Benefits of tiny tube worms

[Paul B]

1:30 this morning I got up and had a thought. Maybe these tube worms also eat paracites. I have no idea, but my tank is never bothered by paracites even if I put ich infested fish in. I also don't have the equipment to see if this is true but it would be a great boon to this hobby if we could find a natural way of eradicating those little pests while accidently making the water healthier. My tank uses a reverse under gravel filter (yes there are such things) and the gravel is loaded with tiny tube worms. The algae trough is also filled with them so the water doesn't have a choice and must flow past millions of these feathery tentacles every day. I would imagine they would be able to remove paracites from the water. It is just a thought so don't hit me with all sorts of scientific theories from scientists who have never owned a fish tank or gone swimming.
I feed clams every day along with some of their associated clam juice and I am sure this helps promote the lives of these worms. They also act to clean the water of any particles. Every day I stir up the substrait a little with a baster looking thing which I am sure also feeds these guys (or girls).
These tube worms are never discussed but may be why older tanks don't have any problems with diseases, mini cycles, algae or bacterial blooms.
Maybe we don't give tube worms enough credit. It's just a thought.
References:
Me :usa:

 

[Velodog2]

I wouldn't dismiss this concept. When I used to keep multiple fish in relatively large (135) reef tank I never worried about ich. If it showed up on a new fish it died away soon enough. Others have observed this phenomenon as well and I have seen it credited to how healthy and robust fish are in a reef system. However I generally didn't buy that and wondered if the corals and other predators (such as tube worms) of micro-particles were keeping the parasites from establishing viable populations during their free-swimming phase.

 

[vlangel]

A boss I had when I worked at a LFS in the 90s believed that all filter feeders preyed on ich in the free swim stage and that was one of his reasons for not employing a UV on reef tanks, along with not wanting to kill the beneficial fauna.