Creepy Free Swimming Tiny Worms!!! Detritus Worms?

jtermini

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Hey Reefers,
So I went to my tank to do a bit of maintenance this evening. So I put my tank in feed mode to stop the gyres and turn the return pump down to 1%......and when I turned on the tank lights, to my surprise, I see thousands of very tiny worm-like creates swimming around. I am familiar with all my pod populations and these are NOT any of them. They are thin....maybe the thickness of a beard hair. They are clearly swimming as they whip back and forth slowly. I have added some pics but in the video you can more clearly see them. moving around. The weird part is that my fish don't seem to want to eat them...and they eat everything, LOL. They are not hairy or spikey...so I don't think baby bristle worms. I used dry rock for this build to minimize hitchhikes. But I am not sure where these guys came from. I think they might be Detritus Worms but I am not sure. I do pretty frequent water changes and gravel vac each time.

I do have copepods, rotifers, and amphipods I purposely introduced and these are not any of those.

Any idea what these are? As the fish are happy and I have yet to add corals to this tank....they don't appear to be hurting anything. But I would love it if someone can point me in the right direction to ID these.

Thanks,
James

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revhtree

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Something spawn in there?
 
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jtermini

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Something spawn in there?
Not to my knowledge! I only have a couple of rock flower anemones, one rose bubble tip, some fish (no pairs), trochus snails, one tuxedo urchin, one pincushion urchin, and emerald crabs. None of these should result in a free-swimming larvae form to my knowledge.

So I take it you haven't seen anything like this before? Haha
 
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jtermini

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I sure haven't. But something did something.... Whatever it is, is probably harmless. You'd know by now. So, probably fish food.
Yeah I agree. Probably harmless. But I am really curious to figure out what they are.

For some reason, the fish will not touch them! Even 6-line wrasse and purple tang. They eat everything thing in the water column....and will not touch these guys. I turned on the light last evening and they were super excited thinking I would feed them. Even with the worm density....they wouldn't eat them.

Another clue. They do seem to be nocturnal. This morning, there was only a couple present. Also, they do not attach to the glass like (I am told) detritus worms do.

Ahh the mysteries of the reef tank, haha.
 

Goaway

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Still an exciting event to see :)
Makes me wonder if they are snail hatchlings. I know some turn into larvae and go through multiple growth phases before they settle on substrate.
 
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jtermini

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Still an exciting event to see :)
Makes me wonder if they are snail hatchlings. I know some turn into larvae and go through multiple growth phases before they settle on substrate.
And like that, they are gone! Last night, I couldn't see a single one. A one-night event it seems. Must have been something spawning. But besides trochus snails....can't imagine what else could be spawning. If I have 1000 trochus snails pop up, I will let you guys know! Haha

Thanks again for the input.

-J
 
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