Last Thread to Figure out what these ant like , tree root like , tiny worms on the glass are , that all move together in a giant colony from substrate

[nycfreshreef]

Hello Everyone

This is a thread to hopefully finally figure out what these strange worms are. These have appeared in many threads in the past several years but so far we have no true ID , as it seems they are becoming more prevalent in our systems , I thought I would put together one final thread to hopefully ID them. (I also noticed in all the previous threads there was no good magnified video of the worms so I am including some)

Worm Description:

These guys are very tiny, thin worms that usually appear at lights out. They Start from the Substrate/Sand and move onto the glass, in mass, then they start branching out. There are leader worms and the rest of them follow the leader , to the point where there are 1000+ of them crawling on the glass at night. They create this branching tree like structure that from a distance appear as hair like algae but under magnification you can see all the individual worms. Then they retreat back into the substrate one the lights kick in, and leave behind a trail on the glass that shows where they were the previous night. My gut tells me they are some sort of detritus worm but I am not sure.

In Other threads I have seen (I have looked at all of them) some common ID guesses were:

Labyrinthula (they are not Labyrinthula as these are worms not protist moving within a net)

Spaghetti Worm (they are individual worms not feeding tentacles from a main body so cannot be spaghetti worms)

Bristle worms/hydroids/ (they are completely smooth so cannot be either of these)
***If anyone knows what they are & how to get rid of them, please share so we can add to our collective knowledge as a hobby***

***if you guys can tag the big guns who do ID that would be much appreciated as well***

Here is are 10X magnified videos/photos of the worms as well as photos of the tree like structure they create I have pulled from other threads.

Video 1:

Strange reef tank saltwater worms (they move together like ants) and create structures on the glass

youtube.com

Video 2:

Strange worms on glass creating root tree like structure reef tank what are they ?

youtube.com

I am going to tag you vetteguy as I have seen you respond to a lot of the posts from a few years ago initially trying to ID these things , maybe you figured out what they are ? Maybe you know who to tag who can help us , thank you

 

[nycfreshreef]

@vetteguy53081 maybe you guys have finally figured these out ? Or can tag the big guns ? Much appreciated @KJ

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello Everyone

This is a thread to hopefully finally figure out what these strange worms are. These have appeared in many threads in the past several years but so far we have no true ID , as it seems they are becoming more prevalent in our systems , I thought I would put together one final thread to hopefully ID them. (I also noticed in all the previous threads there was no good magnified video of the worms so I am including some)

Worm Description:

These guys are very tiny, thin worms that usually appear at lights out. They Start from the Substrate/Sand and move onto the glass, in mass, then they start branching out. There are leader worms and the rest of them follow the leader , to the point where there are 1000+ of them crawling on the glass at night. They create this branching tree like structure that from a distance appear as hair like algae but under magnification you can see all the individual worms. Then they retreat back into the substrate one the lights kick in, and leave behind a trail on the glass that shows where they were the previous night. My gut tells me they are some sort of detritus worm but I am not sure.

In Other threads I have seen (I have looked at all of them) some common ID guesses were:

Labyrinthula (they are not Labyrinthula as these are worms not protist moving within a net)

Spaghetti Worm (they are individual worms not feeding tentacles from a main body so cannot be spaghetti worms)

Bristle worms/hydroids/ (they are completely smooth so cannot be either of these)
***If anyone knows what they are & how to get rid of them, please share so we can add to our collective knowledge as a hobby***

***if you guys can tag the big guns who do ID that would be much appreciated as well***

Here is are 10X magnified videos/photos of the worms as well as photos of the tree like structure they create I have pulled from other threads.

Video 1:

Strange reef tank saltwater worms (they move together like ants) and create structures on the glass

youtube.com

Video 2:

Strange worms on glass creating root tree like structure reef tank what are they ?

youtube.com

I am going to tag you vetteguy as I have seen you respond to a lot of the posts from a few years ago initially trying to ID these things , maybe you figured out what they are ? Maybe you know who to tag who can help us , thank you

Dont believe spaghetti worm but may be Cirratulid worm which are most active in evening and during the night.

 

[taricha]

@ISpeakForTheSeas has good info on these swarming worms that we've seen before.

 

[nycfreshreef]

@ISpeakForTheSeas has good info on these swarming worms that we've seen before.

Thanks yes I have read all the threads including his , it is definitely a type of worm as I have been watching them grow since they were tiny larva that numbered only about 100 or so , at that time they stayed in the sand and never came out , now that they are grown they come out crawling all over the glass and are freaky lol … just trying to figure out the species / genus , etc

 

[nycfreshreef]

Dont believe spaghetti worm but may be Cirratulid worm which are most active in evening and during the night.

Thanks for your thoughts, I have been watching them since they were little tiny larva like things , couldn’t see with eye but could see with 10x magnification, there was only about 100 or so of the babies when I first saw them and they stayed under the sand at all times , now there are 1000s of them grown up crawling all over and super creepy lol , I will do some research on cirratulid (you are correct not spaghetti as they are all individual worms that are not connected , they just follow the same path) really strange

 

[nycfreshreef]

@ISpeakForTheSeas ever figure out the species of these tiny worms , they creep
Me out , hope they leave my tank soon

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas ever figure out the species of these tiny worms , they creep
Me out , hope they leave my tank soon

Sorry, life got super busy recently.

I thought I had figured it out until I got pinged on a couple of the threads about these guys and saw that someone had posted microscopic videos of them that I don't recall watching before. Based on the movement of the organisms in those videos vs the movement I've seen in some similar looking organisms, it looks like some of the things I've seen/identified on here as either a Labyrinthulid, Thraustochytrid, or similar may still be those (or something similar), but based on the other videos, I have to agree that the ones in those videos (and these ones) are not.

I'll dig into it some more when I have some free time (could be a little while, unfortunately), but - for now - the best I can say is that the way they move is interesting (they seem to expand and contract to move rather than crawling like the typical bristle worm does) and that they seem to be Polychaetes (bristleworms) of some variety (if you look closely when they contract in the video quoted below, you can see chaetae along the contracted areas - you can sometimes see them without the contraction, but it's usually more difficult; the left side of the worm on the bottom from 1:08-1:14 shows it relatively clearly):

Here's what's in my tank through microscope.

Given that they seem to be nocturnal bristleworms and that nobody has reported negative effects from these guys, I wouldn't be too concerned, but the behavior is very interesting.