Worm thing

[Reefy]

This thing has been in my tank for several weeks. It constructed a tube from my gravel on the side of my live rock. There is a white/clear, thin and very long worm that I see very often coming out of its tube. It never leaves its tube but it seems there's two worms living in the same tube. Is this a good critter? I have had no problems and seems to be helping out cleaning the sand and eats fish poop. It's also sticky, because stuff sticks to them.

[jdsabin1]

This is probably what is commonly known as a 'spaghetti worm' or 'sand mason worm'. These worms are members of the Family Terebellidae. They live in burrows in the rock and sand use their tentacles, which are grooved to pull in bits of detritus using cilia for active transport. These are highly desirable and should be praised and worshipped. Just kidding, but in all seriousness they are good to have and play an important role in the sand bed community.

 

(I stole this right off of the Hitchhiker FAQ that can be found here:)

 

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/index.html

 

Very helpful link!

 

HTH!