Worm ID?

limitedslip · #1 12/21/2007, 09:52 PM

I will try and post up a picture, and a video later (my computer isnt cooperating with me at the moment)

anyway, Ive had these on a piece of live rock for awhile. They look like the casings of a small feather duster, but instead of featherdusters coming out, theres lil tenticles come out, and clean up everything. Each case send out one tenticle, and they are placed all over the rock. they seem to be burrowing under hte substrate and poping up in random spots in the substrate as well. Any clue what they could be?

LeslieH · #2 12/21/2007, 10:36 PM

Only one tentacle per tube? Interesting - I look forward to seeing your picture. If possible, scrape off a couple of them so you can get a close up pic of them in a dish. Tank shots often don't show enough detail for a reliable id.

limitedslip · #3 12/22/2007, 02:10 AM

I tried to remove a piece, but, it seems to be just tubes, I am having trouble finding the base, they seemed to be deeply placed in the rock ><. I was able to remove part of the tubing, and took a picture of that, I also got a video of the tenticles in action. I will try and post them tomorrow for you Leslie.

Also, I found out that the tubes have found their way about 3 inches away from the host rock, It seems they are still attached to the rock, but the tubes are growing threw the substrate as food around the rock becomes less accessible.

limitedslip · #4 12/24/2007, 07:09 PM

Here's a picture of them on the rock.

heres a picture of the tube I pulled off.

Here's a Video to see them in action.

LeslieH · #5 12/24/2007, 08:27 PM

That's really interesting. Normally the tube dwelling polychaetes have multiple tentacles that they use to pick up food but I could only see a single tentacle. It's possible that the entire worm is emerging to scavenge for food but I can't see enough detail. That's the problem with video, unfortunately. The tubes probably run under the rock & maybe even into the sand so to get the worm you've have to pick up the rock & scrape off as much tube as possible. There are other types of tube-building worms besides polychaetes but again, not enough detail to know what it is, sorry.

RiOnRoxXx · #6 01/02/2008, 07:02 PM

I had a few of those tentacle things in my tank. Took the ones out that I could get to. Found out the sandy tube was just the head of it. When I finally got the tube out it was about an inch long. They're kind of creepy watching the tentacles stretch a scurry about.

gholland · #7 01/07/2008, 08:32 PM

Looks like a spaghetti worm tube.... typically have two tentacles. Harmless.