red worm but not bristle?

[marc nichols]

After the halides went off, I noticed a proliferation of red lumps on the surface of the sand bed. They each seem to form a loop and had cilia like tentacles, for lack of a better word. I scooped one out with a net and it was 1.5" long, pointed on both ends round and thick. It had long threadlike "tentacles", perhaps a quarter inch tapering/shorter toward each end of the worm.

I don't know how to post an image here, so hopefully someone can id with just this.

 

[AFL]

I can't help with the ID, but it sounds like one I saw and have a pic of. Did they look anything like this?

It's one small worm, in this pic all rolled up. It seemed to move around the sandbed by rolling up, then unrolling.

 

[marc nichols]

Yes, looks like it.

I took one to our local Aquarium Society meeting and one of the members called it a spaghetti worm, a name I'm not familiar with. In any case, he said a safe substrate cleaning organism which seems to be the case.

If there is any other info out there, I'd be interested.

AFL, thanks for the image.

 

[charlesr1958]

Please check this link:

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchhikers.html

Chuck

 

[marc nichols]

excellent resource. read it and saved the site. Thank you.