Wierd worm in tank

tosiek

New member
ok i posted this in the reef section not knowing this forum was here. Sorry about that but here is a cut and paste of what i wrote there

I just started up a nano reef about a month ago, and recently i noticed alot of waste (poopie droppings) around one side of the tank and had no idea where they were coming from. Got myself some button polyps and placed them on that side of the tank and while i was admiring my new purchase i noticed some brown waste pop out of the LR next to the polyps!! I spoke to the LFS i usually go to and they said it sounds like a worm, thought it was coming from the rock my button polyps were on since it came out of a spot where the polyp rock touched the rock next to it. On the button polyp rock there is a soft purple mound with a mouth/tube air hole which i have no idea what it is so thought it was that because that was right where the poopie came out.

Then i seen there were little hairlike strands coming out of the LR next to the polyps, they would come out of a hole about 1-2 inchest and rest spread out on the rocks and rather stuff on the rocks/flowing in the water then after a half min or min come back into the hole with all the stuff stuck on these strands. They didn;t bother the polyps but i had a mushroom next to them that wasn;t too happy, so i dunno if its harmful or harmless. I would leave it since its not doing anything bad but its producing ALOT of waste on the one side of the tank. So i dunno. I would get a pic of it but you owuldn;t see the strands. They are clear and around 3-7 strands at times, look like a spiders web strand.

someone asked in reef forums if its in a hole or a tube. Its inside the bubbles of coraline that were already on the LR i got. It seems like a hole but its creating a tube, sort of. The tube right now is soft and looks like mucus thats on the tentacles that rubs off with the crap it pulls in on the tentacles. Byproduct of what its pulling into itself creating a tube. its soft and falls apart.

I might take out the worm because its producing a big mess on the side of the tank. If its good for my fishtank it doesn;t seem like it. Producing alot more waste than its bringing in.

Anyways thats not gonna happen for a few days till i get a 100% answer on what it is. till then any help i could get would be mucho appreciated.
 
By and large worms are benign. The ones with big pincers are usually the problems. I think I know what you mean---it's not big, is it? About 2 tentacles, max, per tube, and usually one is in action unless it's pooping, in which case, 2. I think they're spionid worms, little fishers, more nuisance than anything else. They're one of about a hundred varieties of detritus eaters I have in my tank.
 
It sounds like a Terebellidae worm, which is a harmless gatherer of detritus / organics. I have what I think are some good photo examples within my Hitch Hiker Pages, hope they are of use to you.

My Hitch Hiker Pages

Chuck
 
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