spaghetti worm

[hazmat]

Here is a picture of what I have:

 

My question: these things are reproducing like crazy. I started with 1 and now I have 9. They are all in the sand bed and are in the same area of the tank. The picture above is the largest one. It's tentacles can reach about 3 inches. They go crazy when I feed the tank. Should I be concerned about how many there are? Are they still harmless in numbers?

[uwwmatt]

They are harmless members of your CUC. Their numbers will depend on the food available.

[Scottynose]

do a little more reading, the worms are directly proportional to feeding habits as Matt said. if they are multiplying like crazy, there is probably an abundance of food available for them to reproduce to those numbers.

 

they are more a sign of something like overfeeding than a bloom of disaster. i personally think their kinda cool

[gulfsurfer101]

Hair worm, not spaghetti worm. They are almost the same but thse do not live in a tube and can roam freely across your tank and I have seem them on the glass before. They do reproduce quickly for some reason and I usually vac them out when I see them in my pico since they reach all over the place disturbing my coral. If I had sand in my sump I would toss them in there for shure though. They are bennificail I just don't like so many of them in such a tight space making my tiny tank look like doo doo.

[hazmat]

Thanks peoples! I do feed daily. And they are situated right in front so they catch their share of food. I wasn't thinking disaster so much as would they be bothersome. But I'll go "do a little more reading"......

 

Edit: I also have a true spaghetti worm. It is embedded in a rock near the back of my tank and has the clear, white tentacles and a hard tube. My tank is a worm factory!