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Worm Identification


Catherine Whale
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On 11/25/2021 at 5:39 PM, Brandon p said:

Look into Camallanus worms or if you feed blood worms they look close to each other

It's definitely not either of those worms. 

Here's a picture of blood worms.image.jpeg.77ab1925dd4fe55546745c1fe3acdde0.jpeg

Here are Camallanus worms. image.jpeg.4f02584dd230f968b580c650df8794c7.jpeg

Neither of them look like the worm above. 

In your shrimp tank are they always at the top? This makes me not think they are earthworms.

On 11/25/2021 at 4:55 PM, Catherine Whale said:

I noticed one over a year ago...I'm pretty sure it came with some plants I ordered. I have them in my shrimp tank also. Another possibility is that they may have come in in with live daphnia cultures I ordered on ebay .

 

Earthworms can survive a bit in a body of water but eventually they will die.

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On 11/25/2021 at 4:39 PM, Catherine Whale said:

I was wondering if anyone had any idea what this worm is? There is no pointy head so I don't think it's planaria. Data the Betta has eaten these before but most of the time they squirm their way out of his mouth. The bigger ones are about an inch long.

 

 

20211007_230101.jpg

Kinda looks like a tubifex worm. I say kinda cause it looks a little chunkier than the ones I've seen in person. There are different kinds though, so maybe. 

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The worm sort of inches along with a sucking mouth part. They mostly hang out in the substrate. I've seen them poke half their body out of the substrate and undulate their upper part in the water. They are also very fast swimmers and can scrunch their bodies up very small. I think there is a little suction thing on one end so they can inch along the glass too.

I've seen them eat dead snails and they eat the shrimp pellets also. Thanks for helping in the search.

 

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On 11/25/2021 at 7:18 PM, Catherine Whale said:

The worm sort of inches along with a sucking mouth part. They mostly hang out in the substrate. I've seen them poke half their body out of the substrate and undulate their upper part in the water. They are also very fast swimmers and can scrunch their bodies up very small. I think there is a little suction thing on one end so they can inch along the glass too.

I've seen them eat dead snails and they eat the shrimp pellets also. Thanks for helping in the search.

 

like this? 
Large Brown and Many Small White Detritus Worms

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Another pic of the same 
Barbronia weberi leech
 

Quote

Another denizen commonly seen is the common freshwater Asian leech Barbronia weberi. This looks like an earthworm with a slightly slimmer head.  Only one half of the body remains motionless while the other half of the body, the head, waves about.  Similar to an inchworm, the leech makes steps as it progresses with the help of the suction cups at its front and rear end. This is a picture on such a leech.

https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-13-4-aquarium-leeches/

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On 11/25/2021 at 7:58 PM, Catherine Whale said:

I think that might be it! https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-13-4-aquarium-leeches/

No wonder I could never find the answer I was always searching for worms and never considered leeches until coming here. Thanks for the help Indlers and everyone that contributed!

 

Not a problem. If it is an asian freshwater leech you might want to keep an eye on those guys though, sounds like they could be a bit troublesome in the shrimp tank you mentioned, or in a tank with snails for that matter. If they are only going after dead stuff then they might be more helpful than harmful, could be you have a nice balance going on and they can get by without causing trouble, or I could always be wrong. Either way, if they've been around for a year and you havent noticed a massacre, sounds like everything's fine, whatever the case. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

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On 11/26/2021 at 12:11 AM, Indlers said:

Not a problem. If it is an asian freshwater leech you might want to keep an eye on those guys though, sounds like they could be a bit troublesome in the shrimp tank you mentioned, or in a tank with snails for that matter. If they are only going after dead stuff then they might be more helpful than harmful, could be you have a nice balance going on and they can get by without causing trouble, or I could always be wrong. Either way, if they've been around for a year and you havent noticed a massacre, sounds like everything's fine, whatever the case. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Thank you I never looked for leaches   Then things all start to look the same

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Leeches all characteristically have a posterior disc. Look for this to distinguish them from other segmented annelids (worms). 

 

There are something like ~380 species of freshwater earthworms in the united states alone so I hesitate to ID to species but I think y'all were correct in your first assessment that it is indeed a freshwater earthworm. As from the picture I don't see the disc foot.

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