Worm Monster?

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If I have to handel live rock (sharp edges) or anything live (or assumed alive) and I don't know what it is, I wear my dive/snorkel gloves!

I've never seen sea hare eggs, but that just doesn't look like eggs to me. Are they attached to the 'material' further away from the camera on your fingers? You said you thought it might be some remains from your tube anemone (I know you dismissed that). But my question is, was the 'wormy' mass attached to something?

My wife just googled sea hare eggs and that sure looks like it to me!
 
Ron Reefman said:
If I have to handel live rock (sharp edges) or anything live (or assumed alive) and I don't know what it is, I wear my dive/snorkel gloves!

I've never seen sea hare eggs, but that just doesn't look like eggs to me. Are they attached to the 'material' further away from the camera on your fingers? You said you thought it might be some remains from your tube anemone (I know you dismissed that). But my question is, was the 'wormy' mass attached to something?

My wife just googled sea hare eggs and that sure looks like it to me!
Click to expand...

Well, when I lifted the rock that they were underneath (unbeknownst to me as of that moment), it took a moment before it 'gave', giving me the impression that there was some kind of attachment, although I didn't know what it was. It may have been the mass that was in the sand (worm monster), but wouldn't that have stayed attached, and not pulled away? I'm guessing the 'pull' I felt was probably some sponge that had grown between that rock and the one next to it.

The sediment that was on them could be shaken off, but what you see in the picture is what remained after I moved my hand forward past the powerhead.

I was always worried about latex gloves in the aquarium - but it has no effect on the chemistry? That's good to know!
 
Looks like a spaghetti worm to me... I’ve dozens over the years and really like them. They will bury in the sand the second they can... eggs don’t typically make a run for the sand bed and bury themselves.

They scavenge like crazy and are really fun IME. Great clean up crew worm and look a lot better than bristle worms -when they are buried... if you unbury them they are pretty ugly lol. Did the little arms wiggle around under their own control or did they just blow around in the current without any intentional movement?
 
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MusicTeach said:
I have caught cirolanid isopods, gorilla crabs, whelks, polyclad flatworms, and bobbit worms, but I've never seen anything like this. Live rock is real.


I have absolutely no idea what this is. It reminds me of "Hunters" from the Halo videogame series. I was moving a rock and found it underneath. At first, I thought it was the remains of my ol' tube anemone, but then I remembered I had already pulled that out. This is one of two times in my life as an aquarist that I thought I really should've used gloves.

It appears to be a mass of worms, but I couldn't tell if it was alive because of how slow it moved. I set it back down on the sandbed to see if it was alive, and it seemed to sink below the sandbed. I know where I put it, so I can probably find it again if necessary. But what are your thoughts? First, did the 2 pictures below load? Second, what is it? And third, what steps do you think I need to take?

I really appreciate all of your support. This is definitely the weirdest thing I've ever found in my tank.

P1070364.JPG

P1070364 (1).JPG
Click to expand...
Not sure but it doesn't look like any of the things you mentioned. It is very weird when did you first notice it.
 
I noticed that day I picked it up and took a picture. Hadn't seen it before, and maybe never again

The thing didn't seem to have intentional movement, but, it did dissappear into the sand bed over the course of a few minutes. (really slow)

I kept hoping for sea hare eggs, but I might be being convinced that it's a spaghetti worm. I have tons of those in my tank, but most are white. HOWEVER! I did see a pinkish spaghetti worm doing its thing this evening - same color as the thing in the picture on this thread! Also, it's not too far away from where I put the thing down. Of course, it's not the body, just the.... Mouth-tentacles? I'll try to get a picture of it at some point.

As much as I wanted to try and dig it up again, set it in a container to observe and record.... I really didn't want to go digging for it again it made me rather uncomfortable to think about it.

A friend who works at an LFS says it's most definitely a spaghetti worm. He often sees them come in on corals, and says he'll shoot me a picture next time he gets one in.

Thanks for the help everyone!
 
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Final Update! (hopefully) Here's the picture of the mouth tentacles! This is near the location I had last set it down, and it is the same color. Thank you all for your feedback and support! Now to buy some gloves
P1070651.JPG
 
ive had a seahare lay eggs in my tank those looked an awful lot like seahare eggs. Mine were more green but I'm guessing different species .
 
Ecoscape Reef Rock
I think it is a cucumber and those are it's guts. It is a deffense mechanism.
 
chris85 said:
I think it is a cucumber and those are it's guts. It is a deffense mechanism.
Click to expand...
Oh my goodness, it does look like that! I have other spaghetti worms though, and it's 'guts' or 'mouth-tentacles' seem to act more like the other spaghetti worms, even though it's tentacles appear significantly smaller.

Question for you - frankly I should start a new thread with this - but I've had a few mushroom corals disappear around there. I'm trying to figure out what's going after them.... would a sea cucumber eat rhodactis or discosoma mushroom corals?
 
I doubt it... From The way the cucumber is using it's guts to collect debris. But really i have no idea.

I doubt that it is a spaghetti worm unless you are using anabolic phytoplankton or it is a cross breed with a bobbit worm!! Lol
 
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chris85 said:
I doubt it... From The way the cucumber is using it's guts to collect debris. But really i have no idea.

I doubt that it is a spaghetti worm unless you are using anabolic phytoplankton or it is a cross breed with a bobbit worm!! Lol
Click to expand...
Why don't you think it could be a spaghetti worm ? Is it the color or placement? Most of my spaghetti worms are white, but they are up in the rocks and closer to the sand bed. This one is weird with longer, thinner tentacles, and it's that pinkish color.

Lol, and I have Bobbits too, so let's hope not
 
Just a guess on my part, but mostly beacuse we don't get huge ones usually. They come in all colors... I have some with yellow and red striped tentacles, white, pink, yellow, and red.

Enjoy the video... just something I found on youtube.

 
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