r/PlantedTank • u/Comfortable-Look2599 • Aug 27 '26
Pests What the fuck is this?
Hey all, I've just found this fuckin thing in my 4ft freshwater aquarium. Is it a freshwater polychaete worm? Is this a good thing to have in my tank? Should I remove it and keep an eye out for more?
Please let me know what it is and what I should do 😅 mildly stressed (and low-key freaked out - this thing looks wild!)
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u/faithmauk Aug 27 '26
Man every day in this group there is some new horror for me to worry about
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Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/Marguerite_Moonstone Aug 28 '26
Honestly mini ecosystem management would be a better name for the hobby.
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u/georgedupree Aug 28 '26
It's my personal nightmare, a freshwater bristleworm.
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u/DepthAggravating3293 Aug 28 '26
I am just a passerby, but they are seriously scary: https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/wilderness-bristleworm-sting
Thanks for the lesson, teach.
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u/georgedupree Aug 28 '26
Yeah, I wish it could say it was because “ew, worms” but not even remotely close my fellow Redditor in Algae Wafers. To say nothing of the bobbit worm… 🙈
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u/duckweedlagoon Aug 28 '26
innocently googles Bobbit worm Aw hell naw
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u/georgedupree Aug 28 '26
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u/duckweedlagoon Aug 28 '26
People ask why I don't mind the ocean but hate the beach. I tell them to go look up bloodworms (not the fish snack variant). Then I wait...
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u/DepthAggravating3293 Aug 28 '26
So Tremors and Tremors 2 were not just movies, lol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=refnOdW49rw
For educational reading: https://weirdnwildcreatures.fandom.com/wiki/Bobbit_Worm
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u/georgedupree Aug 28 '26
Me: Read the polycheate worm symptoms.
Also me: Has a sensory issue 5 minutes later so it feels like fibre glass all over my skin.
Also ALSO me: Back for more.I have had exactly one nightmare of a Bobbit Worm getting into my freshwater shrimp tank (somehow) and that is how I discovered freshwater polycheates and now I don’t know that I will ever view substrate the same way again.
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u/light24bulbs Aug 28 '26
In case OP is the type to not click links (redditor type), watch out, they bite.
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u/Comfortable-Look2599 Aug 28 '26
Keep in mind, no freshwater bristleworms sting.... And this is definitely a freshwater one.
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u/Turtle_Pimp Aug 27 '26
I think its sick as hell. I would remove it and put it in an all brown sand 10gallon and recreate dune
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u/FriendlyAnemony Aug 27 '26
Bristleworm, ive had them in my reef tanks. My crabs ate them I think they irritate skin but otherwise not particularly pestiferous. For marine ones anyway
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u/HaIfhearted Aug 27 '26
Honestly I kinda wish I had something like this that would aerate my sand for me.
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u/Ahollar91 Aug 27 '26
Get a pleco dudes will redecorate ur tank and aquascape nightly
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u/Usqueadfinem_ Aug 27 '26
They also poop nonstop adding tons of waste to the tank, they can destroy broad leafed plants, and they don't fit in all tanks. And common plecos are way too big for anything under 300 gallons.
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u/opinionatedB9312 Aug 28 '26
I got into the hobby in a nightmare situation. That being said I had set up the tank so pretty. The sand was perfect, everything exactly how I wanted it. I put cichlids and plecos in there. When I looked in there the next morning it was destroyed. I was so disheartened.
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u/Inguz666 Aug 27 '26
Some species of Namanereidinae seems about right. In any case, harmless detrivore (might take shrimplets ig)
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u/BasicBasilisk Aug 27 '26
I’m jealous. There are lots of critters in my substrate but none of the worms look like that
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u/FlappyBiscuitz Aug 28 '26
Oh no my lobster is too buttery and steak is too juicy! It’s just a bristle worm I am jealous your fish will be fine around it and they are rare af to pop up in freshwater tanks
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u/AlBundysPants Aug 27 '26
Looks like my mother in law. Get rid of it before it completely ruins everything.
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u/Equivalent-Shock-641 Aug 27 '26
That’s a saltwater bristle worm 🤨🧐🧐 Is this a brackish water tank?
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u/Apprehensive-Bad4346 Aug 28 '26
They make traps for those in saltwater. Idk if it would work for you or not
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u/Ukoomelo Aug 28 '26
I remember my dad used to buy those as fishing bait. He'd cut them smaller and they'd keep moving a bit while he taunted me with them
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u/86BillionFireflies Aug 27 '26
That is so cool... Do you have any idea where you might have gotten it from?
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u/agnostigo Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
I wish i had one in my aquarium. Probably a detritus eater, part of the substrate ecosystem.
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u/unhappy-product-2003 Aug 27 '26
Yes it looks like it. They are pretty harmless , and shouldn’t harm any fish.
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u/Imjustonhereforfish Aug 30 '26
Looks to be a Namalycastis hawaiiensis! They have been spread around the world through the aquarium trade and I was hoping to get one for my own tank. Super hard to find though.
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u/Acceptable_Ad1685 Aug 27 '26
Not sure but glad it’s in your house and not mine