White String Like Creature Disappears when lights are turned on!?

[stooge311]

I have had my tank up and running for about 7 months now. I don't have the exact water levels with me right now but I have noticed within the past few days when I turn the lights on first thing in the morning, there are these white string like creatures that are about the width of a hair and about 3-4 inches long coming out of the live rock. Any ideas?

 

[terriel]

Could be a spaghetti worm

 

[coachklm]

vermatied snails...

 

[stooge311]

Are these dangerous and need to be removed? If so, what could I do to get rid of them?

 

[terriel]

Now, I am new to this hobby too so take what I say with a grain of salt (no pun intended) but if you have spaghetti worms, my understanding is they are harmless

 

[stooge311]

I looked on some other threads and I didn't see any threads that stated these creatures disappear (when the lights are first turned on, they look as if they are recoilling from the light). They aren't grouped together in any orderly fashion. They are pretty much spread throughout the tank coming out of the live rock.

 

[terriel]

Hmmm, then it sounds like I may have guessed wrong in what you have. In my Nano tank I have what I think is a spaghetti worm or hair worm. On evening I noticed what I thought was a hair that had somehow gotten in the tank then I noticed it was moving with purpose not just from the water movement. It too was coming out of on of the LRs. The closer I looked I can see several of these long hair like worms moving about coming out of the rock. They are VERY thin and they stretch way across the bottom of the tank and then retract. They immediately disappear when I mess in the tank or when the lights first come on. They do come out when the lights are on but they are coming out of an area on the LR that is kinda under an overhang from another rock so they are in a dark area in my tank. I have never seen them in a brightly lit area of the tank. I don't know if this sounds like what you have or not.

 

[vroom125]

could be a spaghetti worm, but if it is, then all of the tentacles would be coming out of one area.
the actual worm burrows in rock and sends feeder tentacles out for food. There's nothing harmful about a spaghetti worm.
The tentacles can get really long, I think they can get up to three feet long.

 

[stooge311]

The tentacles aren't in any one area. Still think it's a spaghetti worm?

 

[bigarn]

Vermetid snails put out long thin mucous strings in order to catch food ... they come out and retract also.