than a CBS will eat them. You may wanna look into a DIY bristleworm trap.
I think (from what I've seen here), you take a coke bottle, cut the top off, flip it around, and glut it so that the lid is inside the rest of the container, and put food in it. They can easily go in, but they can't figure out how to get out.
 
sooz

sooz

Member
Do you think my purple lobster would be ok with a coral banded shrimp? My tank is a hex tank so the surface area on the bottom is not huge.
I did not know Spionids would go into a trap. I have never seen them leave their tubes - do they do so at night? If so I hate to think what my tank looks like when they are out!
 
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tizzo

Guest
Oh bah! I'm sorry I just looked at the pic and description and thought you were talking about bristleworms.
Yeah, your right a trap won't work.
You can put a dab of superglue in their tube. Some people say you can snap it off, but I'd be inclined to believe they will just build another.
 
sooz

sooz

Member
What about the Coral Banded? Do you think he might eat these type of worms?
Most of the worms in my tank live in the substrate, or their tentacles are coming out of the LR with a very short (or no) tube at all. So I am not sure superglue would work, either for these. I have done a load of research and I am almost positive these are spoinid. if they are not Spoinid, they Phyllochaetopterus. I know they are not spaghetti or hair worms because they each have exactly 2 tentacles - never more, never less. I netted one of the buggers once and he looked like the pic of the Spionid worm above. He also looked like the pic of the Phyllochaetoperus in the link on this post.
And here's another good pic of what I have too many of.
Anyway, something must eat them in nature, right?
 
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tizzo

Guest
Links to competitors sights are illegal to post here. Even in PM's.
 
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tizzo

Guest
Hi,
In the for what it is worth department, I suspect the worms in your system are Phyllochaetopterids. Spionids really don't seem to thrive in our systems, but these quys do. These small worms act much like spionids: they live in tubes that they make out of sediments or in rocks, and they feed by extending two tentacles.
And you want to get rid of these little darlings...
How big is your tank? If it is on the order of 65 or larger a Copperbanded butterfly fish will usually eat them. It will take a while to work through a large population, but that is one option. These are relatively large fish, and they need a large tank.
Another is to put in a herd of hermit crabs, as these normally will also eat them. So will peppermint shrimp. Finally, you can go with manual removal of those that you can suck out with a siphon.
Keep in mind, whatever method you use... That once the worms are gone, the food that they were eating is still going to be there unless you alter your tank's feeding protocols. Something will take advantage of that food. Additionally, if you use a biological control (Fish, crabs, shrimp), once the worms are gone - you will have to feed the control beast(s) or remove it/them.
 
sooz

sooz

Member
Great info, thank you. I have cut back my feeding a ton, so hopefully that will help. The tank is only 50 gallons, so the butterfly fish is probably out of consideration. I already have about 10 blue-legged hermits. Maybe I could try some peppermint shrimp...
 
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