Is this a spaghetti worm?

[curviceps]

Hi all

Have these thin segmented threads emanating from a rock - is this a spaghetti worm? Looks similar to other spaghetti worm pictures from google - but the tentacles are extremely thin and fragile, so I was not sure.

See picture below

cheers, Tim

http://pub.wemmit.net/worms.jpg

[Betta132]

I'd say yes. Might be something else, though. Whatever it is, it's not something to worry about. Things that look like that are gunk-eaters. That's why they have the tentacles, for finding gunk. The worst they'll do is possibly annoy a coral if they keep grabbing over it.

[deanobz]

Curviceps, I have the exact same critter in my tank. What happened to yours?

[curviceps]

Hi, I haven't seen them for a while - must have been eaten by a fish. They were harmless though, and more than likely good to have

[Betta132]

Fish aren't good at grabbing those, they hide really well. Yours is probably hiding somewhere you can't see it.

[curviceps]

OK, that may be what's happening. I used to see multiple of these all the time, particularly after feeding the fish, but now I have not noticed any...

[Betta132]

I'd guess that their tentacles were being nipped by the fish and they decided to hide somewhere less exposed.

[hotdogmj71]

So it is a spaghetti worm?

I have this & thought it was some kind of algae -- until I went to remove it & it retracted into a rock. So does the main part of the body stay inside rocks? I've never seen any part except the "strands"

Can they harm corals? Once or twice I have seen it touch a zoa & they shrivel for a while and then come back.

[Ron Reefman]

Spaghetti worms do not hurt corals at all. They only collect VERY small things in the water column like bacteria and very small pods (maybe).

I had some in my tank until I added a wrasse and in just a few days they were all gone. I've tried to bring home a bigger spaghetti worm from the Keys but it only survived about 6 weeks.

[Betta132]

Corals sometimes get annoyed by spaghetti worms grabbing at them, but the worms don't hurt them, the corals just go "noo" and shrink up to escape the perceived threat. If a worm is right in the middle of a bunch of corals and is constantly groping over them, it can annoy them into always being retracted, but otherwise they're absolutely harmless.
Yes, the main part is inside the rock. An entire spaghetti worm looks like a weird fat worm with a bunch of threads coming off one end. They come in weird colors, too, I had some 1.5" ones that were lime green.