Nematode... Problem?
- Thread starter Kryshah
- Start date
Kryshah
New member
lol, yeah... I know. It's just frustrating to wait sometimes, and meanwhile my post gets pushed back more and more until it's never seen again. It wouldn't be a big deal if I hadn't felt like I'd been completely ignored in a few other posts I've made. I generally search the forum to see if anything's been posted before when I have a question - and I didn't find anything about large nematodes. I guess I could take the lack of response to mean that nobody else on here knows anything about them in a marine tank either.
Tat2demon
New member
Not finding anything is a good indication that the lack of responses is due to lack of experience. You could come to that conclusion and be happy, or I suppose you could tell people they suck.
kikimers13
New member
Sorry, I don't know much about nematodes but I'll bump the post for ya! I'd be interested to learn more about it myself.
Your picture is too blurry. Have a look here to see if you find a match. http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchworms.html
Mike_Noren
New member
It's generally not possible to identify nematodes from photos: they all look the same, and there's an estimated several hundred thousand species of them. They're so similar that even the experts struggle to tell them apart.
You're right that most free-living nematodes are small. Every reef tank probaly has tens if not hundreds of thousands of individuals of hundreds of small species, quietly doing their thing in the sand and among the rocks, never noticed. But there are big species.
Then there are also polychaetes which superficially looks like nematodes, for instance members of the family Glyceridae.
From your photo it looks as if the worm is actively swimming in the aquarium. I can't recall ever seeing a large parasitic roundworm swim - they have all been very sluggish creatures, adapted as they are to move no faster than what's needed to maintain position in the intestine.
So I'd say - and I'm purely playing the odds here, I really can't tell anything from the photo - that your worm is most likely to be a nematode-like polychaete, probably an epitoke (free-swimming reproductive individual), less likely to be a free-swimming large nematode or nematomorph, and least likely to be a free-swimming large parasitic nematode.
You're right that most free-living nematodes are small. Every reef tank probaly has tens if not hundreds of thousands of individuals of hundreds of small species, quietly doing their thing in the sand and among the rocks, never noticed. But there are big species.
Then there are also polychaetes which superficially looks like nematodes, for instance members of the family Glyceridae.
From your photo it looks as if the worm is actively swimming in the aquarium. I can't recall ever seeing a large parasitic roundworm swim - they have all been very sluggish creatures, adapted as they are to move no faster than what's needed to maintain position in the intestine.
So I'd say - and I'm purely playing the odds here, I really can't tell anything from the photo - that your worm is most likely to be a nematode-like polychaete, probably an epitoke (free-swimming reproductive individual), less likely to be a free-swimming large nematode or nematomorph, and least likely to be a free-swimming large parasitic nematode.
Kryshah
New member
I don't know... I'm pretty familiar with nematodes. I'm new to SW hobby, but I'm also a biologist with concentration on invertebrate zoology. I only included the pic to show relative size (that's a turbo snail below it on the glass) because I know that free living nematodes are generally tiny while the parasitic guys get pretty big (ascaris get up to a foot long!). It wasn't free swimming, it was slowly crawling around on the glass, but I get your point. While I'm familiar with nematodes, I'm not very familiar with marine polychaetes - but it didn't display any tagmitization, but I suppose the segments may have seemed uniform due to it's small size. Another point, is that if it was a free living nematode, it should have been in my substrate, not a foot up my glass! Do you think it would be advisable to treat for nematodes? Is there even a treatment that is safe for all of my corals, CUC and fish - or would I have to separate them and treat individually? Now I wish I had plucked him out for better examination. Mounting on a slide for some microscopy would have answered lots of questions!
As well as Nemertea.
Kryshah
New member
I don't think it's a member of glyceridae - there wasn't even a hint of parapodia, but I hadn't even thought of nemertea! How common are they in a marine aquarium? Unfortunately whatever it was disappeared fairly quickly - I assume it either dropped to the substrate, or ws eaten - so I can't get a better pic of it.
Ribbon worms (nemertea) are a pretty common hitchhiker.
Mike_Noren
New member
Me too! :beer:
Well, nowadays I work with fish, but I started out in interstitial flatworms.
A pretty good way to tell different types of worms apart is by how they move. Roundworms have rigid bodies and are unable to change their cross-section or length, so they slither like snakes. Polychaetes may do this, but generally they move the way earthworms move, by changing their length and girth, or similar to the way a centipede walks, by using their parapodia. Flatworms and ribbon worms (which as Sugar Magnolia points out can also be roundworm-like) glide like snails.
Segmentation, parapodia, bristles and tentacles are not always obvious in polychaetes; glycerids can look much like roundworms, even have an iridescent cuticle just like roundworms, but under a stereo microscope one can see tiny bristles and segmented musculature. Here's a stereo microscope photo of a Glycera (an interesting worm in its own right - the dark v-shaped structures in the anterior third are its fangs; this worm is venomous and can inflict a painful bite).
Not unless you have other indications of infection in your fish, e.g. distended stomach or worms visible from the anal vent. If I needed to treat my fish for roundworm infection I'd use medicated feed containing flubendazole.
Oh yes. Also it's fun to look at algae or detritus from a reef tank under a microscope, the small fauna is remarkably diverse.
Kryshah
New member
Mike, you are the man! I appreciate the help. I haven't noticed any symptoms in any of my fish, and it definately moved like an earthworm so I'll call it a polycheate for now.
Interstitial flatworms must have been interesting! I've had several invert and parasitology classes, but my real loves are entomology and arachnology.... though marine biology is quickly coming to the forefront!
Interstitial flatworms must have been interesting! I've had several invert and parasitology classes, but my real loves are entomology and arachnology.... though marine biology is quickly coming to the forefront!
