I noticed I had some tiny white dots appearing on my back area of my reef tank a couple days ago and thought it was some sand blowing up. Noticed tonight a lot more and some are bigger (~3 mm). Looking closer, I realized they are spiral shaped and a lot of them.

Doing a quick search, I found they are Spirorbid Worms (Spirorbis sp.). This worm builds a calcerous tube and filter feeds. These are tiny, coiled tube worms that can form on live rock and the tank glass. They are very small, usually only a few millimeters in diameter. These are harmless filter feeders, and are most often found in new tanks with high nutrients. They usually disappear, or decline in numbers, once tanks mature, and water conditions improve.

The Plan

Really nothing I can do besides scrape them off what ever they attach themselves to in the tank, reduce nutrients, and be patient for tank to mature.

Observations and Information

• 01/05/2009 — Identified pest as Spirorbid Worms and began scraping process
• 04/19/2009 — Observed population is declining

Conclusion

Based on information I have read, reduction of nutrients, scraping, and patience is only you can do to reduce their population. This is what I have observed.

DISCLAIMER: Your results may very as each system is very different from another. For my tank parameters and environment, this was my observations and conclusion. This was not a controlled experiment so there is a potential for a very large margin of error.

References

Levenson , Marc. “Spirorbid Worms.” Melev’s Reef. hhttp://www.melevsreef.com/id/spirorbid_worms.html. Accessed 01 Jan 2009.

Masterson, J. “Spirorbis spp.” Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. 01 Oct 2008. Smithsonian Marine Station. http://www.sms.si.edu/IRLSpec/Spirorbis_spp.htm. Accessed 05 Jan 2009.

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