Weird Snake thing???

J

Jhigga15

New member
A large Hermit crab just died in my tank. I have had the tank for 3 months. I have seen bristol worms in there before. Today I saw some different comotion and I saw that the other hermit crabs were eating the dead one...next thing you know a purple snake like thing came out and wrapped around the dead crab. My girl is flippin out and we just checked it out and it's eating the crab like a snake. It's purple with a white head. what is that? This is the first time that I have ever seen this thing...
Thanks
 
I thought everyone had a camera on their phone. ;)

I was injecting my aiptasia w/ lime one time and I guess I injected some in the hole w/ the aiptasia. All of sudden a worm shot out of the hole with some speed and swimming like a snake. I think it was blue and had some weird looking whiskers/teeth... but, it looked just like a snake/earthworm. And it was around 7 inches long.

I jerked my hand back and out of the tank... very fast. hehe
 
What I saw...It was 4 inches long, but never came fully out from under the rock. It wrapped around the crab, piulled it away from the other crabs and swallowed part of the dead crab just like a snake...

I just can't believe that this thing has been in my tank with crabs, and coral and fish for so long...my tank is a 14G Bio Cube...
 
I dunno. If the crab was dead, it's a good guy. WHen I first read this, I thought 'medusa worm', but they only go for detritus. There are also eunice worms, which can be mistaken for a bristleworm, but which have 4 tentacle-like grippers on the head, and could look as if they're swallowing something as they get a good grip on it. Medusa worms would be good in a tank. Eunice worms aren't. Try posting this for Leslie over in Invertebrates: she can tell some things from a good description, though of course photos are the thing.
Remember, too, that color descriptions, helpful as they are, are very variable according to what brand and strength of lighting is in force---tell her what your lighting is, and what light was on when you saw it.
 
sounds like it is an opportunistic scavenger whatever it is. Epecially since "It wrapped around the crab, piulled it away from the other crabs and swallowed part of the dead crab just like a snake..."

seems as though it has little interest in live inhabitants. If you are worried or concerned then pull the rock out into a QT and try to bait it out again.
 
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