Spider Webs?????

[hairbear]

I have a bristle worm trap in my tank and after the lights had been off for a while I decided to take a look and see if I had had any luck getting rid of some of them, any way when I turned on the light I saw a bristle worm that appeared to be suspended in mid air! Upon futher inspection I saw that, of course, he wasn't really suspended in mid air but that he was caught in want looked like a spider web. What is that? Is it harmful or is whatever releasing it harmful? Please if anyone knows I would appreciate the info. Thanks

[ckusnierek]

Sounds like a Vermitid Snail maybe??? They use a spider web like net to catch food.

[Hop]

Yes, possibly a vermetid snail. Here is an article and a few pictures. See if you have any of these tubes...

http://www.hopsreef.com/vermetidinfo.htm

[hairbear]

Thanks for the article it was very informative. That is exactly what it looks like. I have tried manually removing them and that doesn't work. Believe it or not, those little tubes are sharp (OUCH) I actually think that this may be to blame for the untimely demise of my devils hand coral. I have recently added new specimen to the tank and am concerned about the effect of these dastardly snails on them. I have a LOT of tubes, does that mean there are a lot of them or is there one or 2 using all of these tubes? The article suggested a copperbanded butterfly or crabs to get rid of them anyone else have any other options. I am not thrilled of the idea of chemicals either. I am also concerned about putting a butterfly in because I have heard they are not reef safe. Please help me get rid of these!!!
Thank you

[Hop]

Obviously when I wrote the article, I had only had success with the hermit crab. The CBB died shortly after introducing him to the display. I'm going to nab about 20 zebra hermits and let them go to town for a couple months and then take all but a couple to the LFS after the vermetids are in check.

Dealing with 200lbs of rock is better than 500 lbs in my bigger tank

And yes they are sharp! I cut my forehead on one (don't ask)

[Fly Guy]

try covering it with epoxy or superglue. I dont think that would be reasonable in a infestation like Hop had.....but to just get rid of a few of them.........

[Danyen]

sorry for resurrecting an older thread. I have a vermetid snail that is harassing some mushrooms. He's nestled right between two of them, and every time he puts out his web they get aggravated. I'd like to deal with it. I tried tweezing the hole, but it made no difference. I have zebra hermits in the tank, but they don't seem to interested in it. Will they eventually deal with it? Should I just let it be?

Thanks