Canister Worm?

[DaddyFish]

I've seen these in two canister systems now. One had them by the thousands, one only hundreds. They look like the common maggot and I have been unable to positively identify the exact species. Any help is appreciated.

 

[blaxsun]

Maybe time to clean out your canister filters?

 

[WheatToast]

Looks like pineapple sponges. They are sessile invertebrates which filter feed and tend to die off in newer systems. I have found them to be harmless.

 

[DaddyFish]

Maybe time to clean out your canister filters?

Uhhh, that's what I was doing when I discovered them.

 

[Auquanut]

+1. Pineapple sponges.

 

[DaddyFish]

Looks like pineapple sponges. They are sessile invertebrates which filter feed and tend to die off in newer systems. I have found them to be harmless.

I don't think it's sponges. I took the closeup picture after rinsing with fresh water, which tends to make them mushy. You can see in the picture of the canister interior that they have ridges and look almost identical to the common house fly maggot.

 

[blaxsun]

+1. Pineapple sponges.

I don't think they're pineapple sponges. I have pineapple sponges in my tank and, well - they look like miniature pineapples.

 

[Auquanut]

Couldn't say for sure. The shape really looks like pineapple sponges. Do they move at all? Maybe the high flow through the cannister and detritus build up make them look different?

 

[DaddyFish]

Couldn't say for sure. The shape really looks like pineapple sponges. Do they move at all? Maybe the high flow through the cannister and detritus build up make them look different?

Can't say that I've ever seen them move. But they definitely don't have any protruding cilia (fuzz) either.

 

[DaddyFish]

Following up to close this out. Thanks to everyone for the help.
Yes, it turned out to be Pineapple Sponges, but they don't ALL look like pineapples. Many resemble a worm more than a pineapple, but after several inspections across multiple tanks... none of them move.