I'm in the process of re-setting up my tank, having kept only a few nicer pieces of the rock "alive."  I moved one of them into the new tank before discovering that it has a few chaeteroptid worms on it.  I've tried just about everything I can think of to get rid of them.  I mixed up a kalk paste and applied it to them but they seem unaffected (the paste was great in destroying a single aptasia I found a new piece of LR).  I've tried removing the rock and physically scraping them off with a hair pin, but they're back the next day.  I've even tried boiling RO/DI water and using a baster to apply it directly, but those darn worms are usually extending their tentacles within minutes.  It's like they're indestructible.  I'd like to keep this piece of rock - it has halimeada algae growing on it and there's a strange yellow honey-comb like-thing on the bottom side - but I don't want them spreading to the rest of the tank.  I still have several nicer pieces of rock waiting in a separate tank (one has a large peanut worm in it) and would hate to have to completely kill them before using them again.  Any suggestions?

John

Beginner since March 2004. Skimmerless 50g w/algal turf filter.

My!  That is quite a litany of destructive forces you have tried against the worm(s).  I have only one suggestion: get a hypodermic with a fine needle and inject their holes and tubes with straight muriatic acid (out of the hardware store bottle).  Then after a minute or two, rinse the rock in kalkwasser (to neutralize the acid), then into fresh sea water.

I don't need to say you need to be very careful in this process so that the acid only gets on the animals you wish to kill, but I will say it anyway, "You need to be very careful in this process so that the acid only gets on the animals you wish to kill."

These worms are generally pretty harmless, what is the problem with them?  They are eaten by some hermits, shrimps, and copper banded butterfly fish, and perhaps some other things as well.  

Cheers, Ron

"The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man." Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

They (along with some Psuedocorynactis) seemed to outcompete all other scavengers to the detriment of a previously well-balanced cleanup crew.  They multiplied very rapidly and I saw a corresponding overall decline in the tank - "micro" brittlestars and hair worms disappeared entirely and amphipods and bristleworms became very scarce.  There were probably other factors involved but I think they were just TOO efficient, narrowing what had been a broad array of scavengers.  Not exactly the stuff of science - I know - but I prefer to try again without them.

I guess I wouldn't mind them if I could keep them in check but I'd always avoided hermits and shrimp based on the articles of some guy named "Ron"...  If I were to try something, what would you recommend that might not decimate other critter populations?  I'm hoping to breed some DIBS snails in this tank.

Beginner since March 2004. Skimmerless 50g w/algal turf filter.

I was curious about your wanting to get rid of them.  I had severe problems with them about 10 years ago in a tank I had set up at the time.  They became so abundant that they literally paved the bottom.  They grew tube to tube to tube and sealed off the sand bed underneath.  I finally just took all the good livestock out and nuked the system to get rid of them. 

In small numbers, they are fine, but they sure can get out of control. I really can't recommend anything to control them.  As you know, my feelings about small predatory crustaceans are not favorable; I can't really think of anything which might safely control them.

Cheers, Ron

"The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man." Charles Darwin (1809-1882)