Help!!! What is this??

[holbritter]

I added my 3 dp's on Thursday. Today, I was moving a few deco pieces around and found this floating around!

Does anyone know what it is? Is it dangerous to my puffers?? What can I do, if I should do anything?
Sorry....but I'm in panic mode :(

Pic isn't too clear, but it was the best I could get.

[Rue]

I can't tell from the picture whether it's a feeder worm or a parasitic worm...from the size it looks like a feeder...but as I said, pictures too blurry...sorry...

[Lady Hobbs]

Puffers will probably eat them if there's more but I would give that gravel a very good cleaning to see if there's more.

[2manyfish]

Really hard to tell by that pic!!
Is it a worm of sorts? From what I can see it looks somewhat like a saltwater bristleworm but you would need saltwater for it to live in your tank. Unless of course you bought saltwater rocks....they are very common hitchikkers on saltwater rocks. If it is a bristleworm then you only need to remove any dead ones you find. They cannot live and reproduce in freshwater so no worries there.

[holbritter]

Darn....that's the best pic I could get. Is there any distintive differences between the feeders and the other?



No gravel. I have dark blue sand. I did see a smaller one in there, but when I went to catch it, it disappeared.

BTW...my puffers aren't eating at all yet - at least not that I can tell, but from what I've read, it could take a few days, and since they look nice and rounded I think they are ok.

[holbritter]

Really hard to tell by that pic!!
Is it a worm of sorts? From what I can see it looks somewhat like a saltwater bristleworm but you would need saltwater for it to live in your tank. Unless of course you bought saltwater rocks....they are very common hitchikkers on saltwater rocks. If it is a bristleworm then you only need to remove any dead ones you find. They cannot live and reproduce in freshwater so no worries there.

Yes, it looked like a very long, thin worm. When I caught it, it looked a little transparent in some parts, and had a reddish tint to it on the others.

I don't have any saltwater rocks or anything like that in the tank. My plants are all fake too, so it's probably not that bristleworm.

I worry because some of the tank water from Petsmart did get into my tank. I couldn't help it because I was worried about the puffers puffing air in the transfer.

[Rue]

Feeder worms are mostly segmented...and generally you'll find they have a clitellum...

...parasitic worms aren't segmented...

...but to play it safe, you might want to treat the tank for worms...

[holbritter]

Ok. I don't believe they are segmented. What would you suggest as the best treatment??
Thanks :)

[sergo]

i had something like that in my tank a while back. it was a aquatic caterpillar and it hitched a ride on my anacharis. i took it out and haven't seen on since.