Pest ID

[N11morales]

Found this crawling around in my sea urchin. It was flat and looked like a big flatworm.

Dropped a bunch of eggs when I dipped the urchin in fresh water to knock it off.

Sorry no better pictures.

 

[N11morales]

the worm was flat in the tank. it shriveled up quickly when introduced to freshwater. was then able to knock it off my urchin

 

[N11morales]

anyone have an idea?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

anyone have an idea?

What kind of urchin do you have? It may be a commensal species of polychaete.

 

[N11morales]

What kind of urchin do you have? It may be a commensal species of polychaete.

It was on a tuxedo urchin. I had 2 large "halloween/decorated" pincushion urchins. Both of those urchins died recently. I didn't think to check them for worms. I thought they passed due to their size and not enough food available. They were softball size urchins.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It was on a tuxedo urchin. I had 2 large "halloween/decorated" pincushion urchins. Both of those urchins died recently. I didn't think to check them for worms. I thought they passed due to their size and not enough food available. They were softball size urchins.

Hmm. Interesting, as I'm not aware of polychaetes that interact meaningfully with Tuxedo Urchins.

Honestly, I'd be tempted to move the urchin with the worm into a small, temporary holding tank - making sure to feed the urchin properly in the tank - and observe (if possible) both what the worm eats and how they interact, as a number of urchins have commensal polychaetes that live in/on them without being a problem, and I'm not aware of any polychaetes that prey on or parasitize urchins at the moment that I recall.

If the interaction seems to be innocent (i.e. if there doesn't seem to do any damage to the urchin after a few days), then I'd call it good and add them both back to the DT.

 

[N11morales]

Hmm. Interesting, as I'm not aware of polychaetes that interact meaningfully with Tuxedo Urchins.

Honestly, I'd be tempted to move the urchin with the worm into a small, temporary holding tank - making sure to feed the urchin properly in the tank - and observe (if possible) both what the worm eats and how they interact, as a number of urchins have commensal polychaetes that live in/on them without being a problem, and I'm not aware of any polychaetes that prey on or parasitize urchins at the moment that I recall.

If the interaction seems to be innocent (i.e. if there doesn't seem to do any damage to the urchin after a few days), then I'd call it good and add them both back to the DT.

i already threw it away lol but it did release some eggs while i grabbed the urchin so probably will have some growing in the tank eventually. Also im not sure if it was harming my urchins. I did have 2 die that were super healthy before hand. but i do realize my tank was getting pretty clean.

 

[N11morales]

all those little dots are eggs that came off the worm. I figured it was some type of flatworm due to the eggs looking similiar to flatworm eggs i have seen before.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

all those little dots are eggs that came off the worm. I figured it was some type of flatworm due to the eggs looking similiar to flatworm eggs i have seen before.

That's interesting - brooding polychaetes are not common in our aquaria that I've seen.

 

[N11morales]

That's interesting - brooding polychaetes are not common in our aquaria that I've seen.

maybe somthing else then?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

maybe somthing else then?

No, it's definitely a polychaete (you can see the body segments and parapodia in the first pic; you can technically see some of the chaetae too, but they're barely visible in the pic and super blurry).