Is this a Dorvilleidae?

Dravensmama · Dec 11, 2020

I have like 10-15 in my spare tank! Never seen them until I switched my rocks and fish to my bigger tank

JGT · Dec 11, 2020

Pic is small and blurry but look like it. Can’t tell but do they have like 2 whiskers on their head/mouth?

vetteguy53081 · Dec 11, 2020

Yep- dorvillidae worm. The dorvilleidae is a subspecies of bristle worm. They are both Annelida. Dorvilleidae are a newer species found near and around Bermuda and are not as common as the typical brstle worm. They often appear as very small white lines on the glass of aquarium and seek algae as a primary food.

mtfish · Dec 11, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Yep- dorvillidae worm. The dorvilleidae is a subspecies of bristle worm. They are both Annelida. Dorvilleidae are a newer species found near and around Bermuda and are not as common as the typical brstle worm. They often appear as very small white lines on the glass of aquarium and seek algae as a primary food.

I really tried to leave this alone but if we are talking classification there a a few things to clear up. Phylum Annelida contains the segmented worms and includes earthworm, polychaetes and leeches. The stuff we are concerned about is in the Class Polychaeta. There are too numerous to count of these worms and species are hard to determine without a microscope most of the time. Bristle worm is a generic name for just about any polychaete you can find in your tank and takes after the main character of polychaetes, which literally translates to "many haired" . Family Dorvilleidae are the polychaetes this thread is talking about and there are many families we see in our tanks. Families usually have lots of species. My eyes are too old to say what worm you want to ID but putting it in the Family Dorvilleidae could be correct. I know this is long and too much information.

Dravensmama · Dec 11, 2020

JGT said:
Pic is small and blurry but look like it. Can’t tell but do they have like 2 whiskers on their head/mouth?

Yes they do! Sorry the pics have to be blown up to really see any detail and they are only about 1cm long so super hard to photograph!

Dravensmama · Dec 11, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Yep- dorvillidae worm. The dorvilleidae is a subspecies of bristle worm. They are both Annelida. Dorvilleidae are a newer species found near and around Bermuda and are not as common as the typical brstle worm. They often appear as very small white lines on the glass of aquarium and seek algae as a primary food.

Are they safe to have in my larger tank? I’m wanting to cycle some new live rock in this spare aquarium to put in my larger tank and I’m sure I will have hitchhikers!

Dravensmama · Dec 11, 2020

mtfish said:
I really tried to leave this alone but if we are talking classification there a a few things to clear up. Phylum Annelida contains the segmented worms and includes earthworm, polychaetes and leeches. The stuff we are concerned about is in the Class Polychaeta. There are too numerous to count of these worms and species are hard to determine without a microscope most of the time. Bristle worm is a generic name for just about any polychaete you can find in your tank and takes after the main character of polychaetes, which literally translates to "many haired" . Family Dorvilleidae are the polychaetes this thread is talking about and there are many families we see in our tanks. Families usually have lots of species. My eyes are too old to say what worm you want to ID but putting it in the Family Dorvilleidae could be correct. I know this is long and too much information.

Would you say it’s safe to have them or should I try to remove them before I do anything else with my spare tank? I think they have always been there but my clowns use to keep them under control!

vetteguy53081 · Dec 11, 2020

Dravensmama said:
Are they safe to have in my larger tank? I’m wanting to cycle some new live rock in this spare aquarium to put in my larger tank and I’m sure I will have hitchhikers!

No harm
Don’t like worms in my tanks (just a personal preference)