EMeyer Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Alright folks, this has me stumped. I have a pest I've never seen. It lives somewhere in my rocks, and at night, it secretes a fibrous, tough, white tube on the rock. The tube is about 1/4" in diameter, and sometimes a few inches long. The tube always appears starting deep in the rock and ending at a zoanthid or palythoa frag. Which the unknown animal eats. Thats right, a tube-dwelling zoanthid and palythoa predator. I have never heard of such a thing. When I remove the tube, it makes a new one the next day. It seems to have a real taste for the more colorful polyps. Anything with orange is apparently delicious. (I know someone will want a picture but honestly if I posted one people would only see a white tube. There aint much to it.) Anyone ever hear of such a thing? If I can figure out what it is perhaps I can put together a plan for getting rid of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 The only thing I can think of would be a vermetid snail but they typically don't eat coral. They just send out a mucousy film out as a trap but this can cause zoas to retract and get tissue loss. Not sure if that's what you are dealing with. If it's a snail then superglueing over the hole will help or you could try adding a natural predator such as a coris wrasse but this will also eat feather dusters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 5 hours ago, Emerald525 said: The only thing I can think of would be a vermetid snail but they typically don't eat coral. They just send out a mucousy film out as a trap but this can cause zoas to retract and get tissue loss. Not sure if that's what you are dealing with. If it's a snail then superglueing over the hole will help or you could try adding a natural predator such as a coris wrasse but this will also eat feather dusters. Aptasia x or kalk paste kills them too. I get them occasionally in my zoa garden and they always seem to make a few zoa heads melt away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted May 9, 2018 Author Share Posted May 9, 2018 Not a vermetid. They have calcareous shells, and much smaller. This tube is made of fibrous material. Like silk. And much bigger than vermetids. That more or less narrows it down to an Arthropod or Annelid... but I'm unaware of any that eat polyps. This eats 5-10 polyps a night once it reaches the colony. I will add that there are always lots of amphipods running around the tube, but I am very skeptical they made it. While amphipods do make little tunnels in algae sometimes, this tunnel is seriously 1/4" diameter. Thats not normal. Tonight I'll scope it out after dark... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 So spider? I would try the kalk paste, kill it with alkalinity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 1 hour ago, EMeyer said: Not a vermetid. They have calcareous shells, and much smaller. This tube is made of fibrous material. Like silk. And much bigger than vermetids. That more or less narrows it down to an Arthropod or Annelid... but I'm unaware of any that eat polyps. This eats 5-10 polyps a night once it reaches the colony. I will add that there are always lots of amphipods running around the tube, but I am very skeptical they made it. While amphipods do make little tunnels in algae sometimes, this tunnel is seriously 1/4" diameter. Thats not normal. Tonight I'll scope it out after dark... Starting to creep me out a bit - whatever it is, I don't want one Good luck with the eradication plan... curious to see what works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted May 9, 2018 Author Share Posted May 9, 2018 (edited) Update -- after removing a ~3 inch section of tube yesterday, it rebuilt it again last night. It makes a beeline from a hole in the rock to my recently placed palys. The palys in question are pink/orange with green centers (they look like that thing people call gobstoppers, although the idea that all palys with the same color morph are the same thing is obviously nonsense). In the past, this unknown predator has also gone after some brightly colored zoanthids (purple face with bright orange skirt and sometimes an orange mouth). It always builds its tube from the hole in the rockwork directly to the zoas or palys, then eats them. It only goes after palys or zoas with interesting colors, especially anything in orange. Last night I looked several times and it was absent... this morning by 5 AM it had completed its tube and eaten several polyps. Tomorrow night I'll scope it out in the middle of the night. If I have to take the rock work apart I will! I think I know which rock it lives in and am curious to see what a freshwater dip will scare out of the rock... I will also take a picture of tonights tube (already tore last night's tube apart) so people can see if theyve ever come across anything similar. Again, its a tube ~1/4" in diameter, made of silk or similar material, adhering to the rock. I have yet to witness the animal itself. A great mystery for this inverts geek. I will find out what this is! Edited May 9, 2018 by EMeyer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 18 minutes ago, EMeyer said: Update -- after removing a ~3 inch section of tube yesterday, it rebuilt it again last night. It makes a beeline from a hole in the rock to my recently placed palys. The palys in question are pink/orange with green centers (they look like that thing people call gobstoppers, although the idea that all palys with the same color morph are the same thing is obviously nonsense). In the past, this unknown