clam with worms(?) attached?

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dia_cero2002

Premium Member
I've got a teardrop maxima. Last night after the lights had been out for quite a while, I noticed long stringy looking things hanging off of the shell. They look like very thin and frayed white string. It is some sort of worm. Does anyone have any idea what this is and if it's harmful to the clam? If so, what are my treatment options. Also, when I look into my refugium, at the bottom of the tank there are tons of little bugs. They aren't on the glass or macro. They're just swimming around in a little swarm. They're tiny. It looks like a swarm of gnats. I was thinking redbugs at first, but the only hard corals that I have are a few frags of monticap. Does anyone have any idea what these could be? Thanks.
 
Yes, the bugs are fine. Here's a video where you can almost make out what you saw:
http://www.melevsreef.com/video/pods.wmv

And here are red bugs:
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/redbugs.html

The worm-like thing on the clam - we'd really need a picture to say for sure, but odds are Matt is right.
 
That answers my questions about the bugs. That video was exactly what I'm seeing. I've just never seen them before and I didn't know if they were very small copepods or something I should be concerned about.

As far as the clam, the worms are not at the bottom. It's not the foot threads. Most of them tend to be toward the top. I'll try to get a picture, but it's hard to do since they only show up at night. They look like a very thin white string that is frayed.
 
That sounds like the web of a Vermetid snail to me. It is a worm that casts out a net of filamentous sticky threads that particulates may stick to. Usually it isn't anything to worry about, but if a coral acts perturbed by the web, you can seal the hole with super glue gel or a two-part epoxy.
 
It's acutally on a clam and the threads are coming out of the shell. If it gets any worse, I'll try the super glue. Thanks.
 
Time for a picture, please. Even the area that has no threads. Maybe we can see the source.
 
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