PDA

View Full Version : Nematode... Problem?


Kryshah
01/22/2012, 07:43 PM
So, I saw this nematode in my tank today. It's the first and only one I've seen, and I wondered if there was any reason to worry. It's a little over an inch long and very typical of a nematode. I've just never seen one that big that's free living.http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg148/kryshah/?action=view¤t=7ba5ba68.jpg&evt=user_media_share

Kryshah
01/22/2012, 07:47 PM
Let's try that again http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg148/kryshah/7ba5ba68.jpg

Kryshah
01/22/2012, 10:56 PM
Bump

Kryshah
01/23/2012, 06:53 PM
Wow, you guys really suck at answering questions sometimes.

Jeebs
01/23/2012, 06:55 PM
I'm sure people are gonna be chomping at the bit to help you now....

Kryshah
01/23/2012, 08:15 PM
lol, yeah... I know. It's just frustrating to wait sometimes, and meanwhile my post gets pushed back more and more until it's never seen again. It wouldn't be a big deal if I hadn't felt like I'd been completely ignored in a few other posts I've made. I generally search the forum to see if anything's been posted before when I have a question - and I didn't find anything about large nematodes. I guess I could take the lack of response to mean that nobody else on here knows anything about them in a marine tank either.

Tat2demon
01/23/2012, 08:32 PM
I generally search the forum to see if anything's been posted before when I have a question - and I didn't find anything about large nematodes. I guess I could take the lack of response to mean that nobody else on here knows anything about them in a marine tank either.

Not finding anything is a good indication that the lack of responses is due to lack of experience. You could come to that conclusion and be happy, or I suppose you could tell people they suck.

Kryshah
01/23/2012, 09:09 PM
It appears as if the comment that I meant as fictitious came off as malicious. No offense was meant, I suppose some cute emoticon should have accompanied it. Let me try again.

Wow you guys really suck at answering questions sometimes.:wildone:

Kryshah
01/23/2012, 09:11 PM
I guess I'll just monitor then. Generally adult nematodes outside of an organism are benign anyway.

kikimers13
01/24/2012, 02:06 AM
Sorry, I don't know much about nematodes but I'll bump the post for ya! I'd be interested to learn more about it myself.

fishgate
01/24/2012, 06:44 AM
Before I got into SW tanks, I thought nematodes were made up by the creators of Spongebob. No lie!

Also: While this area (New To The Hobby) is a great "catch-all" area, there may be a better sub-forum for this post.

Sugar Magnolia
01/24/2012, 08:14 AM
Your picture is too blurry. Have a look here to see if you find a match. http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchworms.html

Mike_Noren
01/24/2012, 08:33 AM
It's generally not possible to identify nematodes from photos: they all look the same, and there's an estimated several hundred thousand species of them. They're so similar that even the experts struggle to tell them apart.

You're right that most free-living nematodes are small. Every reef tank probaly has tens if not hundreds of thousands of individuals of hundreds of small species, quietly doing their thing in the sand and among the rocks, never noticed. But there are big species.

Then there are also polychaetes which superficially looks like nematodes, for instance members of the family Glyceridae.

From your photo it looks as if the worm is actively swimming in the aquarium. I can't recall ever seeing a large parasitic roundworm swim - they have all been very sluggish creatures, adapted as they are to move no faster than what's needed to maintain position in the intestine.

So I'd say - and I'm purely playing the odds here, I really can't tell anything from the photo - that your worm is most likely to be a nematode-like polychaete, probably an epitoke (free-swimming reproductive individual), less likely to be a free-swimming large nematode or nematomorph, and least likely to be a free-swimming large parasitic nematode.

Kryshah
01/24/2012, 08:48 AM
I don't know... I'm pretty familiar with nematodes. I'm new to SW hobby, but I'm also a biologist with concentration on invertebrate zoology. I only included the pic to show relative size (that's a turbo snail below it on the glass) because I know that free living nematodes are generally tiny while the parasitic guys get pretty big (ascaris get up to a foot long!). It wasn't free swimming, it was slowly crawling around on the glass, but I get your point. While I'm familiar with nematodes, I'm not very familiar with marine polychaetes - but it didn't display any tagmitization, but I suppose the segments may have seemed uniform due to it's small size. Another point, is that if it was a free living nematode, it should have been in my substrate, not a foot up my glass! Do you think it would be advisable to treat for nematodes? Is there even a treatment that is safe for all of my corals, CUC and fish - or would I have to separate them and treat individually? Now I wish I had plucked him out for better examination. Mounting on a slide for some microscopy would have answered lots of questions!

