Alien creature or red spaghetti worm?!?!

[Steven9194]

I’ve noticed these tentacles emerging from the sand the last few weeks and originally thought this was the start of some cyano. Today I noticed it moving even with the flow off…. After digging some more I discovered this worm looking thing. I did some research and believe it’s a red spaghetti worm. I would love if someone could verify this and advise if it should stay or be removed. There are couple in the lower flow area of my tank.

 

[Quietman]

I would say so...that or hair worm (videos of these can be difficult to interpret). Usually stay submerged in gravel with tentacles out. Both serve useful functions in a reef systems with no downsides. Unless you find the looks disturbing of course.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Looks like either a hair worm (Cirratulidae) or a spaghetti worm (Terebellide) to me - if the tentacles all come out from a single point, it’s a spaghetti worm; if they come out from basically all over the body it’s a hair worm.

 

[reefermadnes5]

Lucky. I had to pay for spaghetti worms to sift my deep gravel bed.