Rocks Covered in Small Worm Tubes?

[Dan I]

Hi, I just recently moved and I had my rocks and fish in bins for a when until I placed the tank up. Once I got the tank up and running and transfered the rocks over. I noticed within two weeks there was an explosion of this small white tube worms I think all over my rocks. Just want to get an id and a way to get rid of them. Thanks.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Feed less. The tubes will stay, though. Manual removal is the best way to get rid of them. Otherwise, things will encrust over the dead tubes.

 

[Dan I]

Feed less. The tubes will stay, though. Manual removal is the best way to get rid of them. Otherwise, things will encrust over the dead tubes.

I don't feed much, do you know what exactly they are. I don't see any extenders when I feed the tank. I'll keep monitoring though.

 

[JGT]

Little hard to see with blue light but those appear to be spriorbid worms, not tube worms. They will diminish over time. Only way to remove is to scrape them off.

 

[Grumblez]

They won't hurt anything, normal to have a bunch in a new tank. Bumblebee snails might eat them.

 

[MaxTremors]

They’re completely harmless, if beneficial, they are polishing your water. Their populations will wax and wain when conditions and nutrients are favorable. I don’t really understand wanting to get rid of them, for me watching the boom and bust cycles of all the microfauna in our tanks are half of what make reef tanks interesting.

 

[Redandluvenit]

Any clues on what these are

 

[damsels are not mean]

I don't feed much, do you know what exactly they are. I don't see any extenders when I feed the tank. I'll keep monitoring though.

If you don't see any extenders I think you have nothing to worry about. Vermetid snails can irritate corals (won't ruin your tank or anything) but if you don't see any strings coming from the tubes then it is probably some sort of benign filter feeder and not those. As said above, they wax and wain as food is more and less available. If you're not feeding much already then I'd just wait. The tubes will eventually be grown over by other things and when your reef fills out you won't see them any more simply because there won't be vast open areas of tubes. You will definitely find them in and around your pumps, overflow, etc, forever pretty much.