ISU: strange red worm

[dellrio]

ive noticed these strange stringy worms on the glass and in the rocks... they are like small tangles messes of a worm. it appears that its one worm with like a bunch of extentions. hard to describe. they r brilliant red and are around an inch long...

any ideas what this worm is? or if its good or bad?

[dellrio]

heres a pretty accurate drawing

[Atticus]

Could be a type of hydroid. Are they in a low flow area?

[dellrio]

the tank is all pretty much low flow

[waverz]

dellrio, great drawing! :lol:

[JEFF SCHENSE]

Sounds like a worm found for sale by IndoPacific Sea Farms they refer to as a Mama Mia (or Spagetti) worm.

Jeff.

[JEFF SCHENSE]

P.S. I'm told the Mama Mia worm is desirable worm. Most worms including Bristle Worms are benificial as sand stirrers and detritivores. You may want to look at www.ipsf.com to confirm this is what you have.

Jeff

[dellrio]

thanks for the compliments.. i am a design major =0)

i think that must be what they are... i am glad they r not harmful..

[JEFF SCHENSE]

Dellrio,

A quote copied directly from Indo Pacific Sea Farms about their Mama Mia worms:

Mama Mia Worms tm. The common name of these deposit-feeding annelids from the family Terrebellidae is Spaghetti Worms. But let's face it - how many people can spell "spaghetti" correctly on the first try? We sure couldn't. Hence the name, Mama Mia. These highly active worms have bright red buccal tentacles which extend out over the sand bed to gather suitably sized particulate materials, which they "lasso" by tentacular contraction. It's fascinating to watch, and it sure beats vacuuming your sand bed. Here's a bonus: you can count on Mama Mia worms to reproduce in your tank because they have direct development (no planktonic stage). Specimens average approx. 1/2 "-1" in length with tentacles extended.

Based on your description, it sounds like you may have some of these.

Jeff

P.S. If you are ever in the Coralville/Iowa City area, I wouldn't mind having some of these for my sand bed.

Thanks

Jeff

[dellrio]

well.. i dont mind trading some of them for corals to add to the tank... do u ever attend the greater iowa reef meetings.. i am from ames... but travel to davenport everynow and then.. we go right through coralville.