unidentified? ??

[Emily]

Does anyone know what this is growing in my sand bed? It is eating mysis shrimp.

 

[Pete polyp]

Looks like a spaghetti worm

 

[Emily]

hey pete:) is that good or bad??? should I let it go?

 

[Pete polyp]

Its a good guy. He will be a benefit as part of your clean up crew.

 

[Eienna]

Too many specimens can irritate your corals, but a single worm shouldn't cause harm.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Spaghetti Worm

 

[Carlb]

Peanut worm


Tank parameters are like the facts of a story. Check em.

 

[Emily]

good guy or bad because I have noticed a second?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Not to worry, they are a type of scavenger.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-discussion/58795-spaghetti-worm-control.html


The name "spaghetti worm" predates the reef aquarium hobby by several decades. I first heard the term in my first marine ecology class at Woods Hole in 1969, and I am sure it wasn’t coined then and there. In all cases, prior to recent usage in the reef hobby, this term refers to the worms in the family Terebellidae. The terebellids live in tubes in sediments, rocks, or debris, and do not normally leave the tubes. The only parts of the worm visible on the substrate surface are typically the white to slightly pinkish feeding tentacles elaborated from the head. The tentacles from larger worms are about the same size and dimensions as angel hair pasta, and give these animals their common name. The feeding tentacles extend some distance from the burrow and collect small food particles in a stream of mucus which is moved along by microscopic cilia found in a gutter on tentacle’s surface. Arising from the head region are also two to four pairs of bushy, bright red gills. These are not generally visible outside the tube, but when the animal is feeding with the tentacles extended, the gills are located just below the opening of the tube.
Spaghetti and Hair Worms… What’s in a Name? by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

 

[Emily]

thank you, I will leave them be:)