Unknown parasite

[Aquarius74]

Hello, I was just cleaning my currently fishless observation tank, and came across some reddish worms. I am assuming they came out of a clownfish who died a few weeks ago. Any ideas what this is? I am confident I got all of the worms, but there could still be eggs. What’s the best way to treat this tank? Thank you!


View attachment 20251002_105512_24D99F66-E71E-47F4-A6D7-63F0C450D063.mov

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello, I was just cleaning my currently fishless observation tank, and came across some reddish worms. I am assuming they came out of a clownfish who died a few weeks ago. Any ideas what this is? I am confident I got all of the worms, but there could still be eggs. What’s the best way to treat this tank? Thank you!

While this could be an epitoke , looks more like a eunicid which is a known hitchhiker and would scavenge on a dead clown but images slightly blurry. Need brighter light also

 

[Aquarius74]

Thanks. Here is a slightly better photo. To clarify, the clown was in that tank for a few weeks, but died after being moved to my DT (fortunately, DT seems to be fine). Is there a treatment for the observation tank that you would recommend?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks. Here is a slightly better photo. To clarify, the clown was in that tank for a few weeks, but died after being moved to my DT (fortunately, DT seems to be fine). Is there a treatment for the observation tank that you would recommend?

Tough to say with no size reference, but this doesn’t look parasitic. It isn’t segmented, so not a tapeworm. Too thick to be a nematode. Too long to be a fluke.

My best guess is that it is some scavenger worm.

 

[Aquarius74]

Ok, thanks. I am guessing they were about 2 inches long. Very puzzled about where they would have come from since there has only ever been one clownfish in this tank, along with a couple of pieces of live rock and no substrate. I guess they could have hitched in on the rocks.