# huge earthworm looking worm found in tank



## markopolo (Jun 2, 2008)

damn thats pretty crazy, imagine if you have a whole nest in your tank!!! :icon_eek:


----------



## customdrumfinishes (Apr 4, 2008)

it doesnt have to stay in water either, its trying to crawl out the cup i have it in now. maybe i got this with some plants?! makes me wanna sift the substate through a strainer. i dont have alot of plants in the tank so i will be able to do a good gravel clean and hope i dont find another one or 10


----------



## die2win (Aug 10, 2008)

Eeeeeuuuuuuuwwwwwwwww! :eek5:


----------



## vance71975 (Jun 4, 2008)

customdrumfinishes said:


> I was examing the shrimp today in a tank and saw a worm stick its head out of the substrate. of coarse i caught it and its huge, its about 4-5" long and looks like an earth worm, brown and reddish color. i dont have any shrimp or fish missing at all and this isnt a planeria. ive never had a worm before in this tank ever till now. i think im gonna gravel clean the hell outta this tank today lol. anyone else had a worm big enough to go fishing with?
> i havent gravel cleaned in about 2 months and never over feed. i never see a flake hit the bottom in this tank the fish always eat it up quick. i wonder how long it took for this worm to get this big. im freaked about my new fishing bait lol.


Is this a FW tank? cause that looks an awful lot like a bristle worm but to the best of my knowledge they are SW only.


----------



## customdrumfinishes (Apr 4, 2008)

its freshwater, never seen a worm this big, its not a flat worm either. never had any worms ever but now have the catch of the day lol


----------



## customdrumfinishes (Apr 4, 2008)

if this was in my angel tank it never would have lived lol.


----------



## Craig (Nov 26, 2007)

:eek5:
I think they are right it must be a freshwater bristle worm. I swear I read there are a few species found in freshwater. If it is a bristle worm it should be relatively harmless and it will just eat the detritus.


----------



## Sounguru (Jul 14, 2008)

There are a lot of FW worms and they will not harm a thing... Red in color looks like and earthworm you are okay. Probably helping out your tank by keeping the soil loose and eating crud then the poo becomes plant food.

Grey on the other hand is Leeches which is what I have...want some of mine...


----------



## katiej (Sep 30, 2008)

a live tubifex worm maybe?


----------



## customdrumfinishes (Apr 4, 2008)

well its not going back in the tank for sure lol


----------



## bbaker (Jan 18, 2008)

FWIW I saw the exact same (scary!) guy in my FW aquarium a few months ago when I was rescaping. You're faster than I am - he got away from me. Haven't seen him since and nothing seems amiss, so I'm guessing he's harmless.

Hopefully. :icon_eek:


----------



## die2win (Aug 10, 2008)

bbaker said:


> FWIW I saw the exact same (scary!) guy in my FW aquarium a few months ago when I was rescaping. You're faster than I am - he got away from me. Haven't seen him since and nothing seems amiss, so I'm guessing he's harmless.
> 
> Hopefully. :icon_eek:



And then in the middle of the night...You hear the lid on your tank opening :eek5:


----------



## rich815 (May 21, 2008)

I first found one of these in my eheim filter media about 3 months after I first started my tank early last year and was cleaning the eheim for the first time. I described it to my LFS and they told me the name but I have forgotten (they are closed today or I would have called----for some reason "paracelia" or something like that is coming to mind, but I know it's not right). 

Since then I've seen them once or twice more sometimes when pulling out and moving a plant that is fairly well rooted, like a crypt or sword. Usually one of my rainbows jumps at them and eats them. I'm told they are harmless and supposedly actually good for the substrate, sort of like earthworms in soil. 

If you found one there are likely more but I would not worry about them.


----------



## crabcake (Dec 19, 2007)

i have seen aquatic worms that look just like earthworms underwater in trout streams here in WI. 

it's probably harmless. i don't know if i would want to put it back in the tank. it oculd be interesting to keep it in another container to watch what it does.


----------



## markopolo (Jun 2, 2008)

maybe sell it on the swap and shop im sure theres someone crazy enough to buy it :icon_smil


----------



## rich815 (May 21, 2008)

rich815 said:


> I first found one of these in my eheim filter media about 3 months after I first started my tank early last year and was cleaning the eheim for the first time. I described it to my LFS and they told me the name but I have forgotten (they are closed today or I would have called----for some reason "paracelia" or something like that is coming to mind, but I know it's not right).
> 
> Since then I've seen them once or twice more sometimes when pulling out and moving a plant that is fairly well rooted, like a crypt or sword. Usually one of my rainbows jumps at them and eats them. I'm told they are harmless and supposedly actually good for the substrate, sort of like earthworms in soil.
> 
> If you found one there are likely more but I would not worry about them.


I just remembered! It's a Polychaete. Or as Craig said, a freshwater bristle worm.

Got any gouramis, rainbows or the like? Drop it in front of them. They'll love it. Otherwise dig a hole in your substrate and drop it in and cover it back up. It's harmless and will actually eat detritis and be good for yoru substrate.


----------



## Mason123coc (Sep 14, 2015)

It could be a regular earthworm that got in there by mistake. I had a turtle tank that I regularly fed worms until they got to big for the tank. After that I got some sword tails and about 3 months of having those I transferred them to a bigger tank. While I was cleaning out the old one under the gravel a whole colony of earthworms were living there!!!!!


----------

