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Mystery Worms

Started by Guest_Kanus_* , Oct 06 2013 02:49 PM

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8 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 06 October 2013 - 02:49 PM

I posted this on the facebook page, but figured I'd try here too since this reaches a wider nanfa audience I think.

These MAY NOT be a native invertebrate, since I don't know where they came from, but they have been popping up here and there in my native tanks. I'm not super familiar with these micro-critters, but I do know that these don't look like blackworms or the dero worms I've seen. I suppose they could be some species of Tubifex (I haven't seen Tubifex in years, but seem to remember them being different). Unfortunately I don't have photos of them under a scope or anything, but that constant waving behavior seems like it could narrow them down. Thanks!

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#2 Guest_Usil_*

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Posted 07 October 2013 - 09:02 AM

I think they kind of look like tubifax. I saw a colony of tubifex waving around in the mud in shallow water in a pond one time. Touched the mud and they all instantly disappeared back into the mud.

Usil

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#3 Guest_EricaLyons_*

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Posted 07 October 2013 - 09:25 AM

I agree. I've only ever seen tubifex frozen, but I remember they looked much longer and thinner than blackworms. These worms you have are much thinner than blackworms. And my blackworms don't wave like that. I've seen leeches do that waving behavior, but these don't look anything like leeches.

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#4 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 07 October 2013 - 12:19 PM

They could be Naididae (the family that includes Dero), Tubificidae, or Lumbriculidae. Need a microscope to get any farther than that. Try Thorp and Covitch (North Amer Freshwater Invertebrates) key to aquatic Oligochaeta. I can scan pages from my copy if you don't have easy access to it, and really want to know.

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#5 Guest_EricaLyons_*

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Posted 07 October 2013 - 02:33 PM

By the way Kanus, if you can breed these worms and market them as a leech free aquarium worm, I would buy them.
Just saying.
Leeches are a big problem in the live blackworm trade.

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#6 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 07 October 2013 - 06:06 PM

Cool, Thanks guys I appreciate the responses. If I can remember one of these mornings, I'll pipette a few out and see if I can get some photos of them under the dissecting scope at work. If I can get that done, I may take you up on you offer, Gerald.
I may set up a small container with some clean quartz sand and a bubbler and see how they do. They are widespread in the tank, but this particular very dense patch of them is directly below the spot where I drop pellets in (again, this is a fish-free tank, but I use it as a bit of a snail refugium). This makes me think that they're probably keying on on regular shrimp pellets, in which case culturing them may be a breeze...

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#7 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 07 October 2013 - 06:10 PM

They wave just like tubifex. But the tubifex that I have seen live, have had more color, red, than these do.

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#8 Guest_EricaLyons_*

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Posted 07 October 2013 - 08:15 PM

I may set up a small container with some clean quartz sand

Don't tubifex prefer mud? I don't know much about them. Here's a picture of my blackworms in clay.

Posted Image

http://gallery.nanfa...5-3/008_002.JPG

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#9 Guest_Auban_*

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Posted 07 October 2013 - 08:19 PM

They wave just like tubifex. But the tubifex that I have seen live, have had more color, red, than these do.

i think they can change color a bit depending on dissolved oxygen. i had some in a turtle tank with play sand for substrate, and they were red until i added a filter for circulation.