Worm ID?
- Thread starter hbalagh
- Start date
apos
Member
Looks like one of the zillions of different errantiate polychaete species (often all lumped together in the hobby under the term "bristleworms"). The darker (non orange/red/brown) ones like this tend to be the kind that gets bigger than average. This one still looks pretty small though. Are the little sticks coming out of the side of it legs or bristles that stick more to the side and even upwards?
Most are harmless, even benficial, detrivores, but keep track of your snails, clams, and other inverts, and especially for anything that looks dead or dying that has a mucusy covering on it (the bad species of these worms use that stuff to trap their prey). Usually if you see a bloom of these it's yet another sign of excess nutrients in your system.
Most are harmless, even benficial, detrivores, but keep track of your snails, clams, and other inverts, and especially for anything that looks dead or dying that has a mucusy covering on it (the bad species of these worms use that stuff to trap their prey). Usually if you see a bloom of these it's yet another sign of excess nutrients in your system.
apos
Member
He does have very teensy bristles, but in that species, they are near transparent at that size. The first pic is a worm I might keep an eye on. The latter (the standard half orange, half brown variety) is almost certainly harmless, even beneficial: as long as its small and not appearing in vast numbers, you have little to fear from it. There are almost certainly many many more in your tank that you don't see (they almost always only come out in the dark: use a red light with all the lights off several hours after dusk to see)
