Worms?

[jamesonwhiskey]

I have a few different areas that look like red worms growing out of my sand bed... them do seem to extend when the lights go out but not a lot. During the day it almost looks like frizzy hair growing out of the sand with curls on the end. I'm pretty sure it's not hair algae but not 100%

Any ideas on what it is, is it bad and how to get rid of it?

 

[KathyC]

Unless they are irritating your corals, they should pose no issue.

Read about them here:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/rs/index.php

Be sure not to overfeed your tank so you don't end up with too many of them!

 

[House of Laughter]

spaghetti worms - good for the systems

they are more like an orangy-yellow though

House

 

[Boomer]

That sounds like Cirratulids worms, as the tentacles are not extending much. Spaghetti worms have many-tentacles and extent them out lot. Got a pic ?

 

[jamesonwhiskey]

Here's some pics but they're not great... I have 4 or 5 of these groupings in my sand.

 

[Boomer]

Does each animal have just two tentacles like this


Chaetopterid

or many tentacles like this

Sphagetti worm

or more like this Cirratulid Hair worm

 

[Boomer]

They still look like, Cirratulids

 

[jamesonwhiskey]

I think they look like Cirratulid but it's hard to tell because I don't actually see a worm or "animal" just the tentacles or whatever that are coming out of the sand.

 

[Boomer]

Yah, we would need a close up clear pic to be sure but the look like Cirrat's. The Tentacles are kinda long for Chaetopterid's and are not more "center" grouped to be Spaghetti worms. And many of those tentacle have that "curled" look that many Cirrat's have.

 

[michaelp]

are the tentacles striated? (i.e. do they have stripes?) these could be tiny brittle stars. I have thousands in my tank that look similar. Usually I just see the arms, but occasionally will glimpse the whole body (usually in my filter sock)

 

[jamesonwhiskey]

No, they are not striped. It's hard to tell in the pics but each ones comes out of the sand straight with a curl or corkscrew on the end.

 

[jamesonwhiskey]

Could I just try pulling one out of the sand?

Are Cirras bad? The article linked above does not say

 

[Boomer]

No, they are particulate feeders