What's going on in my grindal worm culture?

[memorywrangler]

I grabbed this photo from my grindal worm to verify that the little white specks are eggs. But what I found is confusing. In the photo we have:

A: An egg cocoon

B: An egg cocoon with newly hatched worms inside.

C : An adult grindal worm

D : A young grindal worm about the same size as the ones in the cocoon

E: The Mystery and point of this question -- a much smaller worm of some kind.

 

Is 'E' a tiny grindal worm or some other species? Maybe some kind of nematode?  There are lots of them if I scan around with my microscope.

Edited September 7, 2023 by memorywrangler

[Schuyler]

Interesting... I don't know the answer but I have a similar thing: distinctly smaller worms in my grindal worm culture 

I had thought that I cross contaminated with micro worms or vinegar eels but I wonder if the smaller ones are just young grindal worms

My small ones always seem to be clumped together in the middle of the culture

[Guppysnail]

I can’t confirm I’m right but I have seen this in both grindal and white worms. More in white worms but I think they are a form of microworms. 
 

I think it’s like vinegar eels where you can start a culture without a starter culture. 
 

I see it most often in my white worms if I let the bread degrade to far and become soggy it will start teaming with these “micro” worms and look and smell exactly like a microworm culture. 
 

I’ve also seen it happen to the kibble in my grindal worms. When I look at these under a microscope to me they look identical to my microworms under a scope. However I’m not a biologist so the subtle differences are lost on me. 
 

More importantly I’ve never seen issues feeding them. My fish don’t care and show no health concerns and still breed prolifically 

 @Biotope Biologist?