hair belly bad?

[sammyp]

i found what i think is a hair-belly in my tank. i took some pictures but its tough to make it out. they are small translucent animals with a forked tail and this really strange mouth that opens and closes kindof like curtains when the wind blows them.

Anyways, the book i have was kinda vague about them in the aquarium. It doesnt seem like they'll eat anything i have in there but i'm more concerned with them reproducing rapidly becoming a nusiance that way.

should i remove them?

thanks!

 

[hmello@bermexin]

What in the world is a hair belly?

 

[greenbean36191]

Hairbellies are microscopic. Unless you were looking at your sand under a microscope you would never see one. Even then they're hard to find. I suspect what you're seeing is a flatworm.

 

[sammyp]

they are animals from the phylum Gastrotricha according to the book..

 

[greenbean36191]

A gastrotrich. They're microscopic worm-like critters. They're a pretty small, poorly studied phylum, so you don't hear a lot about them.

 

[sammyp]

oh thier microscopic? well it wouldve been nice if the book had something in there about thier size.... the book never mentions anything about thier size. are you sure ALL species of gastrotrich are micro?

 

[sammyp]

when you say flatworms, you mean platyhelminthes?

i'm reading that the body is often shaped like a leaf and is flat and solid. this does not describe what i have.

 

[mr9iron]

Copepods maybe?

 

[sammyp]

no... these are maybe 3/8" in length and are definitely not any type of arthropod

 

[greenbean36191]

Flatworm
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/tbs/clear_flatworm_tb.jpg

 

[Zestay]

found a weird looking bug myself, about 1/2- 3/4 inch long. silverish in color 6 legs tail always raised up like a scorpion but it had almost a feather duster apperience on the tail or a set of pinchers maybe. defanitly alive. and kinda creepy.. might put a small crab in there to take care of business =P