Sugar Magnolia
01/24/2012, 09:03 AM
Then there are also polychaetes which superficially looks like nematodes, for instance members of the family Glyceridae.

As well as Nemertea.

Kryshah
01/24/2012, 09:23 AM
I don't think it's a member of glyceridae - there wasn't even a hint of parapodia, but I hadn't even thought of nemertea! How common are they in a marine aquarium? Unfortunately whatever it was disappeared fairly quickly - I assume it either dropped to the substrate, or ws eaten - so I can't get a better pic of it.

Kryshah
01/24/2012, 09:26 AM
This isn't from my aquarium, but it is exactly what mine looked like.

http://www.myaquaria.com/albums/Allis-shrimp/nematode.jpg

Sugar Magnolia
01/24/2012, 09:30 AM
Ribbon worms (nemertea) are a pretty common hitchhiker.

Mike_Noren
01/24/2012, 09:50 AM
I'm also a biologist with concentration on invertebrate zoology.
Me too! :beer:
Well, nowadays I work with fish, but I started out in interstitial flatworms.

It wasn't free swimming, it was slowly crawling around on the glass
A pretty good way to tell different types of worms apart is by how they move. Roundworms have rigid bodies and are unable to change their cross-section or length, so they slither like snakes. Polychaetes may do this, but generally they move the way earthworms move, by changing their length and girth, or similar to the way a centipede walks, by using their parapodia. Flatworms and ribbon worms (which as Sugar Magnolia points out can also be roundworm-like) glide like snails.

While I'm familiar with nematodes, I'm not very familiar with marine polychaetes - but it didn't display any tagmitization, but I suppose the segments may have seemed uniform due to it's small size.
Segmentation, parapodia, bristles and tentacles are not always obvious in polychaetes; glycerids can look much like roundworms, even have an iridescent cuticle just like roundworms, but under a stereo microscope one can see tiny bristles and segmented musculature. Here's a stereo microscope photo of a Glycera (http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=4444+4444+0211+0820) (an interesting worm in its own right - the dark v-shaped structures in the anterior third are its fangs; this worm is venomous and can inflict a painful bite).

Do you think it would be advisable to treat for nematodes?
Not unless you have other indications of infection in your fish, e.g. distended stomach or worms visible from the anal vent. If I needed to treat my fish for roundworm infection I'd use medicated feed containing flubendazole.

Now I wish I had plucked him out for better examination. Mounting on a slide for some microscopy would have answered lots of questions!
Oh yes. Also it's fun to look at algae or detritus from a reef tank under a microscope, the small fauna is remarkably diverse.

Kryshah
01/24/2012, 12:21 PM
Mike, you are the man! I appreciate the help. I haven't noticed any symptoms in any of my fish, and it definately moved like an earthworm so I'll call it a polycheate for now.

Interstitial flatworms must have been interesting! I've had several invert and parasitology classes, but my real loves are entomology and arachnology.... though marine biology is quickly coming to the forefront!

sponger0
01/24/2012, 01:50 PM
It appears as if the comment that I meant as fictitious came off as malicious. No offense was meant, I suppose some cute emoticon should have accompanied it. Let me try again.

Wow you guys really suck at answering questions sometimes.:wildone:

As one of my friends said, texts dont have eyebrows lol

Kryshah
01/24/2012, 04:50 PM
As one of my friends said, texts dont have eyebrows lol

I like that.

cathyr
11/25/2014, 03:05 PM
Help! I have the same problem. My tank has not been looking well lately, so I was excited to see what looked like a new start of a xenia that had died away months ago. Come to find out my "new xenia" was traveling all over my tank. Closer inspection showed a "sea slug-like creature" disguised as xenia! Its about and inch long, pale pink color and able to move fairly fast. Not sure if I should remove it, but considering how bad my zoas, palys and corals in general are doing I'm thinking probably so. Any suggestions for a semi novice?

Sk8r
11/25/2014, 03:08 PM
Put it in your sump. Most questionable things can live there while you see whether their presence hurt your tank.

Danny_15
06/05/2017, 03:50 PM
Take it out why you wanna be seeing that anyways

Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk

ReeferNoob4ever
06/05/2017, 08:33 PM
Whatever it is, it sounds way cooler than a nematode! :)