Can someone please ID this worm looking thing

adrienne1896

adrienne1896

New Member
He was sucked out today during a water change. At first I thought it was some sort of algae glob but I didn't want to toss it.. I left it in a bowl on the counter and next thing I knew it was moving.. should I put him back? he was under a piece of rock that my soft coral was on.. it's now dead...
 
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saxman

Guest
What you have there is a Cirratulid polychaete. It's hard to tell from the pic, but it's either a hair worm or a spaghetti worm. All of the the "legs" come out of the end of a spaghetti worm, while the hair worm has them emanating from multiple places along the body. However, the stripes suggest that what you have is a spaghetti worm. Both are harmless and pretty cool hitchhikers.
HTH
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
I have NEVER seen anything like it! I hope someone else sees this and is able to identify!
These sites might help you find out what it is:
http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_corals/showgallery.php?cat=543
http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml
I'm really wondering what that is!
 
adrienne1896

adrienne1896

New Member
me too!! I am trying to keep him alive. I have been trying to find it with no luck.. thanks for the links I will check them out... thanks!
 
adrienne1896

adrienne1896

New Member
I'm wondering if it's some sort of worm that belongs in a casing, (like a feather duster) ..he stretches out to about 3 inches and he has bits of the coral sand stuck to him.. and he was under a piece of rock that had some soft coral and some other stuff.. the piece of rock was attached to another piece of rock ( by the soft coral) until today I had to get the dead soft coral off and pulling on it detached the rock.. so I'm wondering.. maybe a coco worm of some sort?? I wish I knew..
 
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saxman

Guest
There are pix in the ID Guide on our website that was previously posted, however, the hair worm is a very young specimen, and doesn't have a lot of "hair" yet...
Spaghetti worms rarely leave the substrate or hole they live in, but hair worms will mosey about the tank a bit.
 
adrienne1896

adrienne1896

New Member
ok thank you.. I will browse the pics for future reference.. I was in a hurry to get it ID'd because he was out of the tank and I didn't want him to die.. I put him back on the rock he was found on.. do you think I should move him to the sand?
 
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saxman

Guest
It will go wherever it feels best, so it's fine where it is.
 
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