predator has also gone after some brightly colored zoanthids (purple face with bright orange skirt and sometimes an orange mouth). It always builds its tube from the hole in the rockwork directly to the zoas or palys, then eats them. It only goes after palys or zoas with interesting colors, especially anything in orange. Last night I looked several times and it was absent... this morning by 5 AM it had completed its tube and eaten several polyps. Tomorrow night I'll scope it out in the middle of the night. If I have to take the rock work apart I will! I think I know which rock it lives in and am curious to see what a freshwater dip will scare out of the rock... I will also take a picture of tonights tube (already tore last night's tube apart) so people can see if theyve ever come across anything similar. Again, its a tube ~1/4" in diameter, made of silk or similar material, adhering to the rock. I have yet to witness the animal itself. A great mystery for this inverts geek. I will find out what this is! Following along. @IntoTheMystic @badxgillen any ideas what this could be? It behaves like a nudibranch in that it is selective in what it eats. But it does sound like some type of worm like you said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 1 hour ago, Emerald525 said: Following along. @IntoTheMystic @badxgillen any ideas what this could be? It behaves like a nudibranch in that it is selective in what it eats. But it does sound like some type of worm like you said. I was thinking it might be time to send out the Bert signal! Fascinating behavior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmdh Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 (edited) Found this: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1199236 Sounds like a eunice worm maybe? Edited May 9, 2018 by cjmdh 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youcallmenny Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 40 minutes ago, cjmdh said: Found this: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1199236 Sounds like a eunice worm maybe? Yiiiiikes. Nice google-fu Mark! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmdh Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 4 minutes ago, youcallmenny said: Yiiiiikes. Nice google-fu Mark! It’s all about the search terms. 😄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 1 hour ago, cjmdh said: Found this: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1199236 Sounds like a eunice worm maybe? Interesting - too bad the pic links are broken. Knew about Bobbit worms but hadn't heard that there were eunice varieties that built tubes. Yuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMeyer Posted May 9, 2018 Author Share Posted May 9, 2018 whoa, from reading that thread this is definitely the same thing! Many thanks. At least now I know what to look for. I knew it had to be either Annelid or Arthropod... My next post will have pictures of the horrible creature. Wish me luck; I'm going in... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 I was thinking eunicid worm as well @steveweast had a great thread but I also was not aware they built tubes. Good luck on the hunt ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 You may have to remove the rock that has the worm in it as they can be very deep inside the convoluted tunnels, I have had a different variety consume some polyps in one of my account tanks...I took the rock out, put it in a bucket, and gave it a nice Hydrogen Peroxide bath. If you can shatter the rock you may be able to actually find it and capture it, thats how I got my bobbit worm a while back. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimusprime3605 Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 You may have to remove the rock that has the worm in it as they can be very deep inside the convoluted tunnels, I have had a different variety consume some polyps in one of my account tanks...I took the rock out, put it in a bucket, and gave it a nice Hydrogen Peroxide bath. If you can shatter the rock you may be able to actually find it and capture it, thats how I got my bobbit worm a while back. Hey BertYou still have the worm? In a separate tank, of course. Would be kinda cool to see that thing in action. I'm kinda weird like that... Sent from my man cave while drinking Coronas at Holly's [emoji481] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntoTheMystic Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 (edited) On 5/9/2018 at 6:31 AM, Emerald525 said: Following along. @IntoTheMystic @badxgillen any ideas what this could be? It behaves like a nudibranch in that it is selective in what it eats. But it does sound like some type of worm like you said. I have never dealt with this gangster but given its appetite and its ability to quickly construct a tunnel of that length and diameter, I figured it had to be some kind of eucinid or similar badass ravenous worm. Sorry to be way late on the thread. Past week's been a blur. Good luck with this thing and keep us posted. Ya reckon it could be trapped? Something irresistible and funky like garlic carnivore gel or a chunk of raw fresh shrimp marinated in fish oil in a worm trap might work. I'd sho'nuff be motivated to bag this trophy......... Edited May 12, 2018 by IntoTheMystic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 I actually gave the bobbit worm to my son a while back to keep in a small nano by itself, I am sure I have a few here pictures here somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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