Teeny tiny worm ID

[GHsaltie]

So I spotted this little white worm on my back wall (really glad now that I painted it black ) and of course I knew my curiosity wouldn't be satisfied unless I got a closer look so I quickly sucked him up in a syringe. It appears to be smooth, no hairs or bristles, it's just barely half an inch long when fully stretched out and super thin, not even the size of sewing thread. I only got one, very bad macro shot, the rest are under the microscope.

Head end



Tail end
Some interesting shots closer up

Now something else that I found rather odd is that smaller worm you see in pics 3-4. There are actually two of those smaller worms, but what is weird is that they did not show up under the microscope the first time. I had taken the slide out and dabbed some of the water off because the larger worm was cruising around a little too fast. When I put it back under the other two worms were now there, so did I just happen to miss them both or is it possible the larger worm "split"?

First mystery worm
Second mystery worm

 

[GHsaltie]

Okay so now that I got my curiosity out of the way, I'm starting to freak out thinking I might have something sinister in my tank

 

[Lionfish Lair]

The small ones were probably on there, but they were out of view. I have that happen a lot. If you leave the slide in place, you can dab away water with the corner of a tissue. What also slows them down is if you leave the light on and walk about for a bit O.O

What gorgeous pictures. I'll look around in my worm files.

 

[GHsaltie]

Anything? Anybody? Is it maybe just a random little worm found in these environments?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I suck up stuff all the time in my tank and put it under a microscope. I always see a 1000 things I can't directly ID.

 

[GHsaltie]

So nothing I should be overly concerned about? All three of the worms ended up perishing on the slide before I had the thought to put them back in a jar , so hopefully if it was a bad one that was the only one. Lesson learned though: make sure all living organisms are in an appropriate holding container before logging onto the forum.